A Future in Finance
A finance degree from Isenberg employs a rigorous and balanced curriculum to serve the needs of the financial industry. Students learn how to raise debt and equity capital, evaluate profitability and riskiness of projects, value small businesses and large corporations, and make traditional and alternative investments in global financial markets.
Curriculum and Concentrations
The expansive and rigorous curriculum with an honors capstone sequence provides many choices and opportunities for students to specialize in one or more of four different concentrations: Corporate Finance, Financial Analyst, Risk Management, and Alternative Investments. The curriculum is guided though our academic partnerships with the leading professional designations such as the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and the Chartered Alternative Investments Analyst (CAIA).
Beyond the Classroom
Internships at firms like JP Morgan, State Street, Merrill Lynch, Fidelity Investments, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, John Hancock, BNY-Melon and numerous other banks and companies are a key experiential learning component of the finance undergraduate program at Isenberg. These highly sought after internships expose our students to the real world issues and challenges. Close to three quarters of finance students graduate with at least one internship experience and more than one third graduate with two internship experiences.
Finance students at Isenberg use Bloomberg terminals to seamlessly access a wealth of real-time and historical data on financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, currencies, and derivatives, and financial institutions such as banks, hedge funds, mutual funds, and pension funds. Donated by Babson Capital, the twelve Bloomberg terminals are a critical resource for the four student-run clubs: The Finance Society, The Investment Club, The Minuteman Equity Fund, and The Minuteman Fixed Income Fund.
Finance students learn real world money management skills by managing the student-run Minutemen family of funds. Students can be invited into these funds: Minutemen Equity Fund, Minutemen Fixed Income Fund and the Minutemen Alternative Investments Fund. Fund activities include, fund administration, making investments, doing peer interviews, running student-run courses in stock and bond selection, writing analyst reports, and producing periodic newsletters in equities and fixed income.
Open to Isenberg students, the Real Estate Certificate program helps prepare students for possible careers as a Real Estate Financial Analyst, Investor, Acquisitions Analyst, Sales Agent, or Lending professional. The 3-course sequence includes issuance of the Massachusetts pre-licensure educational credits needed for a student to test for a Salesperson license if interested. The program also provides deep Excel case-based modelling across pro-forma forecasting, discounted cash flow, optimizing debt/equity, and structuring transactions between General and Limited partners. The program concludes with Argus certification training and a negotiations seminar.
Smart Woman Securities (SWS) is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to educate undergraduate women on finance and investments. Outside of weekly meetings and guest speakers, Smart Woman Securities sponsors two networking trips to Boston and New York City. SWS participates and sponsors a variety of education events throughout the school year. In the fall semester, our 10-week stock pitch seminar series educates members on the basics of developing a stock pitch thesis as well as valuing a company. In the Spring semester, members can continue to build both their fundamental and technical skills by participating in the Spring research teams.
The Isenberg Pitch Conference was built on student initiative to build relationships, networks, and expand business acumen in the field of finance. The one-day competition is an exceptional way for teams of students to research and pitch stock. Judges from top firms such as Fidelity, Black Rock, Wellington Management, and Goldman Sachs challenge the students with questions to provide more depth and analysis into their pitches. The purpose of the competition is to promote student research of the current standings of stocks and present their investments in a way that would make real investors feel that they would be making a sturdy financial decision.
Career Paths in Finance
Finance majors take positions in a broad spectrum of industries, including banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies, real estate developers, and accounting firms. Isenberg's Office of Career Success is dedicated to serving the career and professional development needs of Isenberg students.
Finance Faculty
Contact Us
Department of Finance
Room 226
Isenberg School of Management
121 Presidents Drive
Amherst, MA 01003