Tag:

Master of Finance

Faculty Master of Finance Rady School Uncategorized

The MFin capstone: A ticket into the finance industry

Launched in 2014, the Master of Finance (MFin) program at Rady School of Management is a relatively new program. But despite its adolescence, the program and its curriculum has quickly become highly praised within the industry.

Just last year it was ranked by the Financial Times as one of the top MFin programs in the world; a huge accomplishment after a mere four years since the program’s conception. It placed 14^th in the U.S. and is expected to rise higher in the future.

The highly-regarded ranking isn’t all that the MFin degree has to offer. The Rady School MFin program is a STEM-designated, CFA Institute-affiliated professional degree that delivers rigorous, hands-on training to prepare graduates to immediately contribute in environments where quantitative and analytical skills are at a premium.

Students learn leading-edge methods for analyzing big data for financial decision-making and risk management. The program’s emphasis on quantitative models and methods ensures that graduates are equipped to develop innovative solutions to the complex problems facing the financial industry.

“The Master of Finance program at Rady is designed for the current needs of the finance industry. It incorporates class work that reflects what’s going on in the industry today and includes a heavy component of data science, which is presently very important for financial firms,” says Michael Melvin, the Executive Director of the MFin program at Rady.

Michael Melvin, Executive Director, Master of Finance, Rady School of Management

As Melvin notes; “It’s a quant program, so students learn quantitative skills, including financial econometrics that they can apply throughout their coursework including the final capstone research project.”

The MFin capstone is a project-based course that allows students to work with a prestigious firm within the finance industry. Students work together in teams of four and complete research that demonstrates the application of skills developed throughout the MFin program.

“Our students work with a mix of local and global firms. From San Diego to London to Hong Kong, capstone project stakeholders present students with a particular idea to research, which may cover a range of financial topics.”

These topics can include anything from portfolio construction, cryptocurrencies and bitcoin, trading issues, payments, asset management, and risk management, among many others. What’s more is that students can learn from collaborating with respected industry professionals.

Examples of capstone companies that students worked with this year include some of the top financial firms in the world, such as Goldman Sachs and BlackRock. They also worked with companies that have finance groups within them, like ViaSat, and a local La Jolla firm, Alphacore.

“Alphacore is a great example of a firm where we had students interning with them that were so successful in their research that Alphacore executives were interested in continuing the relationship and building upon what was started,” recalls Melvin.

Melvin says that “students might do a project with one firm but then that experience will lead them to opportunities with other firms as well.” Opportunities for students to network and showcase their skills often lead to their ultimate goal; employment.

“I think the MFin degree is a ticket into the industry. I used to be a Managing Director at BlackRock and we’re teaching students at Rady the skills that I wanted to hire for my teams at BlackRock, which were quantitative investing teams.”

The capstone increases employability because the students gain the skills and the abilities that firms want to hire. Not only that, but students can differentiate themselves from other job applicants because they’re able to highlight bespoke research on their resume.

“When capstone teams are doing very well, which they often do, firms will request resumes from the teams so that they can interview students, which leads to internships and permanent jobs.”

For anyone looking to enhance their career within the finance industry, the MFin program at Rady is a great place to start.

For more information about Rady’s MFin program, please visit https://rady.ucsd.edu/programs/masters-programs/master-of-finance/

July 24, 2019 0 comment

Uncategorized

Rady Team Places Second in Prestigious Competition

written by Rady School

A team of Rady School of Management Master of Finance students recently headed to Irvine to compete in the ACG Cup – a case study competition hosted by the Association for Corporate Growth.

Nine teams from leading business schools across Southern California gathered to compete for the $10,000 prize awarded to the team with the best business plan. The task? To present valuation, capital markets, and merger and acquisition strategic advice to a panel of seasoned industry professionals affiliated with the ACG.

The Rady School team was comprised of Sairam Chitneni, Ishaan Khanna and Jason Kleideris, all members of the 2019 Master of Finance cohort. In order to qualify for the competition, the students competed against three other Rady School teams to see which team had the best presentation for solving a complex investment banking strategy. Local ACG members judged the four teams based on the strategy, implementation plan and presentation, selecting Chitneni, Khanna and Klederis as the finalists.

Once the finalists were selected, they were given a case study to complete in one week.

“This competition is unique because participants are able to assume the roles of investment bankers,” Chitneni said. “We were given a scenario for a fictitious company, then had to create a plan that described whether the company should divest some of its assets or buy another company based on the information we were given.”

