Master of Science in Computational Finance and Risk Management

The University of Washington's MS-CFRM leads the field of quantitative finance and financial engineering programs in terms of flexibility: our domestic and international students, with or without prior finance industry experience, can attend full-time or part-time, on campus or online, completing the CFRM curriculum alongside students ranging from brand-new college grads to senior professionals. Even embarking on the degree comes with options: students can begin the MS program directly or can prepare in stages with our certificate programs.

Rigorous mathematical and statistical foundations of quantitative finance, Extensive instruction in use of the open source R-programming environment and rapid growth of cutting edge R finance packages, Classical volatility and mean-variance methods of risk analysis and portfolio optimization, modern fat tails and tail risk methods of risk management, and portfolio optimization, Integration of theory, methods, and computation, Separate study options in computing and risk management as critical focal points in today's markets.

The admissions process is highly competitive. Meeting the requirements of admission does not guarantee a place in the program. In addition to all applicable UW Graduate School requirements, CFRM students must demonstrate exceptional command of:
Calculus through partial differentiation, matrix algebra, and one-dimensional optimization
Probability and statistics at the level of an upper level undergraduate course or entry level graduate course
A programming language such as Java, C++, Python, or in a math or a statistics programming language such as MATLAB, R/S-PLUS

Hold the minimum equivalent of a four-year baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited college or university in the U.S. or its equivalent from a foreign institution.

Also acceptable: hold a Master's degree, a doctoral degree (Ph.D., D.Phil.), or a professional degree (M.D., J.D., D.V.M., etc.) from a regionally accredited college or university in the U.S. or its equivalent from a foreign institution.

Have earned at least a 3.0 grade-point-average (on a 4 point scale) from a regionally accredited college or university in the U.S. or its equivalent from a foreign institution for the last 90 graded quarter credits or 60 graded semester credits from a baccalaureate degree (for a Master's, doctoral, or professional degree, the total cumulative average may be used). TOEFL iBT: 80, IELTS: 6.5