MS in Financial Management

The Master of Science (MS) in Financial Management at Boston University’s Metropolitan College is designed for students seeking specialized education in global quantitative finance, including investment analysis and international finance. Students are offered a hands-on, immersive financial analytics experience, including a significant amount of statistical analysis, forecasting techniques, and programming. The program prepares students to become leaders in modern global finance. Students are exposed to courses requiring data organization, analysis, and visualization to aid financial decisionmaking and risk management. To prepare students for the analytical and programming curriculum, they are supported by several laboratories that cover mathematics and statistics with applications in management, advanced Excel, R, and Python. Additionally, students are encouraged to work on projects and a master thesis involving various aspects of data analysis, using data to extract and present helpful information for financial and investment decisionmaking. Students use sophisticated tools to design comprehensive visualization of significant organizational trends and prepare convincing presentations.

The Master of Science in Financial Management program offers concentrations in Investment Analysis and International Finance.

Learning Outcomes

• Understanding of quantitative analysis in financial management and investment decisionmaking.
• Proficiency in application of mathematical and statistical modeling in financial analytics.
• Mastery in forecasting techniques to the analysis of problems of business organizations and performance.
• Comprehension of optimization theories and data analytics techniques in portfolio management.
• Knowledge and ability to perform data organization, analysis, and visualization for financial decisionmaking.

Admissions Information

For current admissions information, please visit the Metropolitan College website.

Degree Requirements

Credits for graduate courses in Administrative Sciences that meet the program criteria and receive a grade of B– or higher may be transferred to the Administrative Sciences certificate programs, with the prior approval of the department.

Two elective courses taken outside of the Administrative Sciences department may be applied to the Master of Science in Financial Management degree.

An average grade point average of 3.0 or higher must be earned to remain in good academic standing and satisfy the requirements to earn the degree or certificate.

A total of ten courses (40 credits) is required, distributed as follows:

Degree Core Courses (four courses/16 credits)

• MET AD 630 Financial and Managerial Accounting
• MET AD 678 Financial Regulation and Ethics
• MET AD 685 Quantitative Methods for Finance
• MET AD 731 Corporate Finance

Specialization Courses (four courses/16 credits)

• MET AD 712 Financial Markets and Institutions
• MET AD 714 Mergers and Acquisitions
• MET AD 717 Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management

And one of the following:

• MET AD 709 Case Studies in Current Corporate Financial Topics
• MET AD 713 Derivative Securities and Markets
• MET AD 719 Fixed Income Analysis
• MET AD 763 Multinational Finance and Trade

General Electives (two courses/8 credits)

Select two from the following list:

• MET AD 528 Blockchain Finance
• MET AD 587 Interdisciplinary Methods for Quantitative Finance
• MET AD 605 Operations Management: Business Process Fundamentals
• MET AD 610 Enterprise Risk Management
• MET AD 642 Project Management
• MET AD 644 Project Risk and Cost Management
• MET AD 648 Ecommerce
• MET AD 680 Global Supply Chains
• MET AD 715 Quantitative and Qualitative Decision-Making
• MET AD 741 The Innovation Process: Developing New Products and Services
• MET CJ 632 White-Collar Crime
• MET CS 555 Foundations of Machine Learning

Or choose any other graduate-level course selected from other Administrative Sciences department offerings or Metropolitan College departments as well as from other schools and colleges within Boston University, with an advisor’s approval.

Concentration Options

Concentration in International Finance

The concentration in International Finance is designed for professionals whose work involves multinational corporations and global financial markets. Students will be equipped to perform quantitative analysis to assess transnational organization challenges and address them efficiently. This concentration exposes students to hands-on analytics of foreign exchange risk, transaction and translation exposure, foreign direct investments, and multinational corporate strategic management. Graduates will be qualified for jobs in worldwide credit risk evaluation, quantitative strategies for global security selection, risk measurement and mitigation, cash management, and the impact of foreign exchange rates on the cost of capital and budgeting.

The concentration in International Finance will provide the necessary tools for students to navigate the international financial system, understand global portfolio management, and explore the balance of payments and international economic linkages. Students will be able to specialize in a highly desired area of quantitative finance.

Learning Outcomes

• Proficiency in multinational finance quantitative analysis, including international trade and cross-border mergers and acquisitions.
• Demonstrated ability to apply mathematical and statistical modeling in financial analytics in the context of multinational financial management.
• Mastery in forecasting techniques to the analysis of problems of multinational business organizations and performance.
• Ability to utilize financial statements and foreign exchange derivative instruments to assess and manage currency transactional and translational risk.
• Knowledge and ability to perform data organization, analysis, and visualization for global finance decisionmaking.

Concentration in Investment Analysis

Designed for professionals already working in, or seeking positions in, investment research, risk management, security selection, and portfolio management, the concentration in Investment Analysis provides in-depth knowledge of investment strategies, asset valuation, and investment management. Graduates of the program will be prepared to excel in a variety of careers in finance involving analysis and valuation of financial assets and risk management.

The investment analysis concentration offers students an opportunity to learn sophisticated portfolio management approaches, including quantitative techniques for portfolio optimization and rebalancing. Students will apply analytical methodologies within the overall investment process and utilize the critical elements, such as asset allocation and security selection, including specialized portfolios, such as ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance)-focused investments. Students will also learn about services provided by mutual funds and be able to construct portfolios with different risk levels. Moreover, students will learn how to value a firm using constant growth or multistage dividend discount models, financial statements, and financial ratio analysis. The concentration in Investment Analysis provides students with an in-depth understanding of efficient portfolio management.

Learning Outcomes

• Proficiency in constructing and managing investment portfolios with different risk levels, and quantitatively assessing and adjusting portfolio risk-return profiles.
• The ability to apply mathematical and statistical modeling in financial analytics in the context of equity and fixed income portfolios.
• Mastery in forecasting techniques to the analysis of macroeconomic factors and monetary and fiscal policy effects on security selection and portfolio evaluation.
• Comprehension and quantitative evaluation of derivative instruments to assess their role in portfolio risk adjustment and risk hedging to reduce portfolio volatility.
• Knowledge and ability to perform data organization, analysis, and visualization for domestic and global portfolio management.

Good Standing

No grade lower than B– may be applied toward degree, certificate, or diploma requirements. Students earning below a 3.0 cumulative grade point average (GPA) will be placed on academic probation status. Students on academic probation must make satisfactory progress toward achieving a minimum of 3.0 by the following semester, and must be in a position to graduate with a 3.0 or better within the remaining program courses. While grades of B or B– are considered passing, these grades will not assist in raising an unsatisfactory GPA to a satisfactory level. Therefore, students must obtain a minimum grade of B+ during a probation period.

Students who, in the determination of the department and based on past student performance, are not in a position to raise their GPA to the necessary level to graduate within the remaining courses will be dismissed from the program. Students who have not removed themselves from academic probation status after one semester for full-time status or three courses for part-time status will be dismissed from the program.

Second Master’s Degree Option

In appreciation of the converging needs of management and technology, the departments of Actuarial Science, Administrative Sciences, and Computer Science collaborate to offer a unique opportunity to students currently enrolled in their degree programs as well as alumni of those programs. Learn more.

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