MS in Finance

• Wide-ranging employment options: We'll prepare you for careers in risk management, asset management, and corporate finance and for joining corporate treasuries, investment banks, insurance companies, and large nonprofit organizations.
• Top industry partnerships: We are one of the few MSF programs—either in Chicago or around the world—that has forged these key partnerships.
• CFA Institute: We are the only Chicago-area MSF program recognized by the CFA Institute. This means you'll be better prepared for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams.
• CAIA Association: Quinlan's MSF program is an educational partner of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association, a globally recognized leader in alternative investment education. This means undergraduate and graduate finance majors have access to the CAIA Association's curriculum and events, and are eligible to apply for scholarships to earn the CAIA Charter.
• Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP): We are one of 35 graduate finance programs officially designated as an academic partner. This means our program is ideal preparation for the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designation, the leading professional credential in the profession of risk management.
• Analytical skills: You'll be ready to solve complex financial problems with our MSF.
• Alumni network: Join an impressive network of successful alumni, many of whom live and work in the Chicago area.
• STEM designation: With a national shortage of professionals trained in STEM related fields, employers are actively pursuing STEM degree holders. Distinguish yourself in business with a STEM-designated degree.

Our Master of Science in Finance program will provide you with specialized knowledge of:

• Financial securities
• Financial markets
• Risk metrics
• Investment criteria
• Capital budgeting techniques
• Hedging strategies
• General modeling and analytical skills
• Writing computer programs
• Working with databases
• Simulating outcomes
• Performing regression analysis
• Solving constrained optimization problems

Loyola's MSF graduates work as bankers, brokers, portfolio managers, analysts, traders, risk managers, and programmers at:

• Investment and commercial banks
• Investment funds (hedge funds, venture capital funds, mutual funds)
• Insurance companies
• Trading firms
• Manufacturing and service companies
• Consulting firms
• Rating agencies

Our MSF graduates have been hired by top firms, such as Morningstar, Bank of America, Fifth Third Bank, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Discover, GE Capital, Goldman Sachs, and more.

Because Loyola is a member of the Jesuit network of 27 colleges and universities nationwide, our graduates can receive career services at Quinlan's Business Career Services, as well as at career centers at U.S. Jesuit colleges and universities.

Graduate courses for the MSF program may be completed on a full-time or part-time basis. You can complete the degree in approximately 12—15 months of full-time study, depending on the pace you choose and the number of courses required.

Classes are held weekday evenings on Loyola's Water Tower Campus, which is conveniently located off the Red Line in downtown Chicago, as well as online. The MSF program is on a 10-week quarter system, and you can begin the program in the fall or spring quarters.

FINC 452: Investment Management
This course includes the topics of asset pricing models; risk and return analysis of stocks, bonds and cash equivalents; portfolio theory; bond pricing, the term structure of interest and immunization strategies in managing fixed income securities.
Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate the analytical tools and finance theory necessary for making good investment decisions and for understanding the pricing of financial securities.

FINC 620: Financial Mathematics and Modeling I
This course focuses on how to effectively use Microsoft Excel and its built-in programming language, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to build financial models. It has a prerequisite of Finance 450 and presumes familiarity with basic Excel operations and functions. The course will model investment, derivative, corporate finance, and risk management problems. The course is a combination of both lecture and lab.

FINC 621: Financial Mathematics and Modeling II
Financial mathematics and modeling II is the second in a sequence of two courses. It is a combination of lecture and lab and will focus on the core mathematical, computational and practical modeling aspects encountered in modern financial applications. The programming languages of choice will be R and Excel/VBA. This course has a prerequisite of FINC 450, FINC 452, FINC 620, and ISOM 400. No prior R programming experience is required but familiarity with Excel/VBA is a pre-requisite.

