Master of Science in
Financial Engineering
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Session Outline
 Introduction (FE Faculty and Staff)
 What exactly is financial engineering?
 An Exercise in Expectations
 Program Structure
 Dual Degree Options
 Program Administration
 Registration Questions and Issues
 Bloomberg
 Q&A
FE Faculty – Academic Directors
Drucker School
James Mills
Mathematics
Henry Schellhorn
Financial Derivatives, Asset Management - Financial Mathematics, Operations Research –
University of Oregon
UCLA
FE Faculty
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Other key core faculty from Drucker
Murat Binay (Finance, Investments – University of Texas)
 Jay Prag (Finance, Fixed Income – Rochester University)
 Vijay Sathe (Strategy – Ohio State University)
 James Wallace (Financial Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis –
University of Washington)
 Hideki Yamawaki (Strategy – Harvard University)
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Other faculty from the School Of Mathematical Sciences
John Angus (Applied and Theoretical Probability – UC Riverside)
 Andrew Nguyen (UC Irvine)
 Allon Percus (Universite Paris-Sud)
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FE Staff
Nola Wanta
Assistant Director, MBA & FE
Burkle 110
Virginia “Jeannie” Bullard
Program Coordinator, MBA & FE
Burkle 118
What Exactly is Financial Engineering?
Financial engineering is the use of financial instruments, in
particular derivative products, to restructure or rearrange
cash flows to achieve particular financial goals, especially
the management of financial risk.
What Are Your Expectations?
What are Our Expectations?
 Be Involved – take advantage of your faculty, staff and fellow
students in both the FE program as well as the MBA program
 Be ethical – take seriously the philosophy and foundation of
the Drucker School
 Commit yourself intellectually and emotionally to a rigorous
and intense three semester program
 Comport yourselves at all times as professionals.
Program Structure
 Required courses from Drucker
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Financial Accounting (MGT 326)
Corporate Finance (MGT 335)
Financial Derivatives (MGT339)
Asset Management Practicum (MGT 402)
 Some elective courses from Drucker
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Strategy (MGT 340): fall
Game Theory (MGT 383): spring
Fixed Income (MGT 475): fall
Real Options (MGT 476): fall
Financial Strategy and Policy (MGT 373)
Financial Statement Analysis: spring
Introduction to Risk management (MGT 391): fall
Program Structure
 Required courses from The School of Mathematical Sciences
 Probability (Math 251): fall
 Statistical Theory (Math 252) or Financial Time Series (Math 463): spring
 Stochastic Processes (Math 256): spring
 Mathematical Finance (Math 358): fall
 Recommended elective courses from the School of Mathematical
Sciences
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Introduction to Scientific Computing (Math 364): fall
Statistical Theory (Math 252) or Financial Time Series (Math 463): spring
Numerical Methods for Finance (Math 361A) and Quantitative Risk
Management (Math 458A): fall
Simulation (Math 369): summer
Programming in C++: summer
Program Structure
 Other elective courses from the School of Mathematical Sciences
 Linear Statistical Models (Math 355): fall
 Numerical methods for PDEs (Math 362): fall
 Nonparametric and Computational Statistics (Math 352): spring
 Scientific Computing (Math 265): spring
 Advanced Numerical Analysis (Math 393): spring
 Partial Differential equations (Math 282): fall
 Courses in the Economics Department
 Econometrics II
 Econometrics III
(but do not count towards Math degree)
Course Sequence
 Fall – First Semester
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Probability (Math 251)
Financial Accounting (MGT 326)
Corporate Finance (MGT 335)
Elective
 Spring – Second Semester
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Stochastic Processes (Math 256)
Financial Derivatives (MGT 339)
Statistics (Math 252) or Financial Time Series (Math 463)
Elective
 Fall – Third Semester
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Mathematical Finance (Math 358)
Asset Management Practicum (MGT 402)
Elective
Elective
Dual Degree FE/MBA
 FE/MBA (80 units – if taken individually 108 units)
Degrees FE/Math
 Dual Degree Math/MSFE
 Need 2 additional math courses
 5 of the math courses must be level 300 or higher
 Need to have undergraduate degree in math or equivalent
 Important: must apply before completing 16 units of FE program
 MS degree in Math
 Need 4 additional math courses
 5 of the math courses must be level 300 or higher
 Need to have undergraduate degree in math or equivalent
Ph.D. in Financial Engineering
 We are not accepting applications this year
Exchange Program
 University of Lausanne, Switzerland
 2 students per academic year
 on the 3rd semester
 apply in March
 some financial aid
 University of Saint Gallen, Switzerland
 meant mostly for MBA
Registration/Bloomberg/ Administration
 Administration – Policies & Procedures you need to know
 Registration: Questions and Issues
 Bloomberg
 Student Involvement (Clubs, Co-Curricular Activities,
Internships)
Q&A