← Finance, Investment and Banking (FINANCE)

Hardest courses in Finance, Investment and Banking

Plan ahead for courses where students have earned lower grades.

Lowest historical GPA first. At least 100 letter grades over the five years through the selected term. Grades reflect past outcomes, not workload or a guaranteed result.

Find your fit

19 courses

Ranked courses have at least 100 recorded letter grades.

Introductory corporate finance and investments course.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Past student reviews · Mark Laplante

The course demands significant effort, including heavy reading and preparation for exams that students found challenging. Laplante wrote the textbook used in the class, which contributed to the volume of required reading.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Multinational Business Finance applies financial theory to multinational operations, covering the international financial environment, capital flows, foreign exchange management, hedging, and multinational capital budgeting.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Bank Management focuses on depository financial intermediaries, emphasizing commercial banks. It covers regulation, liquidity/reserve management, loan pricing, portfolios, and asset-liability management.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Covers pricing and uses of common derivatives such as options, forwards, futures, and swaps, with outcomes in no-arbitrage derivation, trading strategies, and risk hedging.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Past student reviews · Briana Chang

One student felt concepts were intuitive and did not require formula memorization, noting that exams contained no curveballs.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Corporation Finance covers financial management theory, capital budgeting, project and firm valuation, capital structure, dividend policy, cost of capital, and M&A.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Past student reviews · Ilhan Demiralp

The course was not too difficult for students with a decent base, and exams were essentially rephrased versions of the homework.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Business Valuation covers theory and practice of valuing companies using financial statements, cash flow modeling, present value, and multiples.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Investment Theory covers securities market structure, portfolio construction principles, and models of the tradeoff between risk and expected return.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Broad overview of investment banking. Topics covered include valuation, cash flow, initial public offerings, leveraged buyouts, acquisitions, and related corporate governance issues.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Analyzes the U.S. financial system's impact on economic activity, risk pricing for financial instruments, and fund allocation across sectors.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Past student reviews · Ilhan Demiralp

Attendance at lectures was essential because sessions were not recorded. Students reported that the exams were straightforward and almost exactly the same problems practiced in class.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Analysis of fixed income and bond markets, introducing tools for evaluating, trading, and hedging portfolios of fixed income securities with a focus on government bonds and derivatives.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2024–Spring 2026

Study of the market for corporate control including mergers and tender offers, covering motives, impacts on stakeholders, laws, and strategies.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2023–Spring 2026

Entrepreneurial Finance discusses tools for financing new ventures and the institutional settings impacting their financing conditions.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2023–Spring 2026

Contemporary Topics explores subject areas possibly to be introduced into the business curriculum.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Covers theory and practice of firm financial management, including capital budgeting, valuation, capital structure, dividend policy, cost of capital, and M&A.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Analysis of Fixed Income Securities covers fixed income securities and derivatives, asset-backed/mortgage-backed securities, pricing and portfolio strategies, and term structure models.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Introduction to financial management of firms and investment decision making, emphasizing theory and practice across securities markets, capital budgeting, and asset valuation.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Capstone course in applied equity markets research covering investments, sales, trading, and pitching equity securities for long or short positions.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

A capstone in wealth management and financial planning where students develop a comprehensive client financial plan, reviewing CFP Board topics including ethics, communication, and counseling.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2023–Spring 2026

An advanced course on Markets with Frictions that uses search theory to develop theoretical tools for studying monetary, public, and financial economics, focusing on frictions in formal models and applied scenarios.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2024–Spring 2026