M.S. in Finance

Admission Requirements

The M.S. in Finance program application deadlines is July 1 for the following Fall semester.

Prerequisites for M.S. in Finance

Prerequisites for the M.S. in Finance include college-level statistics and college-level calculus. We also recommend students have taken introductory courses in finance, accounting and economics prior to applying to the program.

Bachelor’s degree, 3.0 GPA recommended

Official transcripts are required for admission.

GMAT or GRE score

• A GMAT score of 600 (GMAT Focus Edition equivalent score: 555) is highly recommended. Alternatively, a comparable GRE score will be considered. Scores must be from the last five years.
• Applicants who hold a Ph.D., JD, MD or Pharm D, or are currently enrolled in medical school do not have to submit a GMAT or GRE score. Applicants who have been admitted to the Nebraska College of Law do not have to submit a GMAT or GRE score.
• If you have 5 or more years of significant managerial, operational or decision-making experience and an acceptable undergraduate GPA, you are not required to submit a GMAT score. You must, however, submit as a reference your current supervisor who can verify your work experience. Please include this person as one of your references in section 3 below. In the first part of your Personal Statement, you should include your request for the GMAT waiver based on your work experience. All GMAT waivers will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. To be considered for a GMAT waiver, candidates must start an application.
• If you choose to take the GMAT, please have your results forwarded to Nebraska (school code S40-HW-48). Once you take the exam, enter your unofficial scores into the graduate application. GMAT scores more than five years old will not be accepted. Please visit the official GMAT website for more information and to register for the test.
• If you choose to take the GRE, please have your results forwarded to Nebraska (school code 6877). Once you take the exam, enter your unofficial scores into the graduate application. GRE scores more than five years old will not be accepted. A comparison tool is available to see how your GRE scores compare to our recommended 600 GMAT. Please visit the official GRE website for more information and to register for the test.

Three reference names and contact information

All three references must be former or current supervisors or professors. Nebraska will contact your references only if the committee deems it necessary. You do not need to include letters of recommendations.

Personal Statement

All applicants are required to submit a personal statement of 750 words or less through the graduate application. The statement is evaluated on content, sentence structure and grammar. Your personal statement should include the following:

• Briefly describe your past professional experience and relevant skills.
• What would you contribute to our program?
• What are some of your short- and long-term professional goals?
• How would a University of Nebraska–Lincoln M.S. in Finance assist you in achieving your goals?

Professional Resume

A professional resume should be submitted through the graduate application. Please include the following: relevant work experience, skills and involvement and education.

TOEFL exam (required for international students)

TOEFL score (minimum score of 550 written, 213 computer based or 80 iBT)

Alternatively, international students may submit IELTS scores. A score of 6.5 is required.

Corporate finance presents risk, return and time-value of money along with other concepts that can be applied to valuation of securities and capital budgeting. This course is designed to develop skills in financial analysis and planning by evaluating theory and application through case studies.

Private- and public-sector managers face economic problems that demand an applicable understanding of economic theory. Prioritizing practicality, this course covers economic problem solving, consumer demand, demand elasticity, complex pricing decisions, strategic game theory, international economics and more for a comprehensive understanding.

Market imperfections are easy targets for multinational corporations, which is why this course focuses on how to identify and exploit them through applied principles and tools of economics, accounting and finance specific to multinational corporations.

The theory of investment focuses on investment decisions, portfolio strategies and the structure of capital markets. This course explores how modern portfolio theory affects investment decisions and performance evaluation.

The worldwide derivatives market consists of financial contracts. This course deals with the world of financial instruments—known as derivatives—and their role as contracts in managing risk that arises from interest rates, exchange rates, stock prices and commodity prices.

Through constructing and interpreting financial statements, this course gives you a thorough understanding of accounting from a user’s perspective, both internal and external, as well as the basics of financial accounting and reporting.

Statistics is the art and science of collecting, analyzing, presenting and interpreting data with the objective of improving decision-making. As such, it plays an important role in financial decision processes, which is why this course involves practice in using statistical methods that have wide applicability in business and financial decision making.

This course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of fixed-income markets, fixed-income securities and tools employed by market participants to the analysis of fixed-income investments.

Learn how to apply strategic financial decision-making to real-world financial and business problems through case studies and projects.

This course reviews the investment management process including risk, return and investment constraints then culminates with the creation of an investment policy statement. A code of ethics and the standards of professional conduct for finance professionals are also explored.