Graduate handbook information is updated and maintained by each program. Graduate handbooks are available within each program's office and online at https://utexas.box.com/v/UTAustinGraduateHandbooks. Please contact the program with concerns or questions.

Master of Science in Finance

The Master of Science in Finance is offered in three options: with thesis, with report, and without thesis or report. The thesis option requires at least 30 semester hours of credit; the report option, at least 33 hours; and the option without thesis or report, at least 36 hours. The Master of Science in Finance Option III requires 36 hours and is without thesis or report. All coursework must be logically related, and the student’s entire program must be approved by the student’s primary advisor and the graduate advisor. The Graduate Studies Committee’s approval is not required.

Doctor of Philosophy

The core of the program is a set of courses required of all students. The core is supplemented with special courses and electives. Students are required to study one minor field in addition to finance; typically, they choose economics, statistics, or mathematics, all of which provide skills important to financial research.

A required element of the student’s development as a scholar is the completion of first- and second-year summer papers. The quality of these two papers is a factor in judging the student’s progress in the program. Students must take a comprehensive examination at the end of their second year. They then undertake dissertation research.

Students normally complete coursework, research, and the dissertation in approximately five years.