Quantitative Finance Certificate
Program
University of Colorado at Boulder
October 21, 2004
What Is Quantitative Finance?
• Bridge the gap between quantitative studies and
Finance
• Utilizes existing courses at CU
• Cooperative effort of Leeds, Economics,
Mathematics and Applied Mathematics
What Types of Jobs?
• Fixed income investment analyst
• Wall Street Sales & Trading (research/trading):
– Fixed income
– Derivatives
•
•
•
•
Pension consultant
Portfolio analyst/manager
Quantitative equity analyst
Treasury analyst
Is There a Market?
• These Universities offer graduate programs:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Carnegie Mellon
NYU
Stanford
Chicago
Cal-Berkley
Cornell
Columbia
Purdue
Oklahoma State
• Graduates average $100,00 to $130,000 total comp
What Is Required?
• About 60% more work in comparison to and average
Leeds student for four years, likely with a lower GPA
• Very strong mathematics skills
– A grade of “B” is required in Calc 1,2,3
• An interest in analysis and “figuring out things”
• Depending on the path you choose, maybe more than 8
semesters
Placement Help
• Strong support from Career Services
• Potential employers will be educated regarding
the program
• A very high placement percentage expected
Many Paths to Follow
• Immediate relevant experience
admission
to top graduate schools
many options
• Immediate enrollment in graduate quant program
• Phd in Finance or Accounting
Business Curriculum Exceptions
• Math Modules are replaced
– Calc 1 (APPM 1360 or MATH 1300) replaces 1081
– Linear Algebra (APPM 3310 or MATH 3130) replace 1071
• BCOR 2010 (Business Statistics) is replaced
– Any of the 3000/4000 level stats courses listed in our guide
• Stats becomes a co-requisite of BCOR 2100
– For regular students, it is a prerequisite
First Three Semesters
Fall Frosh
Spring Frosh
BCOR 1000
3
BCOR 1100
3
Econ 2010 Micro
APPM 1360/MATH 1400 Calc 2
4/5
Econ 2020 Macro
4
4
SYST 2010 VBA Programming
3
APPM 1350/MATH 1300 Calc 1
4/5
A&S Content
3
A&S Content
3
A&S Science
3
Total
17/18
Total
17/18
Fall Sophomore
BCOR 2000 Accounting
4
BCOR 2050 Marketing
3
APPM 2350/Math 2300 Calc 3
5
A&S Science
3
A&S Content
3
Total
18
Finance and Accounting
Recommended Finance And Accounting
Courses
Required Finance/Accounting Courses
Course
Subject
3
BCOR 2000
Intro Acctg/Financial Analysis
4
Introductory Finance
3
BCOR 2100
Introductory Finance
3
FNCE 3010
Corporate Finance
3
FNCE 3010
Corporate Finance
3
FNCE 3020
Financial Markets And Institutions
3
Financial Markets And
Institutions
3
Course
Subject
BCOR 2000
Intro Acctg/Financial Analysis
BCOR 2100
FNCE 4030
Investments
3
FNCE 3020
FNCE 4040
Derivatives
3
FNCE 4030
Investments
3
FNCE 4820
Fixed income
3
FNCE 4040
Derivatives
3
FNCE 4820
Equities
3
Acctg 3220
Corporate Financial Reporting 1
3
FNCE XXXX
Quant Methods in Finance (TBA)
3
One Elective From Specific List
3
Acctg 3220
Corporate Financial Reporting 1
3
Acctg 3230
Corporate Financial Reporting 2
3
Total
25
Acctg 4250
Financial Statement Analysis
3
Total
36
Economics
Required Economics Courses
Course
Subject
ECON 2010
Principles of Microeconomics
3
ECON 2020
Principles of Macroeconomics
3
ECON 3070
Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
3
ECON 4808
Introduction to Mathematical Economics
3
ECON 4818
Introduction to Econometrics
3
Total
Note: you can take ECON 1000/3070/3080 rather than 2010/2020/3070
15
Systems/Programming
• At least one programming course is required
– Visual Basic
– Java
– C++
• Most Leeds students will take SYST 2010
– Visual Basic (used in Excel macros)
– Counts as a business elective
• An additional course is recommended
Mathematics/Statistics
Required Mathematics and Statistics Courses
APPM 1350
MATH 1300
Calculus I
4/5
APPM 1360
MATH 1400
Calculus II
4/5
APPM 2350
MATH 2300
Calculus III
5
APPM 3310
MATH 3130
Matrix Methods/Linear Algebra
3
One Listed Statistics/Probability Course
3
One Additional Listed Math/Stats Course
3
Total Hours
22-24
Minimum Data Analysis
Data Analysis Emphasis
APPM 1350
MATH 1300
Calculus I
4/5
APPM 1360
MATH 1400
Calculus II
4/5
APPM 2350
MATH 2300
Calculus III
5
APPM 3310
MATH 3130
Matrix Methods
3
APPM 4570
Statistical Methods
3
APPM 4580
Statistical Applications/Software
3
Total Hours
22-24
Full Data Analysis
APPM 1350
MATH 1300
Calculus I
4/5
APPM 1360
MATH 1400
Calculus II
4/5
APPM 2350
MATH 2300
Calculus III
5
APPM 3310
MATH 3130
Matrix Methods
3
APPM 4570
Statistical Methods
3
APPM 4580
Statistical Applications/Software
3
APPM 7400
Advanced Topics In Statistics
3
APPM 7400
Advanced Topics In Statistics
3
Total Hours
28-30
Math Theory Track
Credit
Course
Subject
Hours
APPM 1350
MATH 1300
Calculus I
4/5
APPM 1360
MATH 1400
Calculus II
4/5
APPM 2350
MATH 2300
Calculus III
5
APPM 3310
MATH 3130
Matrix Methods
3
APPM 3570
MATH 4510
Applied Probability
3
Scientific Computing - Matlab
3
APPM 3050
APPM 4520
MATH 4520
Intro To Mathematics Statistics
3
APPM 4540
MATH 4540
Intro To Time Series
3
Markov Processes, Monte Carlo
3
Total Hours
31/33
APPM 4560
Contacts
• Jerry Madigan: madigan@colorado.edu
– Documents are on my website (find link through the
Leeds faculty listing)
• Dr. Eric Hughson: Eric.Hughson@colorado.edu
• Contacts in Economics, Mathematics and
Applied Mathematics available at website