The Master of Science in Finance program provides an opportunity for highly motivated students to acquire the skills necessary to understand modern financial markets, instruments and decision-making.  The program develops financial management professionals with the knowledge and proficiency to:

• Create sophisticated solutions to financial problems
• Design and evaluate new financial instruments
• Leverage resources for optimal profitability and productivity
• Develop strategic financial objectives
• Seize new business opportunities
• Mitigate corporate risk
• Improve investment decision making
• Analyze technical financial material  

Individuals with an M.B.A. degree or students currently enrolled in the M.B.A. program may have up to six of their M.B.A. courses count toward the requirements of the Master of Science in Finance degree.  The exact number of courses that can be double-counted in this manner depends upon the specific content and age of coursework.

CURRICULUM

Each candidate must be competent in financial accounting, economics, calculus and statistics prior to registration for the core courses. To ensure competence, students who have not completed the equivalent of principles of Accounting I and II at the undergraduate level will be required to take ACC 500. Students who do not pass a competency examination in calculus and statistics will be required to take GSB 420. Students who have not completed principles of macroeconomics and microeconomics will be required to take ECO 501 or ECO 555 ( GSB 420 is a prerequisite for ECO 555).

Students complete the Master of Science in Finance by taking nine core courses and three elective courses in addition to the program prerequisites.  At least two of these electives must be taken in finance and the third elective may be taken in the fields of accounting, economics or real estate as stated below. 

Required Core Courses

• financial management (fin 555)
• quantitative methods in finance (fin 617)
• investment analysis (fin 523)
• financial statement analysis (fin 524)
• ADVANCED corporate finance (fin 553)
• risk management (fin 562)
• dERIVaTIVEs VALUATION (FIN 662)
• CASES IN INVESTMENTS AND FINANCIAL ENGINEERING (FIN 675)
• ETHICS AND FINANCIAL MARKETS (FIN 501)

Elective Requirement

Three elective courses are required, at least two of which must be Finance courses not numbered 798. One elective may be chosen from among courses in the departments of Accounting (except ACC 500), Economics (except 501 and 555), Real Estate and Finance, including FIN 798 or FIN 793 (Finance Internship). 

Students who wish to take FIN 793 (Finance Internship) must receive approval from the Finance Department Internship Committee prior to enrollment.  None of the M.S.F. Required Core Courses or required prerequisite courses are available for elective credit.

M.S.F. DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

1. Satisfactory completion of the college residency requirement.
2. Satisfactory completion of the nine required courses.
3. Satisfactory completion of three elective courses.
4. All courses for credit toward the degree must be completed within six calendar years after the candidate’s first term of enrollment in the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. After a lapse of six years a course is expired. An expired course is not acceptable for the purpose of satisfaction of degree requirements and is not applicable to the degree without the written approval of the director of the program or the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.  

See campusconnect.depaul.edu for information about the prerequisites for graduate courses.