M.S. in Mathematical Finance
Program Office:
349
704-687-6219
http://www.mathfinance.uncc.edu
mathfin@email.uncc.edu
Degree
M.S.
Program Director
Dr. Richard Buttimer
252B
704-687-6219
buttimer@email.uncc.edu
Graduate
Faculty
Finance
Lloyd Blenman
Richard Buttimer
Steven Clark
Ben Nunnally
Steven Ott
Tony Plath
C. William Sealey
Mathematics
Joel Avrin
Robert Anderson
Wei Cai
Zongwu Cai
Janusz Kawczak
Michael Klibanov
Alex Papadopoulos
Joseph Quinn
Isaac Sonin
Volker Wihstutz
Zhi Yi Zhang
You Lan Zhu
Economics
Ted Amato
John Gandar
Hwan Lin
Rob Roy McGregor
Stanislav Radchenko
Ben Russo
Jennifer Troyer
Rick Zuber
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN MATHEMATICAL FINANCE
The Master of Science in Mathematical Finance program is designed to prepare students to pursue careers in finance. Increasingly firms of all types, but especially financial institutions, investment banks, and commodities firms, rely upon highly sophisticated mathematical models to identify, measure, and manage risk. The advent of these models has triggered the emergence of a new discipline, Mathematical Finance. This new discipline, sometimes also referred to as “financial engineering,” “computational finance,” or “quantitative finance,” requires professionals with extensive skills in both finance and mathematics.
The Mathematical Finance program at UNC Charlotte is a joint
program of the Departments of Finance and Economics in the Belk College of
Business Administration and the Department of Mathematics in the
Additional
Admission Requirements
In addition to the general requirements for admission to the
1) A baccalaureate degree in a related field with a GPA of at least 2.75 out of 4.0 with an average of 3.0 in the junior and senior years.
2) Acceptable scores on each portion of the GRE, or a GMAT score of at least 600, with a minimum score of at least the 85th percentile on the math portion of the GMAT.
3) For
applicants from non-English speaking countries, a language requirement score of
557 on the TOEFL or 220 on the new computer-based TOEFL or 78% on the MELAB.
Non-native speakers of English, may, at the discretion of either the
4) Specific course work equivalent to the following: introductory course in the Theory of Finance; a standard three semester sequence in Calculus; Linear algebra; working knowledge of a suitable programming language; at least one upper-level course in Probability and Statistics. Students lacking this coursework may be admitted subject to the condition that they satisfactorily complete such coursework during the first two semesters that they are enrolled in the program and prior to their taking any program courses where prerequisites are missing.
Prerequisite
Requirements
Students may enter this program from a variety of undergraduate backgrounds, including finance, mathematics, economics, computer science, actuarial science, statistics, information systems and engineering. As a result, many students admitted will not have the required background to immediately begin taking advanced courses from each of three areas of study. In such cases, the student may be required to take prerequisite courses prior to enrolling in advanced courses in specific fields. These prerequisites would be in addition to the advanced 30 semester hours required for the degree. In general students must have the following background in each field before taking advanced courses in that field:
1) Finance: Have earned an acceptable grade in an introductory course in finance from an AACSB-accredited business school at either the undergraduate or MBA level.
2) Economics: Have earned an acceptable grade in microeconomics and macroeconomics courses at either the undergraduate or MBA level.
3) Mathematics: Have earned acceptable grades in the equivalent of a three course sequence in calculus (differential and integral calculus), a course in linear algebra, and an upper-level course in probability and statistics.
4) Programming: Students should be familiar with at least one programming language, most preferably C or C++.
Again, students may be admitted to the program without meeting all of these requirements. The Program Director, in conjunction with the Departmental Graduate Coordinators, will evaluate each incoming student's academic background to determine in which prerequisite courses the student will be required to enroll. A student that meets the prerequisites in a field may begin taking advanced courses in that field while still taking prerequisite courses in another field. A student must, however, be making satisfactory progress toward fulfilling their prerequisites in all fields to remain enrolled in the program.
Degree
Requirements
Total hours required:
A minimum of thirty hours of course work beyond the bachelor's degree is required to earn the degree. The student must complete the required 24 hours from the program core and 6 hours of approved electives.
The Program Core:
ECON6203/
FINN6203 Financial Economic Theory
MATH6201 Statistical Techniques in Finance
or
ECON6218 Advanced Business & Economic Forecasting
FINN/
ECON6219 Financial Econometrics
FINN6210 Derivatives I: Financial Elements of Derivatives
FINN6211 Risk Management & Fixed Income Derivatives
MATH6202 Derivatives II: Partial Differential Equations for Finance
MATH6203 Stochastic Calculus for Finance
MATH6204 Numerical Methods for Financial Derivatives
Approved Mathematical Finance
Electives:
ECON6090 Topics in Economics
ECON6100 Mathematical Economics
ECON6112 Graduate Econometrics
ECON6201 Advanced Macroeconomic Theory
ECON6202 Advanced Microeconomic Theory
ECON6235 Monetary Theory and Financial Theory
ECON6800 Directed Study Economics
FINN6058 Special Topics in Financial Services
MATH5128 Applied Probability I.
MATH5129 Applied Probability II
MATH5143 Analysis I.
MATH5171 Numerical Solution of Ordinary Differential Equations
MATH6205 Financial Computing
Any MATH/STAT6200 level course and above.
Admission
to Candidacy Requirements
An Admission to Candidacy form listing graduate-level courses that apply to the degree must be submitted to the Mathematical Finance Program Director four weeks prior to the semester in which the student plans to complete the course work for the degree.
Assistantships
A number of assistantships are available each year. In order to be competitive, applications should be submitted by March 15. Additional information is available from the Program Director.
Advising
Advising is done by the Program Director, in conjunction with the Area Coordinators of each of the participating Departments.
Transfer
Credit
No more than 6 credit hours and only courses with a grade of
A or B at an accredited institution. Requires approval of the
Program Director and the
Comprehensive
Examination
Student will be required to pass a comprehensive examination. An examining committee will be appointed by the program director and will be constituted from the program’s faculty. The exam may be, at the committee’s discretion, either written or oral.
Application
for Degree
An Application for Degree form must be submitted to the
Mathematical Finance Courses
Economics Courses
See descriptions of ECON courses under Economics.
Finance Courses
See descriptions of FINN courses under General Graduate Courses in Business.
Mathematics Courses
See descriptions of MATH courses under Mathematics.