This post about MIT’s Sloan School of Management, focusing on financial services, is part of a series of interviews about top MBA programs called “MBA Career Goals and the B-Schools that Support Them.” Please subscribe to our blog to ensure that you receive all the posts exploring the elements at each school that will help you pursue your goals in finance, consulting, general management, entrepreneurship, marketing and more.
A quick glance at MIT Sloan: MIT currently ranks in fourth place as one of the best business schools, according to US News & World Report (March 2012). For finance, it is ranked number five. In 2011, 8.4% of MIT Sloan graduates entered the investment banking industry and 18.3% reported job functions in investment banking.
Incoming Sloanies and Financial Services
The class of 2012 entered MIT Sloan with an average of five years of work experience, an undergraduate GPA of 3.5, and a GMAT score of 717.
20% of class of 2013 students entered MIT with backgrounds in finance. 1% had accounting backgrounds.
MIT's Classes Related to Finance
MIT Sloan's five core courses are all taken during the first semester, along with one elective course. The core structure "provides the foundation of freedom and flexibility you need to pursue your personal goals and interests throughout the rest of your time at MIT Sloan." First semester core and elective finance-related courses include Financial Accounting (core) and Finance Theory (first semester elective).
Once students complete their first semester, they move on to specialized Tracks which further set students out on their desired career paths. The Finance Track offers courses and activities that will expose students to the practices and institutions of the world of finance. Students in the Track must participate in at least one off-campus event. These include London Banking Days, New York Finance Day, the Asia Finance Trek, and Boston Investment Management Day. There are also numerous sponsored seminars, social events, and career advising opportunities available. By completing the Finance Track, students earn a certificate in Finance on top of their MBA.
Here are the 2011-2012 Finance Track required courses:
And the elective courses:
- 15.431 Entrepreneurial Finance
- 15.433 Investments
- 15.434 Advanced Corporate Finance
- 15.437 Options and Futures
- 15.438 Fixed Income
- 15.450 Analytics of Finance
- 15.522 Security Design
- 15.545 Mergers and Acquisitions
- 15.416 Ph.D. Intro to Financial Economics
- 15.419 POF: Alternative Investments‐Private Equity
- 15.423 POF: Advanced Corporate Risk Management
- 15.424 POF: Endowment Management
- 15.426J Real Estate Finance
- 15.427J Real Estate Capitals Markets
- 15.431 Entrepreneurial Finance
- 15.433 Investments
- 15.434 Advanced Corporate Finance
- 15.436 International Finance
- 15.437 Options and Futures
- 15.438 Fixed Income
- 15.440 Ph.D. Advanced Financial Economics I
- 15.441 Ph.D. Advanced Financial Economics II
- 15.442 Ph.D. Advanced Financial Economics III
- 15.450 Analytics of Finance
- 15.460 Analytics of Finance II
- 15.518 Taxes and Business Strategy
- 15.521 Management Accounting and Control
- 15.522 Security Design
- 15.535 Business Analysis Using Financial Statements
- 15.545 Mergers and Acquisitions
- 15.617 Basic Business Law, Tilted Towards Finance
- 15.647 Subprime, Credit Crunch, and Economic Crisis ‐ A Legal Roadmap
- 15.970 SSIM: Financial Crises & Systemic Risk
- 15.S02 SSIM: Valuation
- 15.S04 POF: Foundations of Institutional Portfolio Management
- 15.S05 SSIM: Applied Fixed Income and Speculative Strategies
- 15.S10 POF: Multinational Business Finance
- 15.S12 SSIM: Data Technologies for Quantitative Finance
- 15.S12 SSIM: Functional and Strategic Finance
- 15.S14 SSIM: Retirement Finance, Lifecycle Investing
- 15.S20 POF: Investment Management
- 15.S25 POF: Foreign Exchange Markets from a Quant Perspective
To reflect MIT Sloan's mission of hands-on learning, or "Learning by doing," the program offers endless Action Learning opportunities. The most prominent Action Learning feature is the Action Lab. The Action Lab for finance students is the Trading Lab. This unique, on-campus trading room is identical to trading room capitals around the world. Fully equipped with an electronic ticker, DataWall panels, and a Reuter's feed, students get to experience trading and finance with the finest research facility at their fingertips.
In terms of academic research opportunities in the finance department, MIT offers the Laboratory for Financial Engineering (LFE). This research center "seeks to spur advances in financial engineering and to develop better ways to teach students and executives hot to apply financial technology in corporate settings." The research projects fall under three categories: financial technology, capital markets, and risk management.
Finance-Related Clubs and Extracurricular Activities at MIT
- MIT Sloan Finance Club – The mission of this group is to provide students with the information, resources, and support to acquire recruiting opportunities at top investment banks and to eventually become leaders in the financial services industry.
- MIT Venture Capital & Private Equity (VCPE) Club – This club boosts members' familiarity with investment capital, offers support, hosts events, competitions, and conferences (see below), and provides valuable C/C and P/E resources.
- Venture Capital Conference – Venture capitalists, industry leaders, and rising entrepreneurs come together to discuss important V/C opportunities and challenges.
- Private Equity Conference – 300-400 students and industry professionals unite for one of the largest student-run P/E conferences in the U.S.
- Competitions – MIT is famous for its competitions, and there are numerous competitions catered to students interested in finance. These include the MIT Sloan Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) and the popular $100K Entrepreneurship Competition.
Top Investment Banks Hiring at MIT Sloan
Poets and Quants provides the number of class of 2009 MIT grads who received job offers from top investment banks:
- Barclays Capital: 6 students
- Fidelity: 5 students
- Goldman Sachs: 5 students
For the class of 2012, MIT Sloan provides this list of top banks hiring MIT Sloan interns:
- Goldman Sachs: 10 students
- Credit Suisse: 7 students
- Citi: 6 students
Other employers in financial services hiring members of MIT Sloan’s classes of 2011 and 2012 include:
- Asian Development Bank
- Banco Santander
- Bank of America Merrill Lynch
- Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ
- Baring Private Equity Asia
- Bessemer Venture Partners
- Black Coral Capital
- Capital One
- Celfin Capital
- Deutsche Bank
- Helion Venture Partners
- HSBC
- Liberty Mutual
- MasterCard Worldwide
- Oak Investment Partners
- Visa
- Women's World Banking
- The World Bank
Are you applying to Sloan? Please see our MIT Sloan B-School Zone and MIT Sloan Application Package for more information on how Accepted.com can help you get accepted.
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