Business Administration, Finance Concentration, & Finance & Investment Management, Bachelor's/Master's Combined Program

The combined bachelor’s/master’s degree program equips you with high-demand skills needed for a successful career in finance. Qualified students can earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance and a master’s degree in finance and investment management in under five years.

Students accepted into the 4+1 program are not required to apply to the Master of Science in Finance and Investment Management program (MSF). For these students, the benefits of having participated in the 4+1 program include the opportunity to be exposed to different concentration electives as well as the opportunity to assess whether the MSF program represents the student’s desired program of education.

Students are eligible to take up to six-credit hours from any of the courses in the MSF program. The MSF courses will be substituted for 400-level concentration electives from the BSBA finance program.

Note that courses in the FIN concentration require a minimum grade of ‘C-‘ but the grading scale for MSF courses has no ‘C-‘ or ‘D.’

Tentative Course Schedule

• Fall I—FIN 580: Quantitative Investment Analysis
• Fall I—FIN 503: Ethics in Investment Management
• Fall II—FIN 536: Corporate Finance
• Fall II—FIN 533: Derivatives & Risk Management (replaces FIN 433)
• Spring I—FIN 530: Equity Investments
• Spring I—FIN 532: Economics for the Finance Professional
• Spring II—FIN 534: Fixed Income Analysis
• Spring II—FIN 538: Financial Reporting & Analysis (replaces FIN 438)
• Summer I—FIN 540: Portfolio Management & Wealth Planning
• Summer II—FIN 531: Alternative Investments
• Optional—BAN 525: Case Studies in Business Analytics 

Students with a finance concentration in our BSBA program who are entering their senior year of study may be eligible to apply to the combined BSBA FIN/MSF 4+1 Program.

• Admission to the Cameron School of Business as a finance concentration student
• Overall UNCW GPA of 3.2
• Completion of the 4+1 application form
• Cover letter and resume

A separate application is required for the MSF program; acceptance is not guaranteed to 4+1 students. A grade of ‘B’ is required in MSF courses in order to ensure that a student will be accepted toward the MSF degree.

Credit will be offered for MSF hours completed during the Bachelor’s 4+1 program. Thus, a 4+1 student who successfully completes six-credit hours during their senior year will require 24 additional credit hours of MSF coursework to complete the MSF degree.

1. Undergraduate Application: If you are not a current UNCW student, submit the appropriate application to the Undergraduate Admissions Office.
2. Communicate: Communicate your interest to participate in the combined program with your undergraduate advisor and the coordinator of the graduate program. This includes reviewing the process to be considered for the combined program and discussing when to apply to the Graduate School.
3. Combined Program Approval: The graduate coordinator will review your request to participate in the combined program. Approval to apply for the combined program does not guarantee admission to the Graduate School.
4. Junior Year: During your junior year, you will work with your undergraduate advisor and the coordinator of the graduate program to identify which graduate courses you may take as an undergraduate student.
5. Senior Year: During your senior year, you will work with the graduate program coordinator to obtain approval to take graduate courses as an undergraduate student.
6. Graduate School Application: UNCW's Graduate School requires that your bachelor's degree be awarded prior to the first day of graduate classes for the term that you begin the master's degree program. Apply to take graduate classes for the term you begin the master's program.
7. UNCW Graduate School Contact Info: Email gradschool@uncw.edu with questions prior to submitting the graduate application as the application fee is non-refundable and non-transferable.