FINC 622: Derivative Securities
This course is an introduction to options, futures, forwards and swaps as derivative securities. After an overview of these securities, a detailed examination of the methods of valuing options will be presented. Binomial trees and a discussion of the Black-Scholes option pricing model will be emphasized, followed by insights into option contracts as useful risk management instruments. A brief introduction to stochastic calculus is also given. Stock, index, debt, commodity, foreign currency and futures options are reviewed, and option strategies are analyzed as managerial tools in financial decision-making. Skills developed in this course include analytical and decision-making, creative thinking and communication. Throughout the course the notion of risk both as potential loss and opportunity for gain and its management will be highlighted. Ethical and social dimensions of risk management and the use and abuse of derivative securities will be emphasized to help students become responsible financial managers. The recent credit crisis and its origin in subprime mortgages will be reviewed. Students are encouraged to form teams and work jointly on five sets of homework problems and to also develop trading strategies. The course integrates functional areas in finance, accounting, economics, business ethics and quantitative methods.

FINC 624: Interest Rate Risk Management
Students are introduced to a plethora of financial derivatives, including both exchange-traded and OTC products, and then learn to use these products to hedge interest rate and other risks largely through the study of cases and detailed examples emphasizing the formation and use of synthetic positions.
Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of a wide variety of derivative products, as well as be able to use these products to manage interest rate and other risks.

FINC 625: Applied Econometrics
The purpose of this course is to help students understand feasible econometric techniques in order to mine information to understand economic and financial patterns and to forecast. A rigorous exposition of the theory behind econometric techniques will help students understand the issues raised in different published papers. Topics of econometric techniques covered in this course include panel data analysis, time-series models, discrete choice models, and methods to identify causality between variables. Practical applications will prepare students to use these methods in their own projects.

FINC 626: Credit Risk Management and Structured Finance
We study credit risk and credit risk management. We examine a suite of financial securities which can be used to reduce (or magnify) credit risks, especially credit default swaps (CDS), asset-backed securities (ABS) and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). We consider the role of these structured credit products in the global financial crisis.

FINC 630: Finance Capstone Course
This course integrates theory, analytics, and modeling skills acquired in advanced finance courses. Subject matter will include topics and techniques in corporate finance, international financial management, risk management, and investments. It is intended for Master of Science in Finance (MSF) students and select MBAs concentrating in finance and who have satisfied the necessary prerequisites.

Learning Objectives:

• Students will be able to perform a complicated valuation analysis of a public or private company
• Students will understand different short and long-term financing techniques and their impact on a firm's cost of capital, capital structure, financial risk, credit, and business strategy
• Students will be able to perform a complicated international capital budgeting analysis
• Students will be able to evaluate public and private investments and assess their place in a portfolio

MGMT 441N: Business Ethics or MGMT 446: International Business Ethics*
*Choose one

• MGMT 441N:
  This course examines the ethical aspects of individual and corporate decision making in business and provides resources for making ethical decisions within the context of managerial practice.
  Outcome: Students will be acquainted with the concepts and principles of ethical reasoning that have been developed in ethical theory; be aware of the specific ethical issues that arise in management and of the ways in which these issues are commonly analyzed; and be able to make sound ethical and managerial decisions and to implement those decisions within the context of an organization in a competitive marketplace.
• MGMT 446:
  This is an advanced business ethics course that addresses the ethical issues that arise in the global business environment, including the standards for the operation of multinational corporations and the ethical perspectives of managers in different countries.
  Outcome: Students will understand the specific ethical problems of international business and of different ethical perspectives; develop skills for personal decision making and for developing and implementing ethical corporate policies in international business; and learn how to work toward more effective background institutions and forms of international business regulation.
  
  
  

Choose three elective courses.

ACCT 404: Financial Statement Analysis
This course evaluates the information contained in the financial statements, footnotes, and management discussion and analysis for its usefulness in making investment and credit decisions.
Outcome: Students will be able to assess the appropriateness of asset valuation, liability measurement, and equity values for judging the performance of an enterprise. Students will synthesize these assessments via a comprehensive financial statement analysis project.

FINC 453: Topics in Advanced Financial Management
This is an advanced course in corporate finance where students are given a thorough grounding in firm valuation and exposed to various financial decisions including raising capital, mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, spin-offs, and carve-outs, all in the context of their impact on firm value.
Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of firm valuation, as well as the impact of various corporate decisions on firm value.

