Master's in Finance Program Details

The University of Cincinnati’s Master of Science in Finance program is a blend of theoretical and applied knowledge, enabling you to grasp theory and develop the skills to apply financial concepts in real-world situations. The program provides you with a strong foundation in all areas of finance while allowing you the flexibility to customize the program to meet your career objectives. Our program is nationally ranked and financially competitive. Our finance faculty consist of both world class research faculty and financial industry practitioners.

Focus areas

The Lindner MS Finance program allows you to select an area of specialization, enabling you to build on the breadth and depth of the curriculum offered. Our strong core curriculum, coupled with the specialization options, provides the flexibility to design a program that enables you to achieve your career objectives. The MS Finance program currently supports the following focus areas:

  • Certified Financial PlannerTM (CFP®)
  • Corporate finance
  • Investments
  • Real estate
  • Risk management

Capstone

The program requires all students to complete a capstone experience. Students will complete their capstone requirement by competing in the ACG Cup competition or completing a research project with an industry partner. In addition, all students will describe their capstone experience in an essay.

ACG Cup

Organized by the Cincinnati Chapter of the Association of Corporate Growth, for the last ten years the University of Cincinnati has participated in the ACG Cup case competition. MS Finance students who participated in the 2017-2018 Cincinnati ACG Cup case competition and finished within the top four teams satisfied the first element of their capstone requirement. Students also need to complete their capstone essay for their capstone requirement to be fulfilled.

Research project

Students work with Finance faculty and an industry partner on a research project. The project will be presented to participants in the first week of spring semester, with project presentations being concluded by the first week of April. As with the ACG Cup, participants will need to complete their capstone essay for their capstone requirement to be fulfilled.

Partnership with GARP

The Lindner MS Finance program is an academic partner for the Global Association for Risk Professionals (GARP), which helps connect students and faculty to training and professional development opportunities, such as:

GARP logo with is GARP in navy text with two parenthesis to the left with a light blue dot in the middle and underneath it says FRM Academic Partner
  • The ability to nominate up to six students and one faculty member for Financial Risk Manager (FRM) Part 1 exam scholarships.
  • Student eligibility for GARP research grants (up to $3,000 each per semester).
  • Annual complimentary copy of relevant study guides for MS Finance students.
  • Networking opportunities among GARP’s 257K global members.

Founded in 1996, GARP is a membership association for risk managers. GARP offers foundational and certificate programs in risk management, the best known of which is the FRM certification.