Department Web Site: http://bschool.washington.edu/departments/finance
Course Requirements for Majors
Other Minor Area Requirements
A Typical Course Schedule
Requirements for a Finance Minor
Faculty and their Research Interests

General Information

The subject of finance is concerned with the manner in which individuals and firms allocate resources among competing uncertain alternatives over time. Finance deals specifically with portfolio decisions of individual investors, with investment and financing decisions by firms, and with the implications of such behavior for the pricing of capital assets in the market place. Recommended course work in the area of finance covers the basic tools, theory, and empirical evidence necessary to give students a solid foundation upon which to continue generating and disseminating new knowledge throughout their careers. Students are encouraged to enter into research projects, either individually or jointly with faculty or fellow students in addition to the dissertation requirement. Students also obtain valuable teaching experience during their Ph.D. program of studies at the University of Washington.

Admission Requirements

Applicants must have completed an undergraduate degree at an accredited university and should have a reasonable training in mathematics and economics. An admission committee of faculty members reviews all completed applications. While the committee considers all relevant factors in its recommendations, important factors include past academic performance and GMAT scores. The GRE exam can be substituted for the GMAT but the GMAT is strongly preferred. In some cases we may request a personal interview.

Recommended Preparation Prior to Entry

Students entering the Ph.D. program as finance majors should be comfortable with the important concepts of calculus, linear algebra, and microeconomics before they arrive on campus. It is strongly recommended that all new finance majors carefully review this material during the Summer before entering the program.

Finance Area Faculty Coordinator

Prof. Edward Rice, Finance Area Faculty Coordinator, would be glad to answer your questions. You can contact him by phone (206-543-4480) or by email (erice@u.washington.edu).

The Finance Area Faculty Coordinator advises new students until they establish a Supervisory Committee by the end of the Spring quarter of their first year (the committee consists of a major area advisor and a faculty representative from each supporting area). The supervisory committee assists the student in choosing appropriate courses, approves the course of studies, and monitors the student’s progress.

(Back to Top)

Course Requirements for Majors

Finance majors are required to take at least 18 courses (in addition to FIN 599, the Finance Research Workshop, and FIN 600, Independent Study). The following courses are required for all finance majors. The number of credits for each course is indicated in parentheses after the course number.

Finance majors are expected to register for and attend the Finance Research Workshop (FIN 599) each quarter of the regular academic year in which they are enrolled in residence.

Research Methods Minor Area Requirements

Course work in research methods must include at least 5 credit hours from courses listed in the first section entitled probability and mathematical statistics and at least two econometric courses from the set of course listed in the econometrics section. The student should include at least one other course in the research methods are tailored to his or her specific interests.

Probability and Mathematical Statistics

Econometrics

Statistics

(Back to Top)

Other Minor Area Requirements

In addition to the finance area, all students majoring in finance are required to choose three support areas. Both research methods and economics are required minor areas for finance majors. The third minor area depends upon the student’s interest. However, students are strongly recommended to take either mathematics or statistics as their third minor area of study.

Students must take a minimum of four courses in each minor area. Area exams are not required for minor areas, but students must maintain a 3.2 GPA or better in each of their minor areas.

Note that courses used to satisfy the requirements for one area can not be double-counted to satisfy the requirement in another area. For example, courses which are included in a student’s research methods minor area can not be included in the student’s mathematics or statistics minor area.

The economics minor area must include the following three course sequence:

In addition, students will normally take:

Other courses can be selected in consultation with the finance doctoral area coordinator or the student’s supervisory committee, and in specific instances may be strongly recommended or required. The following economics courses are recommended:

A minor area in either mathematics or statistics would include at least four courses taken from the mathematics and/or the statistics department. Any of the courses listed below could be included in a minor area in mathematics or statistics. Other courses may qualify if approved by the faculty advisor.

Students with an interest in international finance are encouraged to include one or more of the following courses in their program of study. These courses can be included as part of the major area or as part of the economics minor area.

(Back to Top)

A Typical Course Schedule for a Finance Major

First Year

Second Year

Computational Finance Certificate

A finance major also has an option to complete a Computational Finance Certificate. Requirements for this program and other information can be found at the program website http://www.stat.washington.edu/compfin/. Computational Finance classes can be used to fulfill other area requirements in non-finance fields, if not used for the certificate program.

(Back to Top)

Requirements for a Finance Minor

Students who minor in finance must take a minimum of four courses from the following three lists. They are required to take both courses from list A and one course from list B. The remaining course(s) can be selected from either list B or C. Students should take FIN 580 (and any courses which they want to take from list C) before taking FIN 590, FIN 591, and FIN 592.

List A - Both courses from list A are required.

List B - One course from list B is required.

List C - Optional Courses.

(Back to Top)

Written Area or Qualifying Examination

All students majoring in finance are required to take two written qualifying exams: a basic tools exam and a major area exam. Written area exams are not required for minor areas of study.

Basic Tools Exam. The basic tools exam for finance majors is administered during the Summer Quarter at the end of the first year of study. The exam is designed primarily to test the student’s understanding of microeconomic analysis, as covered in the economics core sequence ECON 500, 501, 508, BA 580 and econometrics, as covered in BARM 580-581. Course material in BECON 520 will also normally be covered. Previous examples of the Tools Examination can be obtained in the School’s Doctoral Program Office.