The real-world relevance of the competition is what inspired Khanna to get involved with a team.

“I thought this would be an interesting opportunity to take what I’ve been learning in class and apply it to a situation I’ll be dealing with in my future career,” he said. “I was interested in the idea of building a complex plan from scratch. We learn these things theoretically, but building them, applying them practically and especially getting in front of people who actually do this kind of work for a living – I thought that this would be an amazing opportunity.”

Getting prepared

To prepare for the finals, the team members enlisted the help of members of the Rady community.

Professor William Mullins helped guide the team in the right direction, providing invaluable insight into empirical banking and corporate finance. Professor Jeremy Bertomeu also supported the team by helping with some of the harder theoretical problems in the case.

In the first part of the competition, the team had a pristine report, but lacked the presentation skills to deliver a clear and concise report of their findings. Robert Schmidt, a lecturer at the Rady School, helped the team fine-tune their presentation skills.

“Professor Schmidt’s expertise in business communication helped us develop new ways to present our data,” Kleideris said. “We put together a comprehensive and clear plan, but we initially had some trouble presenting it in a way that was easy to understand. The goal of this competition was to be able to take complex information and present it in a way that is effective and cohesive, and Schmidt was extremely helpful when it came to developing our team’s communication skills.”

The final showdown

Armed with the knowledge and confidence, the Rady School team of financial experts donned their investment banker personas and headed to Chapman University to face Southern California’s finest business graduate teams in the ACG Cup Finals.

After the initial presentation, the Rady School team advanced to the final round, knocking out powerhouse teams including the USC Marshall School of Business and the UCLA Anderson School of Business. Pepperdine University and UC Irvine faced off against the Rady School team in the final round. The team was tasked with expanding on their presentation and were asked rapid-fire questions from a panel of ACG chapter member professionals.

Although the team placed second to UC Irvine, judges mentioned that the final score margins were razor-thin.

“We were very pleased with the outcome,” Chitneni said. “We were the only team comprised of Master of Finance students. All other teams were from either MBA or Executive MBA programs, and a lot of those students were older professionals who currently work in the relevant fields.”

A worthwhile experience

Each member of the team emphasized the value of participating in the competition.

“We spent hours working on our presentation, but the experience and relevance to our future careers was invaluable,” Khanna said. “If we enter this field professionally, this is similar to the projects we’ll have every day in our careers.”

Chitneni echoed these statements, adding that he gained valuable personal and professional skills through his involvement with the competition.

“This experience really challenged me to improve my presentation skills – I really improved from the first time we presented in the Rady competition, to when we were presenting in front of an entire room filled with professionals at the final event,” he said. “I also think participating in this event improved my evaluation skills. We have studied these concepts theoretically, but applying them in real-world scenarios helped me understand the importance of those assumptions.”

The ACG Rady veterans hope that their success will inspire more Rady School students to participate in next year’s competition.

“I’m definitely interested in helping out next year’s team in the competition – I feel that all Rady graduate students would enjoy the experience,” Kleideris said. “Since we’ve been through it, we understand what the judges are looking for and how to develop a compelling presentation. I think we could be valuable resources for future Rady School teams, and we would be happy to stay involved and help them out.”

With these experts backing the next generation of Rady ACG Cup participants, the school can expect the trophy case located in the Student Services office to grow in the near future.

About ACG

Founded in 1954, the Association for Corporate Growth has chapters worldwide representing 14,500 members. ACG serves 90,000 investors, executives, lenders and advisers to growing middle-market companies. ACG’s mission is to drive middle-market growth.

March 11, 2019 0 comment

Faculty Uncategorized

A Life of Finance

written by Rady School

For Assistant Professor Krisztina Buti, the field of corporate finance is her natural habitat. Her impressive academic background includes a Ph.D., a chartered financial analyst, a master’s in economics and an MBA, while her experience comes from over eight years in financial advisory positions.

A native Hungarian, Buti’s career in corporate finance began with management positions at Creditanstalt Investment Bank and Concorde Aquila Corporate Finance, a venture capital firm based in Budapest. She participated in the privatization of formerly state-owned enterprises via private placements, initial public offerings and seasoned offerings. “Corporations and banks needed capital injections to become competitive,” Buti said. “The new owners brought managerial know-how, technological expertise, and marketing skills. The stock market allowed investors to profit from this growth.”

