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Online Master of Science in Finance Program Courses

Curriculum Details

  • 10 Courses
  • 30 Credits
  • 8-Week Course Duration

​Illinois Tech’s online Master of Science in Finance program offers a rigorous, tech-focused curriculum that can be completed in as few as 12 months. Gain hands-on experience with tools like Excel, SQL, and Python to prepare for roles in investment banking, risk management, and financial analysis. This 100 percent online program covers key areas such as financial mathematics, statistical analysis, accounting, and financial modeling. Advanced topics include derivatives pricing, portfolio management, and financial statement analysis.

Core Courses

Credits

This course provides a systematic exposition of the primary mathematical methods used in finance and the financial markets. Mathematical concepts and methods discussed are precalculus, calculus, and probability and statistics. Applications include simple and compound interest, annuities and mortgages, forward and futures contracts, bond pricing and duration and convexity, option pricing and strategies, solution of equations of value, optimization, volatility, elementary portfolio theory, Black Scholes option pricing, Binomial Option Pricing, and statistical inference. The learning method includes doing problems in class, quizzes, Final Exam, films, supplementary reading of relevant articles.

Statistics is very important and useful for the analysis of financial markets, especially in today’s financial world of large data. This course has three sections. The first section reviews the basics of statistics, including Tabular and Graphical tools, Descriptive Statistics, Exploratory Data, and Probability Distributions. The second section turns to the theory and methods of Statistical Inference. It explains Sampling Theory, Estimation, and Hypothesis Testing. The third section puts emphasis on Variance Analysis and Regression Analysis, a widely used statistical technique in finance. To emphasize the applications of statistics in financial market, during lectures I would regularly 1) explain statistical results presented in financial news and articles, 2) demonstrate the usage of financial data in statistical analysis, 3) emphasize statistical techniques that have broad financial applications. Students are expected to understand as much science of the subject as possible without sacrificing learning its applications in finance.
Modeling using databases and python programming is ubiquitous in the modern financial industry and business in general. In this course, students will learn how to implement quantitative models using Microsoft Excel, SQL, and Python. Models will include those statistical methods, time series, and valuation models most widely used in industry. Numerical techniques including Monte Carlo simulation, optimization, and root-finding will also be covered. Particular attention will also be paid to project management and testing.
The course is a survey of asset pricing theory. The fundamentals of bond and option pricing are covered as well as the CAPM, APT, and the Fama-French models. Excel spreadsheet modeling is used to illustrate and understand the concepts of Markowitz’s Mean Variance Optimization, equity valuation, option pricing, and utility theory. The course places a special emphasis on the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and investment opportunities.
This three-credit foundation course, mainly for Master of Science in Finance (MSF) students, will examine the mechanism, pricing, trading, and risk management of financial derivatives. Specifically, the students will learn options, forwards, futures contracts, swaps, OTC derivatives, arbitrage-free pricing, risk-neutral pricing, binomial trees, the Black-Scholes-Merton approach, and the Monte Carlo simulation for derivatives pricing. Numerical examples in this course are paper-and-pencil-based, spreadsheet-based, or Python-based. Students will implement a simple derivatives trading strategy using trading software. At the end of the semester, a student should know the mechanism, terminologies, and basic properties of futures, options, and OTC Derivatives; be able to implement speculative, hedging, and arbitrage trading strategies using futures and options; be able to determine a price of futures/forward, options, and OTC Derivatives using non-arbitrage arguments, option bounds, a binomial model, Black-Scholes-Merton model, Monte Carlo Simulation, etc.; and understand dynamic delta hedging and other Greeks for financial risk management purposes.
The primary objective of this course is for the student to develop his/her financial analysis skills. This course will focus on key accounting concepts, financial ratios, forecasting techniques and industry issues which are critical in interpreting and analyzing external financial reports. Additionally, advanced analysis skills will be introduced, which should enable the student to look beyond the numbers (presented in a GAAP/IFRS format) and ultimately obtain a more informed decision regarding the financial strength (value) of the company (security). Throughout this course students will be involved in “hands-on” financial analysis by working on class exercises/problems, discussing special topical readings and completing an assigned case.
The primary objective of this course is for students to develop a strong understanding (and interest) of financial management related topics including: cost of capital, capital budgeting, capital structure decisions, working capital management, dividend payout policy, debt and equity financing, mergers & acquisitions, and corporate governance. Throughout this course, students will apply corporate finance topics to current company examples, which will be facilitated by class discussion, in-class exercises/problems, and assigned topic homework problems.

The primary goal is for students to develop an understanding of key investment banking concepts and applications. Students will be exposed to topics such as comparable companies’ analysis, precedent transaction analysis, discounted cash flow analysis, leverage buyouts, venture capital, and sell-side and buy-side mergers and acquisitions. During the course, students will interact with real company scenarios and will be required to use investment banking applications to solve in-class examples and problems. In the latter part of this course, students will work on an assigned case pertaining to a specific investment banking topic. This case will include a comprehensive data set and require Excel modeling. Because this is a “hands on” course, it will require both the student’s attendance and participation to learn the core concepts that are necessary to perform well on the class exams and apply the necessary material to the assigned case and homework problems.

The primary goal is for students to develop an understanding of equity valuation processes and applications. Topics discussed in class will include dividend discount, free cash flow, residual income, and market-based valuations as well as private and distressed company valuations. Throughout this course, students will apply equity asset valuation topics discussed in class to real world examples and in-class problems/exercises. During the latter part of this course, students will work in a group environment to complete and present an equity research report for a selected U.S. public company. Because this is a “hands on” course, it will require both the student’s attendance and participation to learn the core concepts that are necessary to perform well on the class exams and apply to the group equity valuation project.

This course will enable the student to understand the basics of financial markets and how they function in the global arena. The student will learn how the equities market, the bond market, the money market, the foreign exchange market and the derivatives markets are set up and operate. We will focus on the instruments, the players, the jargon, the details of the trade, and the institutional framework for each market. We cover both OTC and exchange-traded markets, and explore the dramatic transformation of these markets. The student will learn how each of these markets operates in the US, but will also learn how practices differ in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

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