MBA Program Finance Courses and Future Career Paths 

Students in the MBA program wishing to study finance are advised to consider how their studies fit into the two main career pathways in finance: Investments or Corporate Finance. The Investments pathway focuses on investment analysis, stock returns, derivatives and financial analytics and is most helpful for careers in capital markets, wealth management, investment banking, hedge funds, and commercial banking. The Corporate Finance pathway focuses on management decisions such as those made by the CFO and is helpful for careers in corporate treasury departments, valuation, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy and consulting. Students considering a Ph.D. in finance should take MGT 295F and MGT 295G. In addition to the finance electives listed below, students should consider electives related to databases, decision-making, business statistics and accounting, such as MGT 221, 230, 236, 239, 245, 256, and 267. STAT 206 is useful for learning statistical computing using SAS or R.

To earn a Finance concentration, students must complete three required courses and two elective courses. Required courses:

MGT 227 — Fixed Income 

MGT 231 — Corporate Finance 

MGT 252 — Investments and Portfolio Management 

Finance concentration elective courses (choose two):

MGT 213 — Trading Strategies

MGT 232 — Derivatives 

MGT 237 — International Finance 

MGT 244 — Risk Management

MGT 276 — Financial Strategy and Corporate Control 

MGT 295F — Empirical Methods in Finance 

MGT 295G — Corporate Finance 

Core courses relevant to both an Investments and a Corporate Finance paths: 

MGT 201 — Quantitative Analysis (pre-requisite for MGT 202, MGT 227) 

MGT 202 — Financial Management (pre-requisite for MGT 213, 231, 232, 237, 244, 252, 268, 276) 

MGT 211 — Financial Accounting (pre-requisite for MGT 202) 

MGT 203 — Economics 

MBA students interested in finance careers are recommended to take MGT 201, MGT 202, and MGT 211 at the earliest possible opportunity. 

Finance courses for an Investments career path: 

MGT 213 — Trading Strategies

MGT 227 — Fixed Income 

MGT 232 — Derivatives 

MGT 237 — International Finance 

MGT 244 — Risk Management 

MGT 252 — Investments and Portfolio Management 

MGT 295F — Empirical Methods in Finance 

Finance courses for a Corporate Finance career path: 

MGT 231 — Corporate Finance 

MGT 237 — International Finance 

MGT 244 — Risk Management 

MGT 268 — Entrepreneurial Finance 

MGT 276 — Financial Strategy and Corporate Control 

MGT 295G — Corporate Finance