Academics
The Tepper School of Business offers the Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Science in Computational Finance (MSCF) as well as a doctoral program in 8 areas: Accounting, Economics, Financial Economics, Information Systems, Manufacturing and Operating Systems, Marketing, Operations Research, Organizational Behavior and Theory, and a joint degree in Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization (joint with Mathematics and Computer Science), Economics and Public Policy (joint with Mathematics and Computer Science), Management of Manufacturing and Automation (joint with the Robotics Institute), Mathematical Finance (joint with Mathematics). Other programs include a 3-2 MBA program and computer science business administration CITinterdisciplinary programs, cross-registration with the University of Pittsburgh, a cooperative program with WHU (Koblenz, Germany), internships, extensive joint research opportunities, and 2 courses (Management Game and Financial Analysis and Securities Trading) are simultancously offered in 3 countries. The strongest areas of study are finance, e-commerce, entrepreneurship, production/operations research, economics, accounting, and information systems. The most popular courses are Venture Capital and Private Equity, Pricing Strategy, Corporate Finance, and Strategic Corporation Management. Regular programs bring distinguished speakers and visiting professors to campus including the W.L. Mellon Executive Speaker Series, the James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Leadership Series, and the Net Impact Speaker Series.
Ninety-six total credits are required to complete the MBA, including 48 elective credits. Required courses include:
- Financial Accounting
- Probability and Decision Making
- Optimization for Decision Making
- Managing Organizations
- Writing and Decision Making
- Accounting for Decision Making and Control
- Finance
- Statistics and Decision Making
- Managerial Economics
- Presenting and Decision Making
- Marketing Management
- Production and Operations Management
- Business Government and Strategy or Macroeconomics
- Business Law and Ethics
- Management Game
Required courses for the MSCF include:
- Introduction to Probability
- Object Oriented Programming l
- Financial Accounting
- Finance
- Writing and Decision Making
- Introduction to Statistical Inference
- Object Oriented Programming II
- Multi-Period Asset Pricing
- Investment Analysis
- Managerial Economics
- Linear Financial Models
- Economics Foundations
- Stochastic Calculus for Finance l
- Options
- Marketing Management
- Financial Time Series Analysis
- Object Oriented Programming lll
- Stochastic Calculus for Finance ll
- Numerical Methods
- MBA Elective
- Management Game (non-credit)
- Financial Risk Management
- Management Game (12 credits)
- Statistical Arbitrage
- Term Structure
- Accounting for Decision Making and Control
- Studies in Financial Engineering
- Presenting and Decision Making
- Financial Computing
- Macroeconomics
- Managing Organizations
- Credit Derivatives
- Optimization for Finance
- Business Law & Ethics
- Production and Operations Management
- Simulation Methods for Option Pricing
Students may eliminate or substitute requirements at the discretion of required-course faculty, although no credit is earned.
Business students may take relevant nonbusiness courses in other departments. The minimum time permitted to complete the master’s degree program attending full time is 16 months; maximum, 20 months. For students attending part time, the minimum is 32 months; maximum, 36 months.
There are 97 total full-time graduate business faculty, of whom 96% hold a doctorate; there are 12 part-time faculty, of whom 17% hold a doctorate. Faculty salaries are rated for Category I institutions, based on the AAUP rating system. Average number of courses faculty teach is 3; average business class size is 30.