Finance Concentration

The PhD program in Finance emphasizes university level research and teaching skills. The program of study is flexible to meet individual needs and interests, but all students take advanced classes in Finance, Economics, and Statistics. Students admitted on a full-time basis normally work as research or teaching assistants.

The Department of Finance welcomes applications for September 2008. The application deadline is February 1, 2008. We encourage all applicants to consider making a visit to campus to meet departmental faculty and current finance doctoral students.  Please contact Dr. Stephen P. Ferris, PhD Coordinator, if you have any questions.

Admissions Policy

Admissions to the Ph.D. program in Finance are highly selective. The typical candidate has a GMAT in excess of 650, at least one full year of university Calculus, and a graduate degree in Business, Economics, Engineering or Statistics.

General Requirements

The Ph.D. program in Finance requires the following:
1.   a set of graduate course work (described below),
2.   written qualifying examinations in one or two support areas, e.g., Economics and Statistics,
3.   written and oral comprehensive examinations covering all Finance course work, and
4.   an original research dissertation on an important topic in Finance.

Background Requirements

A. General Business Background

Before enrolling in concentration area courses, all doctoral students in the School of Business must take (or be able to waive) the following general business courses:

ACCT  7310:  Accounting for Managers
FIN      7440:  Managerial Finance
MKT    7460:  Managerial Marketing
ECON  7332:  Microeconomics for Managers

One of the following:
                        MGMT 7380:  Organizational Behavior and Management
                        MGMT 8310:  Strategic Human Resource Management
                        MGMT 8340:  Organizational Theory and Design

Students with an MBA typically will have these requirements waived.

B. Economics, Mathematics and Statistics Background

Finance doctoral students normally need the following Economics, Mathematics and Statistics courses (or their equivalents) as prerequisites for courses included in their program of study:
            ECON 7351: Intermediate Microeconomics
            MATH 1500: Analytic Geometry and Calculus 1
            MATH 1700: Calculus 2
            STAT  2500: Introduction to Probability and Statistics 1

Concentration Requirements

A. Program Length

Beyond the general business background courses and other prerequisite courses, students in the Finance Ph.D. program must complete a 15-hour concentration in Finance. Students must also complete two 9-hour Support Areas and a 12-hour Collateral Area, or alternatively, one 12-hour Support Area and a 18-hour Collateral Area.   While pursuing required course work, all students participate in FIN 9101 Topics Seminar in Finance (1 hour per semester), which is taken on a Pass/Fail basis. A minimum program of study will resemble one of the following schedules:

  Finance seminars: 15 hours
  Support Area #1: 9 hours
  Support Area #2: 9 hours
  Collateral Area: 12 hours

  Finance seminars: 15 hours
  Support Area #1: 12 hours
  Collateral Area: 18 hours

B. Required Courses

1. The following courses will generally be taken in fulfillment of the Finance seminar requirement:

  FIN 9100: Seminar in Corporate Finance
  FIN 9200: Research in Corporate Finance
  FIN 9300: Financial Economics
  FIN 9400: Seminar in Investment Analysis
  FIN 9001: Advanced Topics in Finance

Students also take 1 hour of FIN 9101 Topics Seminar in Finance each semester while taking course work.

2. Finance doctoral students are typically required to complete the following courses:

Economics
  ECON 7370: Introduction to Quantitative Economics
  ECON 8451: Advanced Microeconomics Theory 1
  ECON 8472: Econometric Methods 1
  ECON 9473: Econometric Methods 2
  ECON 9452: Advanced Microeconomics Theory 2, or,
  ECON 9475: Applied Econometrics

Statistics
  STAT  7510: Regression and Correlation Analysis, or,
  MATH 7140: Matrix Theory
  STAT  7750: Introduction to Probability Theory
  STAT  7760: Statistical Inference

These courses can be applied to Support Area requirements. Alternatively, these courses can be applied to Collateral Area requirements. A waiver of any required course is only allowed if essentially identical course work has been completed in a university setting. All waivers must be approved by the Finance Department. Support Area and Collateral Area requirements are described below.

Support Areas

Doctoral students must complete two 9-hour Support Areas or one 12-hour Support Area to complement advanced training in Finance. Successful completion of a Support Area may require a written examination covering course work applied to the Support Area. At least one Support Area must come from outside the School of Business. Most students choose Support Areas in Microeconomics, and Statistics resembling the following examples:

Example Area I: Microeconomics
  ECON 7370: Introduction to Quantitative Economics
  ECON 8451: Advanced Microeconomics Theory 1
  ECON 9452: Advanced Microeconomics Theory 2

Example Area II: Statistics
  STAT 7510: Regression and Correlation Analysis
  STAT 7750: Introduction to Probability Theory
  STAT 7760: Statistical Inference

Support Area courses are normally completed in the first year of study.    Written qualifying exams for each Support Area should be scheduled as soon as possible after completing Support Area course work.

Collateral Area: Analytic Tools

Finance doctoral students must complete a 12-hour or 18-hour Collateral Area selected in cooperation with a student's program committee. A Collateral Area in Accounting, Econometrics, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics, or Corporate Law is recommended.  Some representative examples include:

Econometrics
  ECON 8472: Econometric Methods 1
  ECON 9473: Econometric Methods 2
  ECON 9475: Applied Microeconometrics
  ECON 9476: Applied Time Series Analysis

Economics
  ECON 8451: Advanced Microeconomics Theory 1
  ECON 9452: Advanced Microeconomics Theory 2
  ECON 9087: Seminar in Microeconomics
  ECON 9425: International Finance

Corporate Law
  LAW 5395: Business Organizations
  LAW 5460: Corporate Finance
  LAW 5365: Bankruptcy
  LAW 6570: Corporate Tax

Statistics
  STAT 7210: Applied Nonparametric Methods
  STAT 7750: Introduction to Probability Theory
  STAT 7760: Statistical Inference
  STAT 7850: Introduction to Stochastic Processes

Course work applied to a Support Area cannot be applied to a Collateral Area.