Quantitative finance gives its graduates a remarkable wealth of career choices.
JMU's quantitative finance major is an interdisciplinary STEM program that covers the design, development and implementation of innovative financial processes that encourage the formulation of creative solutions to problems in finance.
As such, it is unique among College of Business offerings, and your course of study will result in a B.S. degree with minors in economics and math or a double major with math. Q-Fin is a highly structured program and you must begin your mathematics courses in your freshman year in order to progress through the major in a timely manner. The required major course work provides you with the foundation and tools for a variety of financial situations and problem solving, while electives permit you to emphasize economics, mathematics, statistics or finance.
The pay-off? Opportunities for skilled quantitative finance professionals are seeing explosive growth with the rapid increase in sophisticated quantitative and computational techniques employed by financial firms.
The major is a part of the Department of Finance and Business Law, an academic unit within the College of Business.
The 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.
Quantitative Finance
- Degrees Offered:
- B.S.
- Concentrations:
- Financial Analysis
- Risk Management
- Minors: None
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.
For detailed program information and curriculum, please visit:
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