Financial Engineering, Computational Finance Track, M.S.

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Requirements for the Master of Science

A Bachelor’s degree is required for admission to this program. It is expected that students will have superior mathematical talent. Students with degrees in other fields may be admitted, possibly with undergraduate deficiencies, at the discretion of departmental advisers. Before beginning graduate studies, conditionally approved students must demonstrate proficiency in basic statistics, probability and mathematics. The Department makes available refresher courses for this purpose and to serve the population of students who have been out of academia prior to matriculating into this program. Prerequisites: GRE exam scores (GMAT may be substituted, but GRE is strongly preferred), Calculus (MA 1124 or equivalent) Probability and Statistics (MA 2212 and MA 2222 or equivalent), and Linear Algebra (MA 2012 or equivalent).

Master’s in Financial Engineering: 33 Credits

All tracks include in their program:

5 core courses, each 3 Credits
Track required courses totaling 7.5 Credits
1 required applied lab, worth 1.5 Credits
4 elective courses, each 1.5 Credits
1 Capstone Experience of 3 Credits

All MS Financial Engineering students must also complete the Bloomberg Essentials Online Training Program to be qualified for graduation. The Department of Finance and Risk Engineering supports students’ efforts in this area by providing many Bloomberg terminals and laboratory assistants to answer student questions. This is a zero-credit requirement that is listed here as FRE 5500 .

Core Courses (Required):

FRE 6003 Financial Accounting 3 Credits *
FRE 6023 Economic Foundations in Finance 3 Credits
FRE 6103 Corporate Finance 3 Credits
FRE 6123 Financial Risk Management and Asset Pricing 3 Credits
FRE 6083 Quantitative Methods in Finance 3 Credits *

Note:

* For Risk Finance the 6 credits comprising FRE 6003 and FRE 6083 are replaced by FRE 6021 , FRE 6051 , and FRE 6223 .

All tracks: Core courses = 15 Credits.

Incoming MS students of Financial Engineering have four track options. Each track has required courses totaling 7.5 credits (except Risk Finance which requires 10.5 credits).

Financial Markets and Corporate Finance
Computational Finance
Technology and Algorithmic Finance
Risk Finance (Credit Risk, Financial Management and Insurance)

Required Labs per Track: 1.5 Credits

Students from all tracks must choose one of the following labs for 1.5 credits:

FRE 6811 Financial Software Laboratory 1.5 Credits
FRE 6821 Financial Econometrics Laboratory 1.5 Credits
FRE 6831 Computational Finance Laboratory 1.5 Credits
FRE 6861 Financial Software Engineering 1.5 Credits

Required Certification: 0 Credits

All students must complete the following certification:

FRE 5500 Bloomberg Certification 0 Credits

Capstone Options: 3 Credits

FRE 9973 MS Thesis in Finance & Risk Engineering 3 Credits (required for potential PhD candidates)
FRE 7023 Financial Engineering Capstone: Internship 3 Credits (200 hours at least, two reports to the faculty are required)
FRE 7043 Financial Engineering Capstone: Project 3 Credits (under faculty supervision)
Two special topics courses at 1.5 credits each, with a capstone paper submitted to the faculty.

Computational Finance Track

Five of the following six courses:

FRE 6231 Stochastic Calculus and Financial Modeling 1.5 Credits
FRE 6251 Numerical and Simulation Techniques in Finance 1.5 Credits
FRE 6311 Dynamic Assets and Options Pricing 1.5 Credits
FRE 6331 Financial Risk Management and Optimization 1.5 Credits
FRE 6351 Advanced Financial Econometrics 1.5 Credits
FRE 6041 Risk Management in the Real World 1.5 Credits

Credit Allocation for Financial Markets and Corporate Finance, Computational Finance, and Financial Information Services and Technology tracks:

Core Courses:	15
Required Courses:	7.5
Elective Credits:	6
Lab:	1.5
Capstone:	3
Total Credits:	33

All these options require a review by faculty advisers and certification of satisfactory work.