Finance, M.S.

Economics and Finance
Jeff Stark, program director
615-494-8715 

The purpose of the M.S. degree in Finance is to provide a graduate-level knowledge base and expertise to those who work in the growing field of finance, assisting individuals, companies, and governments, among others, in navigating the increasingly complex and essential world of financial analysis. The M.S. in Finance program seeks to provide students with instruction that will prepare them for careers as financial analysts, consultants, managers, and planners. The program is designed to be completed in one calendar year and through synchronous online delivery.

Admission Requirements

Applicants must provide

• transcript(s);
• personal statement of purpose;
• resume or CV.

The GMAT/GRE requirement may be waived for applicants that meet any of the following conditions:

• an earned bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited college or university with GPA 3.0 or higher (International transcripts must have an official evaluation by a NACES member.)
• an earned bachelor's degree with a GPA of 2.75 - 2.99 and five (5) or more years of professional/managerial work experience (resume required)
• an earned graduate or professional degree from a regionally accredited college or university

Application Procedures

All application materials are to be submitted to the College of Graduate Studies.

Applicants must

1. submit an application with the appropriate application fee (online at mtsu.edu/applynow/application/login). Once this initial application has been accepted, the applicant will receive directions on how to enter the graduate portal to be able to submit other materials.
2. submit official scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
3. submit official transcripts of previous college work.

Degree Requirements

The Master of Science in Finance requires completion of 33 semester hours (24 hours of core courses and 9 hours of elective courses). The program is designed to be completed in one calendar year.

Curriculum: Finance

The following illustrates the coursework requirements.

Core Courses (24 hours)

• FIN 6010 - Foundations of Finance  3 credit hours  

  
  

  FIN 6010 - Foundations of Finance

  3credit hours

  For Finance M.S. students only. Provides an introduction to finance at the graduate level. Topics include the time value of money, valuation of debt and equity, risk and return, financial statements, and capital budgeting.

• FIN 6060 - Financial Data Analysis and Applications  3 credit hours  

  
  

  FIN 6060 - Financial Data Analysis and Applications

  3credit hours

  Prerequisites: FIN 6010 and FIN 6110. Focuses on understanding and working with data to make statistical inference. Statistical software used for data collection, data cleaning, dataset creation, and applied regression analysis.

• FIN 6110 - Financial Modeling  3 credit hours  

  
  

  FIN 6110 - Financial Modeling

  3credit hours

  Prerequisite: FIN 6010 (or concurrent enrollment in FIN 6010). Includes mathematical, programming, and statistical tools used in the real-world analysis and modeling of financial data; applies these tools to model asset prices and returns, to measure risk, and to construct optimized portfolios. Examines real-world problems faced by investment advisors, consultants, and investors in putting finance theory into practice.

• FIN 6460 - Investments  3 credit hours  

  
  

  FIN 6460 - Investments

  3credit hours

  (Same as ECON 6460.) Prerequisites: FIN 6010 and FIN 6110. Focuses on the pricing of equity and debt securities using discounted cash flow, relative valuation, and the Black-Scholes real option valuation approaches in the top-down analysis framework. Focuses on analyzing the macroeconomic environment, forecasting short-term and long-term stock market trends, performing industry analysis, identifying the key value drivers for the industry and stocks, interpreting accounting and non-accounting information necessary for valuation, establishing assumptions for valuation models, applying valuation quantitative models in the stock research project, and presenting equity research in a professional manner.

• FIN 6710 - Financial Statement Analysis  3 credit hours  

  
  

  FIN 6710 - Financial Statement Analysis

  3credit hours

  Prerequisites: FIN 6010 with C or better. Theory of corporate finance with applications. Techniques and problems for maximizing wealth through the application of discounted cash flow analysis. Emphasis on risk, capital budgeting, and capital structure.

• FIN 6730 - Financial Institutions and Markets  3 credit hours  

  
  

  FIN 6730 - Financial Institutions and Markets

  3credit hours

  (Same as ECON 6730.) Prerequisites: FIN 6010 and FIN 6110. Focuses on the common and distinctive aspects of the provision of financial services and the management of risk associated with those services. Roles, characteristics, and operation of financial institutions, constraints that these institutions face in meeting that objective, regulatory environment within which they operate, risks they face and the management of those risks, evolution of the financial industry over time, and the causes and reactions to financial crises throughout the world.

• FIN 6750 - Corporate Finance  3 credit hours  

  
  

  FIN 6750 - Corporate Finance

  3credit hours

  Prerequisites: FIN 6010 and FIN 6110. Topics include ethical decision making, advanced risk analysis, advanced project analysis, advanced capital structure concepts, valuation techniques, and cash flow analysis.

• FIN 6920 - Cases in Finance  3 credit hours  

  
  

  FIN 6920 - Cases in Finance

  3credit hours

  Prerequisites: FIN 6460 and FIN 6750. Applications-oriented approach to managerial problem-solving. Topics may include working capital management, capital budgeting, cost of capital estimation, lease/purchase decisions, bond refunding, and international issues.

Elective Courses (9 hours)

• Approved electives (5000/6000 level) 9 credit hours