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MS Finance (MSF)

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    Master of Science in Finance (MSF)

    The primary objective of the USC Marshall Master of Science in Finance (MSF) program is to provide students with a flexible and rigorous STEM curriculum to prepare them for a wide range of career opportunities in finance. The MSF is a full-time program starting in August that allows students to earn a graduate degree in 16 months. All courses are taught on the University of Southern California campus by the Marshall School of Business’ award-winning teachers, researchers and practitioners.

MSF PROGRAM BENEFITS

  • Who would benefit from a Master of Science in Finance?

  • The program prepares students for careers across a variety of functions including commercial and investment banking, asset management, quantitative research and trading, risk management, venture capital and private equity, consulting, sales and trading, impact investing and fintech.

MSF ACADEMIC OVERVIEW

  • Color photograph indoors of a group of students at the USC Marshall School of Business.

    The MS in Finance experience starts mid-August with a week-long math boot camp and orientation featuring critical team building, alumni networking events, and program and expectations overview. The fall term courses provide a solid foundation in key finance, economics and accounting principles and develop your quantitative abilities. 

    By spring semester, you begin to learn investment analysis and portfolio management, and financial analysis and valuation. Now is the time to start specializing, with electives spanning topics such as hedge funds, fixed income securities and real estate finance. 

    During the final fall semester, you delve into issues around corporate financial policy while increasing your knowledge in a wide range of subjects, ranging from mergers and acquisitions to trading and exchanges to venture capital and private equity.

APPLYING TO THE MSF PROGRAM

Dates + Deadlines

Important Dates:
Application opens: October 1, 2023
Classes begin: August 26, 2024
Orientation: Week of August 21 - 23, 2024

Deadlines:
Round 1 – December 1, 2023
Round 2 –February 1, 2024


*We will continue to accept applications after February 1, 2024. However, applications received after this date will be considered on a space-available basis. Priority will be given to students who apply by the Round 1 (Dec 1) and Round 2 (Feb 1) deadlines. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the Fall 2024 intake is full or by the May 31 final deadline.


No international student applications will be accepted after April 15, 2024, due to immigration timelines.

Notification period can extend to May 31, 2024.

All deadlines are at 11:59 pm ET (8:59 pm PT).

Career Prospects

Enjoy an overview of the job opportunities that MSF alumni have experienced.

MSF FACULTY

Message From the Director: Julia Plotts

Decision-making is an essential management skill that can both drive and impede financial performance. The USC Master of Science in Finance Program (MSF) enables emerging business leaders to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to meet the challenges and complexities of our business world. Our graduates become competent investors and financial analysts, responsible business professionals, skilled leaders, team players and ethical decision makers.

Our program is flexible, innovative and allows a degree of specialization that enables students to embark on careers across a variety of functions. We are committed to offering innovative classes, a collaborative culture and connections to the Trojan family. USC Marshall MSF experience includes learning from world-class researchers, accomplished practitioners and guest lecturers.

SELECT MSF FACULTY

  • Gerard Hoberg

    Gerard Hoberg
    • Professor of Finance and Business Economics
    • Charles E. Cook Community Bank Chair of Finance

    Gerard Hoberg's research is primarily in the area of empirical corporate finance with a focus on innovation, mergers, IPOs, disclosure, informational environments, and industrial organization. His work often focuses on issues relating to important theories that have proved difficult to test, and to issues that are of importance to regulatory agencies and financial stability. He is known for methodological contributions that bring technologies from computational linguistics into finance.

  • Christopher S. Jones

    Christopher S. Jones
    • Department Chair, Finance and Business Economics
    • Professor of Finance and Business Economics

    Christopher Jones conducts research on empirical asset pricing and financial econometrics. He is an expert on option pricing and volatility modeling and also conducts research on the term structure, mutual fund performance, and stock return predictability. He has published in the Journal of Finance, the Review of Financial Studies, and the Journal of Financial Economics. He currently serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Finance. Before coming to USC, Professor Jones was on the faculty at the University of Rochester.

  • Selale Tuzel

    Selale Tuzel
    • Associate Professor of Finance and Business Economics

    Selale Tuzel conducts research at the intersection of macro-finance and real estate, both at the theoretical and the empirical front. Her work has been published in many top finance, management, and economics journals, including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics and the Review of Financial Studies.

MSF STUDENT LIFE

  • Color photograph of students from the USC Marshall MS Finance program during a team building event on the USC campus.

    The Marshall Masters in Finance Association

    The Marshall Masters in Finance Association is a student-run organization that fosters community, professional development, career exploration and networking through corporate and alumni outreach, in addition to providing an avenue through which students can engage in extracurricular enrichment.

    GRADUATE STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

REQUEST INFORMATION

For more information about this program, please fill out the form below. If you have further questions you may EMAIL the admissions team directly.