Buti would then shift her career toward an academic role, in part, because of family. “Investment banking is incredibly challenging,” Buti said. “You gain enormous experience, but you work long hours under high pressure. I changed to a field where I can use my expertise, but allow a life outside of work.”

She decided to take a position as senior lecturer at Central European University, a premier academic institution in Europe. She was responsible for coordinating the finance area and teaching courses for MBA students. “I adopted a case study based approach,” she said. “Students appreciated the depth of knowledge gained from analyzing problems from multiple angles.”

Inspired by the world of academia, Buti decided to pursue a new challenge by enrolling in the financial economics Ph.D. program at the University of Utah. She credits this experience for gaining an invaluable understanding of theory and methodology that allows her to conduct research. Her research focuses on corporate finance, particularly major corporate transformations, like acquisitions and restructurings.

Buti’s recent papers examine how the market learns about a firm’s internal investment opportunities from the acquisition announcement and how market frictions influence the price response. She chose to come to Rady because of its excellent finance department, the emerging entrepreneurial environment and the tight-knit community.

“There is more opportunity for meaningful interaction in the faculty and with the students,” she said. “I appreciate the opportunity to work in such a dynamic department. Also, who wouldn’t want to come to San Diego? This city is amazing.”

February 20, 2019 0 comment

Startup

People of Rady: Davide Giovanardi

written by Rady School

1) Why did you choose to pursue a Master of Finance?

The financial world became my fascination when I realized how it impacts all of us. I am captivated by the mathematics and financial rules governing our world and I am eager to understand the inner workings of the financial field to search for patterns that impact the future. Finance is my chosen professional life and where I am looking forward to making a significant contribution to the betterment of the world economy and its citizens.

2) Why did you choose the Rady School?

The Rady School of Management has earned the reputation of being a modern and very up-to-date program where the faculty and students are focused on the future. Rady highlights both the academic and the professional aspects, conferring knowledge in quantitative finance, but also training in communication and leadership skills that are fundamental for succeeding in today’s competitive world. The program challenges students to work individually, but also with teams and groups, which is imperative to getting real-world experience that will benefit students after graduation.

3) What do you feel makes Rady unique? How do you benefit from these aspects?

Being a relatively new program, its astute faculty and leaders were able to design it to be a modern Master of Finance program. The program offers a unique and original quantitative approach emphasizing data and matching the current job demand in the financial industry. Moreover, the Rady School has an esteemed history in quantitative decision making with Nobel Laureate Harry Markowitz. If we then consider the exceptional and devoted faculty, the result is a unique learning experience, which forges leaders in the modern data-driven financial world.

4) What classes are you looking forward to taking this year?

First and foremost, I’d like to emphasize that Rady shapes the program on the students’ strengths and skills by offering a superb variety of electives. Among my favorite classes, there is the core Financial Econometrics and Empirical Methods taught by Professor Rossen Valkanov. I am looking forward to taking the Collecting and Analyzing Financial Data, Computational Finance Methods and Analyzing Large Data courses as well. I’m fascinated by the relationship between finance and data science and eager to learn models and techniques by exceptional professors to further increase and deepen my passion for this expertise.

5) What are your goals after graduation?

My goals after graduation are to continue this incredible journey and to study and complete a top-flight Ph.D. program, and to participate in the financial, investment industry. I’m confident that Rady will provide me with all the academic and professional competencies needed to ultimately achieve my goals.

October 16, 2018 0 comment

Advancing Faculty MSBA Startup Students

The Benefits of Completing a Specialized Master’s Degree in San Diego

written by Rady School

The MBA may be the most well-known choice for people looking to enhance their career prospects in business. However, it’s far from the only option. In fact, many students are choosing specialized master’s degrees over the traditional MBA path.

Here’s what you need to know about this increasingly popular option, along with one San Diego school helping students position themselves for career success with specialized master’s degrees.

More Expertise, Less Time

If you’re interested in gaining expertise in one particular aspect of business studies, a specialized master’s may be in your future. A recent US News & World Report article on the uptick in interest in specialized master’s degrees highlighted the allure of specialized master’s degrees for candidates who want to hone in on and deepen their knowledge of a specific subject.

Consider the case of Swagata Chakraborty, a recent graduate from the Master of Science in Business Analytics program of the Rady School of Management at the University of California San Diego. After working for two years on Citi’s Global Decision Management team in India, he’d reached an impasse.

