Also See Academic Coordinating Committee

Graduate Programs

Currently the Department of Finance offers a finance concentration and five finance specializations: 

• Finance Concentration
• Corporate Finance and Investments Specialization
• Investment Management Specialization
• Energy Finance Specialization
• Real Estate Finance Specialization
• Private Equity Finance Specialization

The objective of the program is to prepare MBA students for financial positions with non-financial corporations, the financial services industry, private equity firms, energy companies, and real estate firms. This program builds on the existing faculty expertise in the Department of Finance and the McCombs School of Business. Based on students' choices among a multidisciplinary set of courses in finance, accounting and other fields, students are able to develop specializations in the areas of corporate finance, investments, and private equity as well as energy finance and real estate finance.

In recent years, finance has been the largest, single placement area in the MBA program with approximately 40% of all the job offers made to MBA students for positions in finance. A representative list of firms who recruited UT MBA students for finance-related positions over 2004-2005 can be found following the course requirements for each specialization. The Department has consulted with many of these firms, as well as other finance recruiters, in the development of the program.

One of the goals in designing the program is to provide students with the maximum flexibility possible in course selection, while insuring that students have sufficient exposure to the academic subjects necessary to certify them as prepared for finance-related careers. The Finance concentration (as well as each specialization area) has two required courses for all students beyond the introductory course BA 385T, Financial Management: FIN 394.1, Advanced Topics in Corporate Finance and FIN 397.1, Investment Theory and Practice. Students then take 12 additional semester credit hours from two curriculum blocks. The two blocks are: (1) Finance and Real Estate, requiring a minimum of three courses selected by the student from the non-core, graduate electives offered by the Department of Finance; and, (2) Accounting, with a minimum of one graduate accounting course beyond the accounting core requirement. Students can freely select courses for each block to design a curriculum that best prepares them for their desired financial positions. Students planning to complete the Finance concentration should take FIN 394.1 and FIN 397.1 during the spring semester of their first year. Most of the remaining Finance electives have these 2 courses along with BA 385T as pre-requisites.

Finance Concentration

Curriculum Requirements
FIN 394.1 Advanced Topics in Corporate Finance
FIN 397.1 Investment Theory & Practice
It is advised that students take these courses during the spring semester of their first year in the MBA program.

Finance and Real Estate Block
Students take any three non-core, graduate courses with the prefix of FIN or RE taken during the second year in the MBA program.

Accounting Block
Students take any non-core, graduate course with the prefix of ACC.

Total required hours: 18