Finance PhD Program Requirements

 

General Requirements

The PhD 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 in an important topic in Finance.

Background Requirements

  1. 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  7232: Microeconomics for Managers
    MGMT  8340: Organizational Theory and Design (or MGMT 8310 or
                         7380)
    Students with an MBA typically will have these requirements waived.

  2. 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

  1. Program Length

    Beyond the general business background courses and other prerequisite courses, students in the Finance PhD program must complete a 15-hour concentration in Finance. Students must also complete one 12-hour Support Area and a 15-hourCollateral Area or two 9-hour Support Areas and a 12-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
  2. 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 also 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 one 12-hour Support Area or two 9-hour Support Areas that complement advanced training in Finance. Successful completion of a Support area requires a written eamination 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 Collateral Area cannot be applied to a Support Area.

Last Edited: 7/11/2007