Major Area Examination. The finance major area exam, which tests the student’s comprehension of the material in finance, is administered during the Summer Quarter at the end of their second year of study. Students should be familiar with the central research findings and theory in finance and with appropriate research methods. Previous examples of the Area Examination can be obtained in the School’s Doctoral Program Office.

Summer Research Project

After completing the Major Area Examination early in the Summer Quarter at the end of the second year, the student will complete a Summer Research Project under the guidance of a faculty advisor. This project is to be independent research on a topic and issue selected by the student. The student should secure approval of the topic from a faculty committee by August 1. The student should submit the written project to the committee by December 1. Students will normally present their work in a workshop setting shortly after their written submission.

General Examination

After successfully completing the written area exam and the Summer Research Project, each student takes a general (oral) examination. Members of the Supervisory Committee, a representative of the Graduate School, and any other interested faculty and students, administer this examination. Typically, this exam involves a defense of the student’s dissertation proposal; however, the chair of the Supervisory Committee determines the precise format of the general exam.

Dissertation

After passing the general exam, students complete the proposed research and write the dissertation guided by a reading committee. The reading committee may consist entirely of members of the supervisory committee or may include one or more members not previously on the supervisory committee. When formation of the reading committee introduces new members, a new chair of the reading committee would ordinarily become chair of the supervisory committee and new members of the reading committee would ordinarily be placed on the supervisory committee.

Final Examination

The supervisory committee administers the final defense of the dissertation.

(Back to Top)

Finance and Business Economics Faculty and their Research Interests

William D. Bradford
Business and Economic Development Endowed Professor, Ph.D. Ohio State
206-543-4559, bradford@u.washington.edu
Corporate control, financial markets, minority and small business issues.

Kathryn L. Dewenter
Joshua Green Family Professor, Ph.D. Chicago
206-685-7893, dewe@u.washington.ed
International corporate finance, macroeconomics, international financial policy.

Jefferson Duarte
Assistant Professor and Neal and Jan Dempsey Fellow , Ph.D. Chicago
206-543-1843, jduarte@u.washington.edu
Empirical asset pricing, derivatives, term structure of interest rates.

Jaehoon Hahn
Assistant Professor, PhD. Columbia
206-221-5140, hahnj@u.washington.edu
Asset pricing and macroeconomics

Jarrad Harford
Assistant Professor and Neal and Jan Dempsey Fellow, Ph.D. Rochester
206-543-4796, jarrad@u.washington.edu
Corporate governance, acquisition activity, management of large cash reserves, general corporate finance.

Alan C. Hess
Professor, Ph.D. Carnegie-Mellon
206-543-4579, hess@u.washington.edu
Banking, financial markets, interest rates, market efficiency, pricing of real and financial assets, value added by financial markets, risk management.

Robert C. Higgins
Professor, Ph.D. Stanford
206-543-4379, rhiggins@u.washington.edu
Financial management, international financial management, managing growth, risk management, mergers, capital budgeting and planning, business valuation.

Avraham Kamara
Marakon Associates Professor, Ph.D. Columbia
206-543-0652, kamara@u.washington.edu
Financial risk management, financial markets, futures and options contracts, asset pricing, stock markets, fixed income markets, interest rates.

Jonathan M. Karpoff
Norman J. Metcalfe Professor, Ph.D. California, Los Angeles
206-685-4954, karpoff@u.washington.edu
Corporate governance, crime and punishment, corporate finance, environmental economics.

Adam C. Kolasinski
Assistant Professor, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
206-543-8737, adamkola@u.washington.edu
Corporate finance, corporate governance, financial institutions, regulation.

Jennifer Lynch Koski
Associate Professor and John B. & Delores L. Fery Fellow, Ph.D. Stanford
206-543-7975, jkoski@u.washington.edu
Market microstructure, corporate dividend policy, stock splits, share repurchase.

Paul H. Malatesta
Professor and Norman J. Metcalfe Faculty Fellow, Ph.D. Rochester
206-685-1987, phmalat@u.washington.edu
Mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, initial public offerings, econometrics.

Edward M. Rice
Associate Professor, Ph.D. California, Los Angeles
206-543-4480, erice@u.washington.edu
Corporate control, general corporate finance, applied microeconomics, Alaska native corporations.

Ronnie Sadka
Assistant Professor, Ph.D. Northwestern
206-221-5383, rsadka@u.washington.edu
Empirical asset pricing, behavioral finance, market microstructure.

Lawrence D. Schall
Professor and Department Chair, Ph.D. Chicago
206-543-7689, lschall@u.washington.edu
Corporate financial policies, leasing, firm performance evaluation, business valuation.

Andrew F. Siegel
Grant I. Butterbaugh Professor, Ph.D. Stanford
206-543-4476, asiegel@u.washington.edu
Statistics, finance, computing, probability, data analysis.

Stephan Siegel
Assistant Professor, Ph.D. Columbia
206-543-0784, ss1110@u.washington.edu
Empirical asset pricing, international finance, portfolio choice, real estate.

Lance Young
Assistant Professor, Ph.D. Rochester
206-543-4474, youngla@u.washington.edu
Empirical asset pricing, behavioral finance and capital market anomalies.

(Back to Top)