The Adam C. Sinn '00 Department of Finance at Mays Business School offers a non-thesis program leading to the degree of Master of Financial Management (MFM). This degree is open only to students who have been admitted to a high-impact learning program at Mays Business School. Currently, only students admitted to one of the following three programs qualify for admission to the MFM: (1) the Trading, Risk and Investments Program (TRIP), (2) the Commercial Banking Program (CBP), and (3) the Professional Program in Accounting (PPA).
Students interested in seeking admission to the MFM must first chose one of the three academic tracks (TRIP, CBP, PPA) and then contact the office that manages that particular track for additional information. Each track is responsible for setting its own admission criteria. Students interested in TRIP and CBP must contact an academic advisor within the Adam C. Sinn '00 Department of Finance. Students interested in the PPA must contact the PPA office in the James Benjamin Department of Accounting at Mays Business School.
Students applying for admission to the MFM are not required to take the GMAT, GRE, or any other standardized tests for admissions purposes, but these scores may be used to satisfy English Language Proficiency Requirements.
Program Requirements
Student’s Advisory Committee
The MFM student’s advisory committee consists of the Director of MFM program, who is a faculty member in the Department of Finance at Mays Business School. The Director has the responsibility of approving the proposed degree plans for MFM students. When necessary, recommendations in cases of academic deficiency will be made to the Graduate and Professional School.
Degree Plan
The degree plan must be filed with the Graduate and Professional School and approved by the MFM Director before the deadline imposed by the student’s respective MFM track, and no later than dates announced in the Graduate and Professional School calendar of deadlines for graduation. Additional coursework may be added to the approved degree plan by petition to the MFM Director.
Credit Requirement
A minimum of 36 semester credit hours of approved courses is required for the Master of Financial Management degree. Of those, students are required to take a minimum of 18 semester credit hours in Finance.
Transfer of Credit
A student who has earned 12 hours of graduate credit in residence at Texas A&M University may be authorized to transfer up to three credit hours upon the advice of the Director of the MFM and with the approval of the Graduate and Professional School. A graduate and/or upper-level undergraduate course taken in residence at an accredited U.S. institution or approved international institution with a final grade of B or greater, might be considered for transfer credit if, at the time the courses were completed, the courses would be accepted for credit toward a similar degree for a student in degree-seeking status at the host institution. Otherwise, the limitations stated in the following section apply. Coursework in which no formal grades are given or in which grades other than letter grades (A or B) are earned (for example, CR, P, S, U, H, etc.) is not accepted for transfer credit. Courses appearing on the degree plan with grades of D, F or U may not be absolved by transfer work. Credit for coursework submitted for transfer from any college or university must be shown in semester credit hours or equated to semester credit hours. An official transcript from the university at which the transfer coursework was taken must be sent directly to the Office of Admissions.
Courses used toward a degree at another institution may not be applied for graduate credit. If the course to be transferred was taken prior to the conferral of a degree at the transfer institution, a letter from the Registrar at that institution stating that the course was not applied for credit toward the degree must be submitted to the Graduate and Professional School.
Grades for courses completed at other institutions are not included in computing the GPA.
Limitations on the Use of Transfer, Extension and Certain Other Courses
The following limitations apply to all courses that may be used toward meeting credit-hour requirements for the MFM.
- The maximum number of credit hours which may be considered for transfer credit is three credit hours. The following restrictions apply:
- Graduate and/or upper-level undergraduate courses taken in residence at an accredited U.S. institution, or approved international institution with a final grade of B or greater will be considered for transfer credit if, at the time the courses were completed, the student was in degree-seeking status at Texas A&M University, or the student was in degree-seeking status at the institution at which the courses were taken; and if the courses would be accepted for credit toward a similar degree for a student in degree-seeking status at the host institution.
- Courses previously used for another degree are not acceptable for degree plan credit.
- The maximum number of credit hours taken in post-baccalaureate non-degree (G6) classification at Texas A&M University which may be considered for application to the degree plan is 12.
- A zero credit 684 or 685 course is only allowed for non-thesis option master's students. A zero credit 681 course can be used for either thesis or non-thesis option master’s students. Other courses, including 691 (Research) hours, are not eligible for zero credit.
- Any combination of 684, 685, and 690 may not exceed 9 credit hours
- A maximum of 4 hours of 684 (Professional Internship) and/or
- Up to 8 hours of 685 (Directed Studies), and
- Up to 3 hours of 690 (Theory of Research), and
- Up to 3 hours of 695 (Frontiers in Research).
- A maximum of 2 hours of 681 (Seminar).
- A maximum of 9 hours of advanced undergraduate courses (300- or 400-level).
- For graduate courses of three weeks’ duration or less, taken at other institutions, up to 1 hour of credit may be obtained for each five-day week of coursework. Each week of coursework must include at least 15 contact hours.
- No credit hours of 691 (Research) may be used.
- Continuing education courses may not be used for graduate credit.
- Extension courses are not acceptable for credit.
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For non-distance degree programs, no more than 50 percent of the non-research coursework required for the program may be completed through distance education courses.
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To receive a graduate degree from Texas A&M University, students must earn one-third or more of the credits through the institution’s own direct instruction. This limitation also applies to joint degree programs.
Exceptions will be permitted only in unusual cases and when petitioned by the student’s advisory committee and approved by the Graduate and Professional School.
Final Examination
A final oral examination is not required for the Master of Financial Management degree.
Additional Requirements
Residence
A student must complete all 36 credit hours in resident study at Texas A&M University to satisfy the residence requirement for the Master of Financial Management.
Students who are employed full-time while completing their degree may fulfill total residence requirements by completion of less-than-full time course loads each semester. In order to be considered for this, the student is required to submit a Petition for Waivers and Exceptions along with verification of his/her employment to the Graduate and Professional School.
Time Limit
All degree requirements must be completed within a period of three consecutive years for the degree to be granted. A course will be considered valid until three years after the end of the semester in which it is taken. Graduate credit for coursework which is more than three calendar years old at the time of intended graduation may not be used to satisfy degree requirements.
Foreign Languages
A foreign language is not required for the Master of Financial Management degree.
Application for Degree
For information on applying for your degree, please visit the Graduation section.