“Towards the end of my tenure at Citi, I was trying to figure out whether I wanted to pursue an MBA or wanted to hold on to my engineering roots. On one hand, I loved working with datasets and writing codes to come up with analytical insights and on the other hand, gaining a formal degree to prepare for the business side of industrial problems seemed imperative to me,” says Chakraborty.

Rady School of Management UCSD

Enter the Business Analytics specialized master’s degree at the Rady School. “When I learned about the Business Analytics Program at the Rady School, I realized that this is exactly the specialization I was looking for,” continues Chakraborty.

Not only do specialized master’s degree programs support the acquisition of advanced knowledge, but they often do so in less time and for less money — without the extensive work prerequisite.

Another appeal of specialized master’s degree programs? They can be tailored to respond to financial, environmental and other global disruptions,” according to The Globe and Mail. In other words, if you want a degree that will enable you to hit the ground running as an authority in an emerging area, specialized master’s degrees provide exactly that.

One other thing to keep in mind about specialized master’s degrees, recently declared by Forbes to be “the hottest new MBA [that’s] not an MBA at all?”, is that they do not preclude the possibility of continuing on to an esteemed MBA degree in the future if and when career advancement or a shift into general management mandates it.

Rady School of Management

Introducing Specialized Master’s Degrees at the Rady School

One school with uniquely compelling specialized master’s degree programs is UC San Diego’s Rady. Specifically, its Master of Professional Accountancy (MPAc), STEM-designated Master of Finance (MFin), and Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) programs offer invaluable skills for students aiming for the inside edge.

MFin program executive director and instructor Michael Melvin says, “The MFin program is a one-year quantitative program aimed at giving the students the skills required to be competitive in today’s financial industry. It is more technical than an MBA program and specializes in finance with an emphasis on data analysis.”

Meanwhile, MSBA executive director Raymond Pettit insists, “Our graduates learn not just how to code, for example, but also how to take results and relate them to business objectives. In addition, the program exposes the students to all the major areas of business where analytics play a key role. This cross-fertilization of learning and techniques across multiple business dimensions actually strengthens the insights and methods that our students can bring to the table when they do arrive on the scene of their respective jobs.”

This mindset of customizable curriculum and hands-on industry experience is also being rolled into the Rady School’s most recent specialized program, the Master of Professional Accountancy (MPAc), which is currently enrolling its first cohort. In addition to preparing students for the CPA exam, networking and career services are a key component to helping MPAc grads get a jump on their careers.

No mention of Rady is complete without mention of its extraordinary location. Chakraborty says, “The location and the culture of California serve as an advantage. Proximity to the various companies in the Bay Area as well as the several startups that are booming in California just make networking and collaborating in the professional frontier easier for us.”

Pettit adds, “Data and the ability to make sense of data is endemic across nearly every facet of business today. Our students have outstanding local assets in the biotech, health sciences, communications, government, and analytical services industry, and our network and reach of possible experiences, internships, capstones, and job placement is rapidly extending further to include key US business centers, such as San Francisco, Boston, and New York.”

And while these programs may be shorter than their MBA alternatives, the intensive curricula are designed to pack in a lot, including sought-after practical experience.

“Every student gets a chance to work with a company to implement a real project. We get to interact with companies and solve real-world problems. This provides students with the experience and confidence required to navigate through the new field of analytics,” enthuses MSBA alumnus Snehanshu Tiwari.

Tiwari is also quick to point out Rady’s extraordinary faculty. “Each and every professor has a very strong research background. Profs [professors] go out of their way to help the student succeed in the program. They are always open to discussions and open to feedback. In fact, “Every staff member in the school wants us to succeed and do well,” Tiwari says.

The takeaway for everyone from recent grads to mid-career employees hoping to level-up? A specialized master’s degree may make sense from an advancement perspective.

But it is also important to note that all specialized master’s degree programs aren’t created equal. According to Forbes, education consulting firm Eduvantis founder Tim Westerbeck recently cautioned that “among the many useful programs are a few that were ill-conceived, and are less likely to give graduates the outcomes they want.” Because of this, choosing to pursue a specialized master’s degree is only part of the equation.

Also critical? Choosing the right school — which brings us back to Rady. If you’re looking not just for a degree, but also for the quality assurance that goes along with a degree from a top-ranked institution, Rady’s specialized master’s programsmay be the perfect fit.

September 17, 2018 0 comment