Dear Finance students,

As Department Chair for Finance, I wanted to let you know courses that may align with your career goals, ways to get involved in the department, and a list of all electives that will be offered in the Fall and Spring – including 1 NEW elective.

Planning your courses

We recommend all students strive to take FIN 3430 in the spring of their Sophomore year or as soon after as possible, so please plan to complete the pre-requisites (BUS 2110, ACC 2010 are pre-requisites and ECO 2300 is a co-requisite or pre-requisite) before that time. We also recommend completing both FIN 4120 and FIN 4130 during your Junior year. These courses are the Finance core and will prepare you for an internship between your Junior and Senior years. When possible take FIN 4120 and FIN 4130 before other Finance electives since they provide a foundation beyond FIN 3430.

There are many career paths available in Finance. As you consider some of these general career paths, here are courses that will help with your preparation:

  • Real Estate – If you have an interest in Real Estate, we recommend getting involved with the Real Estate Club (contact mkaprielyan@elon.edu), obtaining the ARGUS Enterprise Certification, and advancing your Excel skills. Coursework that would assist you include FIN 4150 which will be offered in Spring and two 2-credit hour courses focused on career ready skills offered in the Spring. They are FIN 4750 and FIN 4760. FIN 4750 is a prep course for certification using ARGUS commercial restate software. FIN 4760 is a modeling course focused on building Real Estate models in Excel.
  • Wealth Management/Financial Planning – Please consider earning the Envestnet certificate which is free to students from Elon University (contact charris24@elon.edu). Coursework that would assist you includes FIN 4190 (Financial Planning), FIN 4160 (Insurance) and FIN 4670 (Advanced Wealth Management – focused on case studies and client psychology). Also, if you would like to pursue a career in this field you are strongly encouraged to consider a minor in Professional Sales.Elon is now an educational partner with the CFP(R) Board. The CFP(R) certification is a key designation in the field of financial planning and involves a series of courses, completion of a board test, and 3 years of experience in the field. You can learn more about the certification at the CFP Board website. For more information about the coursework at Elon, visit this information site. To talk about this program, reach out to Vaishali Shah (vshah@elon.edu)
  • CFA/Investment field – Please consider applying to be on the LSB CFA Institute Research Challenge team (contact ngupta@elon.edu). Coursework that would assist you in this are FIN 4230 (Financial Modeling in Excel), FIN 4310 (Fixed Income), FIN 4330 (Derivatives), and FIN 4972 (a 2-credit hour Bloomberg database course).
  • Quantitative Finance – Are you interested in adding additional technical skills to your finance major? Think about a minor in math, computer science, data science, or statistics. Elon offers many courses that cover the technical skills needed for certain finance jobs, such as database management, statistical computing, and advanced quantitative methods. For example, MTH 2310 (Linear Algebra), MTH 3410 (Probability Theory and Statistics), CSC 1300 (Computer Science I), CSC 2300 (Computer Science II), MGT 3100 (Foundations of Business Analytics), MGT 4110 (Data Wrangling), and MGT 4260 (Data Mining for Managerial Decision Making). Note that some of these courses require MTH 1510 (Calculus I) as a pre-requisite.

New FinTech Major

The Finance Department has a new FinTech major. The FinTech major is designed for students drawn to finance but with a specific interest in quantitative methods, data analysis, and basic programming. It offers flexibility to study computer science, data science, and math as you learn how financial service firms such as Venmo, Stripe, Robinhood, and others use emerging technologies to improve functionality and develop new ways to service customers. Interested students might consider joining the Elon Blockchain Club (contact tmorillon@elon.edu).

Learn more about the new major.

