Dec 30, 2024  
2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
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2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Quantitative Finance Major with a Minor in Economics and Mathematics, B.S.

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Bachelor of Science in Quantitative Finance

The B.S. degree with a major in quantitative finance is designed to prepare students for careers in financial engineering, structured finance, financial modeling, securitization, actuarial science, financial analysis and portfolio management. The focus of this major is on problem solving in the quantitative areas of finance with an added emphasis on the application of complex securities to a variety of financial situations.

The quantitative finance program, which is a cross disciplinary major with many courses co-listed with the math department, is a highly structured program requiring minor fields in both mathematics and economics, though many students choose to double major in mathematics and quantitative finance. If the double major is selected, students are required to take ECON 200 , ECON 201  and ECON 331 , but are not required to complete the economics minor. Students electing this program should consult with their major adviser as early as possible to identify the appropriate course sequencing. Students electing to double major in mathematics and quantitative finance should also consult with a mathematics adviser as soon as possible.

Students enrolled in James Madison University who wish to change their major to quantitative finance should go to the Student Center in MyMadison to submit a request. Students must be in good academic standing to change their major to quantitative finance and, if they have taken any FIN prefix courses at the time of the change request, must meet the prerequisites for the required courses in the quantitative finance major.

Transfer Credit

Each program in the CoB will accept no more than two courses of transfer credit toward the major except in extraordinary circumstances.  The major is defined as the course work required by a major field of study in addition to the lower and upper-level BBA core courses.  For a course to be considered for acceptance in the student’s major, it must have been completed in an AACSB International-accredited business program, or a similarly accredited program, at a four-year university. 

In general, all finance course work must be completed at JMU. Transfer credit for finance courses is awarded only in certain circumstances. In no case will transfer credit be awarded for FIN 488 . Contact the department head for more information on transfer credit.

Quantitative Finance Major with a minor in Economics and Mathematics

Degree Requirements

  • General Education  41 Credit Hours 1
  • Scientific Literacy requirement 3 Credit Hours 2
  • Electives 11 Credit Hours
  • Major requirements (listed below) 65 Credit Hours

Total: 120 Credit Hours

Footnotes

1 The General Education  program contains a set of requirements each student must fulfill. The number of credit hours necessary to fulfill these requirements may vary.
2 In addition to course work taken to fulfill General Education requirement .

Major Requirements

Finance Courses: 27 Credit Hours

Plus one of the following:

Mathematics Courses: 27 Credit Hours

(Four of the 27 credits count for General Education )

One of the following recommended MATH electives:

Economics Courses: 18 Credit Hours

(Six of the 18 credits count for General Education )

Total: 75 Credit Hours

Footnotes

1 General Education requirement Cluster Three  .
2 General Education requirement Cluster Four .
3 Satisfies the scientific literacy requirement.

Risk Management Concentration

Though not required, quantitative finance majors may elect the risk management concentration. Students electing this concentration will be taking specific electives and two additional electives. Students may add this concentration to their program when they progress to FIN 380  .

Quantitative finance majors who wish to declare the risk management concentration may do so after successfully completing FIN 250  or any semester following.

A focus in risk management is designed for qualitative finance majors pursuing a more in-depth review of the issues facing organizations and the tools needed to address those uncertainties. In the risk management concentration, students focus on the theory of risk management, risk identification, risk measurement and applications in the form of risk modeling techniques such as Value-at-Risk and Monte Carlo simulations.

Required Courses

Total: 12 Credit Hours

Additional Information

FIN 450  is a requirement for quantitative finance majors and FIN 451  and FIN 475  are possible electives for this major. Students electing this concentration take two courses beyond the typical quantitative finance major.

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