Every transaction and investment decision on Wall Street rests on one question: what is this actually worth? The Master of Science in Business Administration – Finance (MSBA–Finance) at Virginia Tech is built to make you the person who can answer it.
This program is designed for quantitatively strong graduates who want to master both securities valuation and business valuation—the two skillsets that drive careers in investment banking, asset management, and corporate finance.
Anchored in the Pamplin College of Business and its nationally recognized Department of Finance, the MSBA–Finance is a cohort-based, one-year program that takes you from financial analysis and modeling to the valuation techniques used by analysts, bankers, and portfolio managers worldwide.
The skill behind every deal.
Whether it's pricing an IPO, evaluating a merger target, or deciding if a stock is overvalued, valuation sits at the core of finance. Investment banks, mutual funds, brokerage firms, and corporate strategy teams all depend on professionals who can build models, interpret data, and arrive at a defensible number. That demand is only growing as markets become more complex and globally connected.
The MSBA–Finance gives you the analytical depth and hands-on experience to step into those roles—prepared to value securities, companies, and startups from day one.
Build deep expertise in valuing stocks, bonds, options, futures, and other derivative securities—the instruments that drive global capital markets. You'll learn to evaluate risk, model cash flows, and assess value on both the buy side and sell side.
Learn to value entire companies using discounted cash flow analysis, comparable-company market approaches, and cost-based replacement methods. From established corporations facing acquisition to early-stage startups seeking capital, you'll master the frameworks that drive real-world deals.
Your coursework covers more than 60–70% of the material tested on the CFA Level 1 exam. Graduate with a significant head start toward one of the most respected credentials in the industry—and the higher demand that comes with it.
Throughout the program, you'll build fluency in financial modeling, Excel-based analysis, and the quantitative techniques that distinguish top analysts in today's data-driven markets.
Analysis. Modeling. Valuation.
The MSBA–Finance includes 10 courses that build from analytical foundations to advanced valuation. Every course builds the tools and skills you'll use as a financial analyst, and the program culminates in hands-on valuation projects using real and simulated company data.
Build the core toolkit of financial analysis, modeling, and theory that everything else rests on.
These courses establish the analytical and modeling skills that drive everything from stock selection to M&A advisory.
Apply your foundations to specialized domains and bring it all together in a project-based valuation course.
The program culminates in two valuation projects—one valuing a publicly traded stock and one valuing a startup company—where you demonstrate mastery of the full analytical pipeline.
This is a cohort-based program. You'll enter, progress through every course, and graduate together as a class—building the professional relationships that will carry forward throughout your career.
Built for quant-minded graduates.
The MSBA–Finance is designed for graduates with strong quantitative backgrounds who want to build deep expertise in valuation and financial analysis. If you studied economics, statistics, math, physics, computer science, engineering, or CMDA as an undergraduate, and/or have strong quantitative aptitude and technical ability, this program is built for you.
Investment banking & capital markets
Work at investment banking firms where analysts value companies for IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, and seasoned equity offerings. You'll determine what a company is worth, how that value splits between debt and equity, and what the price per share should be.
Asset management & brokerage
Join mutual funds, hedge funds, or brokerage firms where analysts evaluate whether securities are overvalued or undervalued—and make the recommendations that drive investment decisions for institutional and individual clients.
Whichever path you choose, you'll graduate with the analytical toolkit, modeling experience, and valuation expertise that employers are looking for—plus a significant head start toward the CFA designation.
