Approved Courses

The program is designed to be completed by students in three semesters. It will begin with a late-summer orientation session and proceed through three successive semesters, utilizing the winter intersession of the first year and the summer prior to the last semester, for an internship with industry.  Students can opt to complete their degree requirements by following two various tracks.

All students choosing this track must take the following:

Core financial mathematics requirements (4 courses, 553.64X)

• EN.553.642 Investment Science
• EN.553.644 Introduction to Financial Derivatives
• EN.553.645 Interest Rate and Credit Derivatives
• EN.553.648 Financial Engineering and Structured Products or EN.553.646
• Risk Measurement/Management in Financial Markets
• Core applied mathematics requirements (5 courses, excludes 553.64X)
• EN.553.627 Stochastic Processes and Applications to Finance
• EN.553.633 Monte Carlo Methods
• EN.553.613 Applied Statistics and Data Analysis
• EN.553.639 Time Series Analysis
• EN.553.661 Optimization in Finance

Electives (3 courses)

Of the electives –

• One course in Applied Mathematics and Statistics
• One course in Financial Mathematics
• One additional course with prior program approval

Other Required Courses/Training:

• EN.553.847 Financial Mathematics Masters Seminar
• EN.553.803 Computing requirement (Financial Computing Workshop)
• Communication skills requirement (Communication Skills Practicum, which includes Fall/Spring courses)
• Internship (typically done during summer after first year in residence)
• Every student must complete training on the Responsible Conduct of Research.
• Every student must complete the University Orientation and Academic Ethics course.

THE LEGACY TRACK REQUIREMENTS WILL NORMALLY BE COMPLETED ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING SCHEDULE:

Prior to Fall Semester of Year I (2 weeks)

• Orientation Program

Fall Semester of Year I

• EN.553.627 Stochastic Processes and Applications to Finance
• EN.553.633 Monte Carlo Methods
• EN.553.642 Investment Science
• EN.553.644 Introduction to Financial Derivatives
• EN.553.847 Financial Mathematics Masters Seminar

Winter Intersession (2 weeks)

• Financial Computing Workshop

Spring Semester of Year I

• EN.553.639 Time Series Analysis
• EN.553.645 Interest Rate and Credit Derivatives
• EN.553.648 Financial Engineering and Structured Products (**optional, see below)
• Elective 1
• EN.553.847 Financial Mathematics Masters Seminar

Summer after Year I

• Internship

Fall Semester of Year II

• EN.553.613 Applied Statistics and Data Analysis
• EN.553.646 Risk Measurement/Management in Financial Markets (**optional if EN.553.648 was already taken, see below)
• EN.553.661 Optimization in Finance
• Elective 2
• Elective 3
• EN.553.847 Financial Mathematics Masters Seminar

**Students must take either EN.553.646 or EN.553.648 to fulfill their core requirements. If both courses are taken, one of them can count as a Financial Mathematics Elective.

The internship is typically completed during the summer following the first academic year, but it is also possible for a student to complete it during a fall or spring semester when they are on leave of absence in the program. In any case, it must be completed before the student’s final semester of coursework. Note that in the special circumstance of students who start their program in the U.S. in the spring semester and plan to graduate after three semesters, those students would need to complete their internship in the summer following their spring arrival.

Additional information regarding the process and regulations governing CPT for international students can be found here:  https://ois.jhu.edu/Immigration_and_Visas/F1_Student/F-1_Training_and_Employment/Curricular_Practical_Training/.

Your request for CPT will be forwarded to your ADVISOR for approval.  If you do not hear back from your advisor within 5 days, please contact OIS and request that they redirect your CPT request to the Department Head for approval.  It may be that your advisor is out of town and unable to respond to emails.  OIS will not prioritize “urgent” requests for CPT.  Your request will be processed in the order in which it is received.

You may want to email your advisor to give him/her a heads up that the request will be coming after you complete the required process through OIS.

Internships Q&A

What if my offer letter indicates I am an “independent contractor”?

Answer:  CPT is specifically designed for students who are obtaining training.  Independent contractor positions do not qualify for Curricular Practical Training.  Students must provide documentation confirming that they will be under direct supervision of someone who is providing them with training and therefore, not acting on their own.

Question:  If my internship is unpaid, do I still need to file for CPT?

Answer:  YES!  CPT permission should be considered for all practical, curriculum related experiences off campus, paid or unpaid. Receipt of any benefits, whether monetary or in kind, could be considered employment by immigration, even if the internship is unpaid.  OIS strongly encourages all foreign nationals to file for CPT so that they are not in danger of breaking any U.S. labor laws which may jeopardize their visa status.

Question:  I have been unable to register for 500.851.  What should I do?

Answer:  The Registrar suggests that you submit your request to register for 500.851 directly to SEAM along with a copy of your internship letter.  Apparently they now require the internship offer letter before approving registration for this course.

Required Intersession courses are held in January for 2 weeks prior to the start of the Spring semester. Information regarding registration for Intersession will be emailed to enrolled students.

The Financial Computing Workshop (EN.553.803) is held during Intersession.  All FM students are required to successfully complete this course.

An overall GPA of 3.0 must be maintained in courses used to meet the program requirements. At most two course grades of C or C+ are allowed to be used, and the rest of the course grades must be B- or better.

A full-time master’s student who fails, in a given semester, to receive a grade of B- or better in at least two courses in their master’s program (not counting the department seminar) will be placed on Academic Probation. For a full-time master’s student on Academic Probation, failure to pass at least two courses with a B- or better in their master’s program (not counting the department seminar) is grounds for dismissal. Also, in any given semester, whether or not a student is on Academic Probation, they may be dismissed if they fail to receive any grades of B- or better in their master’s program (not counting the department seminar).