Degree Options

At the undergraduate level, the department supports majors in Finance, Real Estate, and Insurance and Risk Management.

A BBA in Finance consists of a core set of courses that provides students with the fundamental skills and the strategic mindset required for all career paths in finance. In addition, the major provides students the opportunity to specialize in specific career paths, including investment banking, commercial banking and financial institutions, investments, and corporate finance.

The BBA in Finance is part of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute University Affiliation Program. This status is granted to institutions whose degree programs incorporate at least 70 percent of the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK), which positions students well to sit for the CFA exams. The CFA charter is widely recognized in Finance as a signal of a high-quality professional and is often a prerequisite for advancement in the profession. This recognition also annually provides five scholarships that the department can award to students to defray the costs of sitting for the CFA exams.

The finance department delivers two carefully designed sub-plans that have specific purposes and are recognized on your transcripts.

• The Analytic Finance Academy sub-plan is a path for ambitious high achievers to gain exposure to more advanced training than is typically available in an undergraduate program.
• The Financial Planning sub-plan is a carefully planned set of required courses that prepare you for a career in financial planning and wealth management and uniquely credentials you to sit for the Certified Financial Planning (CFP) exam upon graduation.

A BBA in Insurance and Risk Management from Lindner strikes a balance between providing a general risk management framework and providing specific insights into the insurance industry. This degree is designed to equip students for productive careers focused on managing risks, both within enterprises (as a user of risk management techniques) or within the insurance industry (as a supplier of risk management products and services).

A BBA in Real Estate provides students with the core skills for analyzing real estate investment opportunities from the point of view of the individual, portfolio and strategic investor groups. This major is designed to help students who want a career in commercial real estate, the public sector, or with non-profits such as pension funds.

The Master of Science in Finance program is designed to give you the analytical skills needed for a successful professional career in today's global financial markets. The program features a pioneering curriculum that provides a strong foundation in all areas of finance, while allowing considerable flexibility so that you can tailor your course work to your interests and career plans.

The curriculum provides tracks in General Finance, Corporate Finance, Investment Management, Financial Planning, and Risk Management.

The MS-Finance program is comprised of four main components: the core, focus area, electives, and the capstone. The program can be completed in as little as two semesters of full-time study or five  semesters as a part-time student.

The Finance PhD program is dedicated to developing tomorrow's scholars via a sequence of highly structured graduate coursework. The program begins by developing basic research skills from the tools of economics, statistics, and mathematics. Building on this foundation, the program offers seminars covering all the major areas of financial economics including the microeconomic foundations of finance, corporate finance, asset pricing, financial contracting, market microstructure, real estate, and financial intermediation.

In addition to coursework, in order to prepare PhD students for successful job searches and academic research careers, the PhD curriculum is geared toward having students conduct original research throughout the program through participation in departmental research seminars, independent and faculty-directed research papers, and formal and informal faculty and peer mentoring.