If you are interested in fulfilling mathematically demanding positions within the financial services industry within financial institutions, government agencies, or non-profit institutions, then you may want to specialize an MBA in Quantitative Finance. As financial managers play an increasingly prominent role in global expansion, mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations, it is becoming more important to have extensive specialized knowledge in quantitative finance to help an organization reduce risks for maximum profit. Not only will an MBA enhance your understanding of recent developments in global financial markets, but a specialization in quantitative finance will bring awareness of stochastic processes, applied economics, risk management, and statistics. Read on to learn more about the ways that you can specialize your MBA program with a concentration in quantitative finance for your greatest business potential.
Structure of an MBA in Quantitative Finance
As a one to two year full-time graduate degree program, the Master of Business Administration typically requires the completion of anywhere from 30 to 65 credits for completion, depending on students’ previous business background. When a quantitative finance specialization is selected, the curriculum will provide a broad-based business education as well as specialized courses that build quantitative skills and develop underlying financial theories. Drawing upon applied mathematics, economics, statistics, and even computer science, the specialization focuses on providing innovative solutions to current business problems through a firm understanding of quantitative finance concepts. Students should expect to take courses in credit risk, asset management, debt instruments, probability, statistics, forecasting, financial models, financial mathematics, commodity derivatives, portfolio management, and valuation.
Finding an MBA Specialization in Quantitative Finance
Although there are many MBA programs nationwide that offer elective courses related to quantitative finance, there is currently just one MBA program with a formal specialization available in quantitative finance. At New York University, the Stern School of Business provides a Full-Time MBA in Quantitative Finance program that blends general management courses with sophisticated specialized courses related to more mathematically demanding aspects of finance. Since there is just one such program, many graduate students instead choose to pursue a Master of Science in Quantitative Finance, which is available at many high ranking universities like Carnegie Mellon, NYU-Poly, Columbia, Princeton, Boston University, MIT, Rutgers, Stanford, Fordham, and more.
Alternative Specialization Options Available
Due to the fact that finding a master’s degree or MBA specialization in quantitative finance can be extremely challenging, many graduate students seeking the similar understanding of financial markets from a statistical standpoint choose other alternatives for specialization. For instance, students may wish to specialize in mathematical finance to link financial theory with mathematical or numerical models for projecting market prices. Others will choose a specialization in financial economics, which promotes a rigorous understanding of theoretical finance within a unique economic framework. It is also possible to specialize in financial engineering to blend methods of engineering with tools of mathematics to better understand the practice of finance in today’s evolving business marketplace.
Related Resource: Executive MBA
Overall, finding an MBA program that offers a specialization in quantitative finance can be limiting due to the small percentage of degrees available by top quant schools, but there are many ways to focus your master’s degree on developing the strong quantitative skills needed for a deeper knowledge of finance, according to Wall Street and Tech. If you choose to specialize an MBA in quantitative finance, you can find abundant career opportunities related to investment banking, asset management, public finance, risk management, sales and trading, fixed income research, or financial engineering.