FINC 455: International Financial Management
This course examines the international dimensions of financial management. It introduces potential opportunities/challenges faced by multinational corporations as they expand their business overseas.
Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of foreign exchange markets, fundamental international parity relationships, foreign exchange risk management strategies, and capital budgeting for multinational corporations.

FINC 456: Management of Financial Institutions
The course analyzes the importance played by financial institutions.  This is a survey course that analyzes the present financial institutional structure with a special focus on managing risk.
Outcome: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the following topics:  the role of financial intermediaries in managing interest rate, credit, market and international banking risks.  Special attention will be given to procedures for measuring and managing these risks.

FINC 553: Applied Portfolio Management
This is a course in investment analysis and applied portfolio management.  Topics will include investment policy and objectives, performance analysis and attribution, portfolio design, fixed income analysis and portfolio management, and equity analysis and portfolio management. 
Outcomes: At the conclusion of this course the student should be able to: create an investment policy statement; analyze and value fixed income securities; analyze and value equity securities; and develop and manage a portfolio of debt and equity securities.

FINC 556: Investment Banking
This course provides a broad overview of the activities of investment banks, including venture capital fundraising, stock and bond underwriting, mergers and acquisitions, trading, asset securitization and money management.
Outcome: Students will understand how investment banks enhance capital markets by providing financing and investment services to companies, governments and individuals.

FINC 628: Valuation
This is an advanced course in valuation where students are given a thorough grounding in traditional valuation models (DCF and relative valuation) and also introduced to real option methods and ideas; a certain emphasis is placed on the valuation of start-ups and students are introduced to the venture capital markets.
Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of traditional valuation models as well as real options methods and ideas.

ACCT 404: Financial Statement Analysis
This course evaluates the information contained in the financial statements, footnotes, and management discussion and analysis for its usefulness in making investment and credit decisions.
Outcome: Students will be able to assess the appropriateness of asset valuation, liability measurement, and equity values for judging the performance of an enterprise. Students will synthesize these assessments via a comprehensive financial statement analysis project.

FINC 453: Topics in Advanced Financial Management
This is an advanced course in corporate finance where students are given a thorough grounding in firm valuation and exposed to various financial decisions including raising capital, mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, spin-offs, and carve-outs, all in the context of their impact on firm value.
Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of firm valuation, as well as the impact of various corporate decisions on firm value.

FINC 556: Investment Banking
This course provides a broad overview of the activities of investment banks, including venture capital fundraising, stock and bond underwriting, mergers and acquisitions, trading, asset securitization and money management.
Outcome: Students will understand how investment banks enhance capital markets by providing financing and investment services to companies, governments and individuals.

FINC 628: Valuation
This is an advanced course in valuation where students are given a thorough grounding in traditional valuation models (DCF and relative valuation) and also introduced to real option methods and ideas; a certain emphasis is placed on the valuation of start-ups and students are introduced to the venture capital markets.
Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of traditional valuation models as well as real options methods and ideas.

FINC 455: International Financial Management
This course examines the international dimensions of financial management. It introduces potential opportunities/challenges faced by multinational corporations as they expand their business overseas.
Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of foreign exchange markets, fundamental international parity relationships, foreign exchange risk management strategies, and capital budgeting for multinational corporations.

All graduate programs in the Quinlan School of Business are on the quarter system. New students can start Quinlan graduate programs in the Fall and Spring Quarters.

Below you will find both required materials and opportunities to strengthen your application when applying to the Quinlan School of Business. Additional information regarding the application process for international students can be found here.

Application Deadlines

All graduate programs in the Quinlan School of Business are on the quarter system, and new students begin the MSF during all quarters.

Admission

To be considered for admission to the Quinlan School of Business Master's in Finance program, please review the following requirements:

Master of Science in Finance (MSF): Instructions for Degree-Seeking Applicants

A Completed Application Form

Official Transcripts

Letters of Recommendation

Statement of Purpose

Professional Resume

Language Test Requirement

Transcript Evaluation

What is the non-degree seeking option?