Course Advice
The following are only recommendations, and reflect the thoughts of a few soon-to-be second years about courses you may want to take in your first year that will be useful for your summer internships. Note that the list may not apply to everyone, given our disparate backgrounds. Also, these courses can be taken in any order (with due attention to suggested prerequisites). You should also consult friends and second years for more advice, and specific professor recommendations. Finally, this is not an exhaustive list of classes available to the financially curious - for those with more wide ranging curiosities, there are a myriad of more esoteric and specialized upper-level courses available. Check out the GSB curriculum page for more information.
Investment Banking (Corporate Finance)
| 30000 |
Financial Accounting. Learn the basics of financial accounting. |
| 35000 |
Investments. The basics of investments, Chicago style. From portfolio theory, CAPM, APT, and efficient markets to the basics of asset pricing. We invented most of this stuff, so learn it from the best. |
| 30116 |
Accounting and Financial Analysis I. Master the footnotes at the end of the 10-K! All you ever needed to know about the nitty gritty details that of accounting that will save you when you least expect it. |
| 30117 |
Accounting and Financial Analysis II. M&A accounting for 5 weeks, then 5 weeks of bankruptcy. |
| 35200 |
Corporation Finance. The basic primer that all bankers will need. Learn about present value theory, capital budgeting, DCF and NPV, M&M (not the candy), the capital markets, and M&A. |
| 30130 |
Financial Statement Analysis. The daily grind of Associate-level bankers. This course gets you real intimate with valuation - real fast. Learn how to build a projections model, do a real DCF and other tricks of the trade. |
| 35201 |
Cases in Financial Management. Use 35000/35200 theory to solve real world problems of financing decisions, M&A, and restructuring. |
| 34101 |
Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity. Not only for entrepreneurial types, here you learn about the wild world of VC and LBO in one of the GSB's most popular classes. |
| 30118 |
Yes, people and companies do pay taxes. This course is about how to beat them! Well, not really, but it is extremely useful to understand how taxes impact modern business strategy. At least 4 weeks on M&A. |
Sales & Trading
| 41100 |
Applied Regression Analysis. A key tool that is used in more advanced classes and in many models on the trading floor. |
| 33040 |
Macroeconomics. |
| 33401 |
Money and Banking. Interest rates and central banks. |
| 35000 |
Investments. The basics of investments, Chicago style. From portfolio theory, CAPM, APT, and efficient markets to the basics of asset pricing. We invented most of this stuff, so learn it from the best. This course is a prerequesite for most advanced finance courses so you may want to consider taking this first or second quarter. |
| 35100 |
Financial Instruments. All you ever wanted to know about derivatives. Although this course is a lot of work, you will go onto your summer internship with a solid understanding of derivatives pricing. Consider taking this course 2nd quarter-some interview questions draw from concepts discussed in class. |
| 35101 |
Futures, Forwards, Options & Swaps: Theory and Practice. Debt traders delight. This course focuses on the institutional side of trading. |
| 35904 |
Asset Pricing: Pretty intense but a great course. Most people take this PhD course 2nd year, but some courageous souls jump in first year. The course is only taught during Winter quarter. |
| 35131 |
Financial Engineering: Cases in Financial Risk Management. Cases involve sorting through the carnage of trades and strategies gone bad. |
| 35132 |
Mathematical Models of Option Pricing. You want quantitative? Are you sure? If you're still with us, maybe you want to consider this course. Very intense. |
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