Ways to get involved

  • The Financial Management Association chapter at Elon is an organization that holds frequent events about the field of Finance in general and is a good option for majors looking to get involved (contact aaiken2@elon.edu).
  • The Women in Finance organization brings alumni and prominent women in finance to speak to members, provides networking opportunities, and encourages mentoring between under and upperclassmen students (contact kupton3@elon.edu).
  • Elon’s Center for Financial Literacy has partnered with Junior Achievement to provide a meaningful financial education to local elementary students. You do not have to be an expert, this is open to all students/faculty/staff at Elon, and lesson plans are already provided as well as the materials you would use in the class (contact charris24@elon.edu).
  • The Elon Blockchain Club is a group of passionate students and professors primarily focused on education and research. The club offers a collaborative space for students and professionals to share their diverse interests and aspirations as we seek to foster the next group of Elon leaders (contact tmorillon@elon.edu or join the GroupMe).
  • The Elon Real Estate Club is open to all undergraduate students. The club meets several times a month to learn about real estate as an investment, development, REIT’s, sustainability, construction, and industry trends. In a hands-on environment, students have the opportunity to network with successful real estate professionals from around the country and learn critical skills such as ARGUS Enterprise Software (contact mkaprielyan@elon.edu).

Other resources

  • The Love School of Business has student memberships to the Greensboro Chapter of the Society of Financial Services Professionals, a professional organization comprised of those in the financial services industry (financial planners, investment managers, insurance professionals, accountants, attorneys, etc.) The organization has a member meeting on the third Tuesday morning of each month in Greensboro, NC. This is a great place to network with professionals in the field for purposes of learning more about the field and possibly finding internship and employment opportunities.  See the calendar of events. If you would like to attend a future event, please reach out to Vaishali Shah (vshah@elon.edu)
  • To improve your resume and better prepare you for internships and your future career, we encourage you to investigate the resources available in the Reed Finance Center. These include how to become Bloomberg Certified, Wall Street Prep (for those interested in more quantitative roles), technical question workshops, and mock interviews for Finance jobs. For more information, contact kupton3@elon.edu.
  • The Finance department offers support and additional learning materials for students interested in obtaining the Expert Microsoft Excel Certification. As more employers are requiring advanced Excel skills for positions, obtaining this certification is an effective way to indicate that you possess the skills required. To sign up click here or email mkaprielyan@elon.edu.

New Electives for 2024-2025

  • The Venture Capital elective will be offered in the Fall of 2024. This course is a great preparation for a Venture Capital competition that will be formed from a team of LSB students and will compete in Spring 2025 (contact dpeabody@elon.edu).
  • The Trading and Markets elective will be offered in the Fall of 2024. This course is a great preparation for students interested in how trading works, and how technology plays a critical role in the markets. This course will be a great preparation for a team of LSB students who will travel to Toronto in Spring 2025 to compete in an international trading competition (contact aaiken2@elon.edu).

2024-2025 Academic Year Electives

Fall 2024 Spring 2025
FIN 4160 – Principles of Insurance (1 section) FIN 4150 – Real Estate Finance (1 section)
FIN 4190 – Financial Planning (2 sections) FIN 4190 – Financial Planning (2 sections)
FIN 4230 – Financial Modeling with Excel (2 sections) FIN 4250 – Global Finance (1 section)
FIN 4250 – Global Finance (1 section) FIN 4670 – Advanced Wealth Management (1 section)
*FIN 4755 – Student Managed Portfolio I *FIN 4756 – Student Managed Portfolio II
FIN 4790 – Venture Capital Financing (1 section) FIN 4760 – Real Estate Modeling (1 section)
FIN 4794 – Trading and Markets (1 section) FIN 4972 – Fixed Income Investing (1 section)
FIN 4793 – Blockchain and Emerging Financial Technologies (1 section) FIN 4973 – Blockchain and Emerging Financial Technologies (1 section)
FIN 4975 – Data Analysis in Finance (1 section)

    (*)Represents a course that will count as 2 Finance elective credit hours

    Hopefully, this will help plan for the future and in understanding available opportunities. Please contact your advisor if you have more specific questions.