Top 20 finance programs in America (undergrad).
Listed by school population, school name and degree type.

Ranked a great school for Business/Finance Majors, Babson College offers a program that gives students a deep understanding of finance. Program is suited for students  who want to pursue careers in investments, corporate finance or all other financial related careers. Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers a program that allows students to concentrate in finance. Students are able to tailor courses to fit their career goals. Required courses include Finance Theory I & II. Students may also select courses such as Entrepreneurial Finance, Investments, Analytics of Finance and many others.

Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) offers eight tracks that business students may take part in, one of these tracks is the Finance program which ranked 2nd in Quantitative Analysis (U.S. News and World Report). Courses to select from include Corporate Finance, International Finance, Intro to Mathematical Finance and many others. University of Notre Dame takes a unique approach; students are trained to use analytical tools or technology that is now the platform of finance. Students are also taught traditional accounting, including management finance and get to work on a specific concentration within finance.

Washington University in St. Louis (Olin Business School) ranked 13th among tier 1 National Universities (US News 2011), it is renowned for its business curriculum. It offers majors and minors to students across departments. Boston College (Carroll School of Management) has a finance program that students may choose as a concentration. The Finance Concentration was designed to equip students with the skills they would need to succeed in the financial industrial. Students receive a Bachelor in Management upon completion.

Miami University—(Farmer School of Business) ranked 6th among undergraduate business programs [ public universities] (Business Week 2010).  It offers a complete degree in finance, and students may sit for licensing and professional designations in areas of real estate, insurance, and investments after taking the relevant courses. Students who attend the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) obtain a degree in economics; however students may concentrate in finance. The concentration prepares the graduate to be able to work effectively in any financial setting.

University of Virginia’s School of Commerce ranked 5th in the nation and its Finance Program ranked 7th  among America’s Best Colleges  (U.S. News and World Report).  The finance curriculum was designed to give students a well rounded understanding of the world’s finance systems. Students enrolled in the BSBA program may add an emphasis in Finance, which would include courses exclusive to finance and they may also write a honor thesis in finance. Students who successfully complete this program would be awarded a Bachelor’s in Business Administration by the University of North Carolina.

University of California –(Berkeley) offers a top notch professional certificate in finance, courses cover about 225 hours worth of material and must taken for a letter grade. This certificate is great for those hoping to develop current financial management practices. The certificate may also be specialized to cover areas such as corporate, finance, capital markets or investment management. University of Maryland – (College Park) offers a rigorous Finance Fellows to students who intend to embark on a career in finance. Student may participate in the Accelerated Finance Fellows; this program was designed for sophomores who intend to begin their study of finance early. Among other programs are the Emerging CFOs, Financial Services, Quantitative Fellows, Sebnet Fund and the Private Equity and Venture Capital Clinic.

The University of Michigan – (Ann Arbor) offers an ‘improved’ finance program that leads to a BBA. Students select courses according to their intended career path; they may begin their careers in  markets such as real estate, investment banking, sales and trading, equity analysis and many others. In addition to teaching the basics of finance, University of Wisconsin – Madison teaches students to construct models of investment-based financial decisions; models are qualitative and draw on skills such as calculus and statistics.

New York University offers a finance program as one of its business majors. Students get to pick from an array of specialized finance courses to complement other business management courses which NYU sees as providing the complete analytical style necessary for a career within the finance industry. The Finance Baccalaureate Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-(Champaign) provides the student with the analytical and theoretical foundation that is required for making decisions in finance; students learn to apply them in their first year.

Pennsylvania State University offers three different Finance degrees: Finance (FIN), Finance (FNC) and Finance (FINCE). Finance (FNC) is a program that equips students with the skills necessary to prepare for Level I of the Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) Exam. Finance (FIN) covers the fundamentals, while Finance (FINCE) places emphasis on the computer skills necessary for the finance and investment industry. The finance program offered by The University of Texas at Austin allows students to choose one of seven tracks; these include: Corporate Finance and Investment Banking, Investment Management, Energy Finance, Financial Markets/Banking, and Quantitative or Real Estate. For a more specialized major, students may apply to the very competitive Financial Analyst Program (FAP).

University of Florida’s finance program ranks 15th overall and 9th among the publics (US News World Report 2011: America’s Best Colleges). The program was designed to help students develop the skills necessary for making decisions in the ever changing finance world. Students may choose to work in the financial services or pursue a graduate degree. OSU’s program prepares students for a career in financial management; course of study includes Investments and Their Role within the Financial Institution. Students also study Capital Budgeting, Project Cost of Capital, Debt Policy, Dividend Policy, Leasing Policy and Option Pricing.