Asness and Liew Master in Finance Recorded Admissions Events

Noah Ward: Welcome to this recorded presentation on the Masters in Finance Program here at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. The Masters in Finance is a tremendous program made available to individuals that are in their early career phase or coming right out of undergrad that have strong quantitative background and are looking to advance their careers within the finance realm. So let's get started. I like to start off these presentations by going over an outline of what we'll be discussing throughout the presentation. So let's look at the agenda for today. We'll start off by doing a bit of introductions, then we'll move into discussing what the Masters in Finance program is and why you might want to get one, and then we'll finish up by talking a bit about the application process.

Noah: So let's dive in to an overview of what the Master's in finance program is. Well, it is a fifteen month Master's program that provides you a strong introduction into the finance realm and in fact, provides you more information than almost any other program that we have on the realm of finance. You'll start off with Boothcamp, which is about a two week orientation period in August, during which you'll gain a lot of academic and professional skills ranging from Python coding and data analysis to how to start developing your career goals and gain essential job search skills. Then after you're done with Boothcamp, you'll dive into the fall quarter and you'll start going through a series of really what it is, four quarters plus one internship during which you will take 13 courses. Now, those 13 courses divide into three key categories. The first is your four foundation courses in investments, corporate finance, data analytics, and financial accounting. You will also have the choice of five finance electives that can be divided up into your optional areas of specialization. Those areas of specialization are asset management, investment banking, and FinTech. You also have the option to not select an area of specialization. Instead, mix and match these finance electives to suit your particular needs. On top of all of this though, you also have four MBA electives that you can choose from, from a wide swath of classes offered here at Chicago Booth. So you can supplement your finance courses either with further finance study or you can start to look in other areas such as getting some more courses in our management and leadership program, or maybe you want to take some classes in marketing and consumer behavior science. Whatever it is, your area of interest, you're able to find that here and supplement it with great educational opportunities. All along the way, you will also have great support through our co-curricular career prep, known as Succeeding in the Workplace. These are a series of workshops and presentations in which you'll be taken from the initial stage of looking for your job all the way through applying, earning, and advancing within that space all while going through this course load is a great way to be able to kind of get a strong idea of what you want to do with your career and know how to find great success in that process. Let's dive a little deeper into what exactly the Masters in Finance program is and how it works. So first off, as I noted before, it is a 15-month program broken up into four quarters as well as a September current term course that you will take right after Boothcamp. During those quarters, you will take usually about three classes per quarter. So it is a pretty good, healthy workload while not being too overwhelming. Then you also have two rounds of career support. So because you have that internship during your summer year, between your third and fourth quarter of classes, you will be supported in finding that internship within the first few months of entering into the Masters in Finance program. Then after you're done with your internship, the Career Services team will also be here to help you land that full-time position. It's a great way to get kind of a double dose of career support and great exposure to all the different career offerings that Chicago Booth has for you. You also can have up to four courses waived based on past academic performance. So for example, if you've taken one of the core foundational courses and done well with it in the past, you might be able to sub those out to be able to take upper level courses in the future.

Noah: All right, so that's what exactly the Masters in Finance program is. But you might be wondering, "Well, why would I want to join the Masters in Finance program?" And I think that there's really three key elements that we think make up the strengths of Chicago Booth and our Masters in Finance program. The first is our cutting edge business curriculum. This can range from a variety of different things from how to engage within finance and management at the same time, but it's also the lived experience and curriculum that you'll be engaging in. You will have the option of taking courses at our Downtown Gleacher Center as well as courses at our Hyde Park campus where the main University of Chicago is. And so it's a really vibrant curriculum to be able to engage in and place to be able to learn. We also have the Fama-Miller Research Center in the realm of finance that is going to be a tremendous resource to you during your time in this program as they are constantly bringing in different speakers as well as hosted conferences, and it's just a really tremendous source of information for all of our students to know what is happening on the forefront of finance education. Not only do we have a strong business curriculum, but we also have a really supportive global community that has individuals found all across the world from Hong Kong to London to here in the United States on the east, west coast, and of course at home here in Chicago. You will be able to connect with individuals that are not just alumni, but you'll also be able to take courses with MBA students as well as students in our Masters in Management Program. So you're going to have a really thorough and rich network of peers to be able to learn with all along the way. Not only do we have the strong curriculum and community, but of course we have a great staff here at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, no better than in our Career Services Department, which are going to be able to assist you as you try to find a job both now and on into the future. There are really two key methods of helping you find your career that the Career Center really focuses in. The first one is of course, our pipeline-based career searches, which are for individuals that are wanting to go a more traditional route, maybe at a major investment bank or private equity firm that is hiring a lot of individuals. But then of course, if you're wanting something a little more niche, a little more boutique, we also have our network-based career searches, which is as opposed to the pipeline, which is a lot more presentation style, is a lot more formulaic, the network is trying to help you find the couple of individuals within your area or that you may know that can help you find a role at one of these unique firms that's only hiring maybe one or two individuals. Whether you are on the far end of the pipeline or the network or somewhere in between searching for your particular career, we are able to help you find the perfect position and help you land it. So hopefully, I've sold you on applying to the Masters in Finance program here at Chicago Booth.

