Students wishing to pursue a graduate degree in business management now have a new option at UCLA.
The Master’s of Financial Engineering program is a 12-month graduate program at UCLA Anderson School of Management.
The program was recently created, and classes will begin January 2009.
There have been many other business schools that have offered the graduate program, but UCLA will be one of the few elite business schools to have the program as an option for students pursuing business.
Unlike other graduate programs at the Anderson School, this program will have an emphasis on quantitative finance, which deals with the mathematical and practical aspects of finance.
“The goal of the program is to provide financial engineering students a world-class academic experience that allows students to understand financial theory, sophisticated analytics, practical know-how and the ability to communicate these quantitative approaches,” said Bob Mark, executive director of the graduate program.
The graduate program may be significantly different than a doctorate program, he added.
“When you work your way through a doctorate program, there’s an emphasis on conducting research and drilling down on things that someone who might want to teach may be interested in,” Mark said.
Instead of working toward research, the Financial Engineering program focuses on the application of practical and mathematical skills in the financial market, so when the students graduate, they are able to apply the skills they have learned in the global market.
Of the four quarters dedicated to the program, the summer quarter will consist of a required internship that will allow students to apply what they have learned to real-life situations.
The program will assist students in finding internships at financial institutions, which may help students seeking a career at specific locations and markets after graduating.
“Financial engineering skills are in high demand as the global financial market continues to grow, and a premium will be placed on obtaining well-educated financial engineers who are capable of delivering deep practical value to the financial market,” Mark said.
Some students, such as Muhammad Shahzad, a graduate student at Anderson School, said the graduate program would be very beneficial for students who are thinking about a career in finance.
“There is a trend in Financial Engineering and using it,” Shahzad said. “It makes a lot of sense because it uses math and statistics to better understand the market, and this is useful in future technologies that will be developed.”
Andres Delgado, a graduate student at Anderson’s school, said he thought the program was good, but he did not prefer the emphasis on math.
“There are some people who like math, but I prefer the mix between finance and strategy,” Delgado said.
Applications to the graduate program are currently being accepted on rolling admissions, and the deadline is June 30.