Noah: But now, let's talk a little bit about what the application requirements look like so you can get started on that application. First off, our application is online, so you can go to our website to be able to start your application, and whenever you're going through the process, you're going to have a couple of things asked of you. The first is that you will be required to submit a GMAT or GRE score. We have no preference between the GMAT or GRE, either one will be fine. Additionally, you will need to submit a transcript from all of the academic institutions which you have attended. So if you've been at multiple undergraduate universities, you would definitely want to submit transcripts from both of them. And also if you've done a masters degree, of course we will want to see that transcript as well. Now, whenever we're looking at these transcripts, we are looking for individuals that show a strong aptitude for quantitative analysis, so they are prepared for this finance-heavy program. That means that we look for individuals that have taken advanced quantitative courses, at least one, as well as have some exposure to coding. Some examples of courses that might qualify for this are some advanced forms of calculus, linear algebra, or maybe some forms of engineering or advanced computer science. Certainly any forms of data analytics would also be very valuable here as well. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to our office and we're glad to work with you to make sure you feel confident that you would fit into this program. Beyond the transcript, you would also want to make sure to submit a professional resume, and then you would need to submit a couple of essays and letters of recommendation. Speaking of those essays, let's talk a little bit more about those. So the first essay topic is how will the Booth Masters in Finance program help you achieve your immediate and long-term career goals? Within this essay, there's really two key components. First off, you want to be able to identify your immediate and long-term career goals, but then almost as important, you want to be able to identify what about the Booth Masters in Finance program is really drawing you in and how is it going to help you achieve those career goals? The better you're able to intertwine your own experiences and what you're hoping to do with your career in the long run and what draws you to the Masters in Finance program, the stronger your essay is going to be. Then the second essay, the last one that we have, is a little bit more broad and open, and it states that graduate education and finance is as much about personal growth as it is about professional development. We'd like to learn more about you outside of the classroom and work environment. Use this as an opportunity to tell us something about who you are. So within this space, we are really just looking to hear something from you that you would like to share with us, outside of the workspace, outside of the classroom. There's no wrong way to answer this question. People take it in a variety of different directions ranging from talking about important people in their lives to important moments to talking about just something that they like to do every day. Of course, there's always no wrong way to answer this question, so just be yourself and share something that you think we might like to know. So after you get all of these materials together, you write the essays, you take the test, you'll of course want to submit your application.

Noah: Our applications are due in January of every year. We only have one application deadline. So you want to make sure to give yourself plenty of time to get things in order, maybe even starting the summer before that January deadline. If you submit your application and you move forward in the process, you will then move on to the interview stage. Interviews are by invitation only, and they are with an admissions director so it's a great opportunity for you to get to ask more questions of the admissions office and learn more about the program. Overall, the total review process usually takes about six weeks from the time that you apply, so you'll get informed very quickly on whether or not you're going to be accepted into the program. Overall, I hope that you can take this time as an opportunity to reflect on your past experiences as well as get a good idea of what you're hoping to do in the future. So I'd like to thank you again for joining us for this presentation on the Masters in Finance Program here at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Hopefully, you've learned a little bit about what the Masters in Finance program is, what the application process looks like, and maybe you got some information that will help you in the application process to be able to find the most success. We hope to be able to see your application in the future, and we'll be able to chat real soon.