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Finance

The world of finance is fascinating and a non-stop global force — every business operation involves a financial decision

Overview

Finance is harnessing the power of money to make things happen. Effective financing enables life-saving research, ground-breaking engineering, and building of infrastructure on which communities and nations depend. On a more personal scale, financial planning and markets enable home ownership, entrepreneurial successes, and comfortable retirements.

Your career in finance begins with acquiring skills that set you apart from most working professionals. You thrive in that career based on the trust you earn from the people around you and the improvement you bring to their lives. Ultimately your career can take you just about anywhere. Pursuing corporate finance might lead you to become an analyst or executive at a multinational corporation or a key member of a start-up venture. Pursuing wealth management might lead you to financial planning, asset management, or insurance, either as part of a large firm or as a business owner. You might also pursue commercial banking, investment banking, or management consulting.

The world continues to need finance professionals and, in many cases, to compensate them well. If you have an analytical mind, determination, and the ability to communicate complex ideas with precision, consider studying finance.

Finance is a major program of study offered in Corvallis and online through Ecampus. It is also offered as a minor.

Major
Minor
Online
In-Person: Corvallis
Bachelor of Science
30

What you’ll learn

Apply the fundamental concepts and tools of finance.

Apply financial management concepts and tools to the decisions faced by a manager in investment decisions.

Apply financial management concepts and tools to the financing decisions and dividend decisions faced by the firm.

Evaluate the corporate governance structure of firms and examine the interactions, from a governance perspective, between firm management, financial markets and stakeholders.

Appraise the risk profile of firms; specifically, estimate the costs of capital, including debt and equity capital using financial data. 

Discuss the operations of three distinct capital markets: the equity market, the bond market and the derivatives market, and the financial assets traded in each of these markets.

28+

degrees and areas of focus

84%

of classes have fewer than 50 students

450

companies recruit our students each year

Options

Once you enroll in the finance program, you can select from the following options:

Undergraduate
Option
Dean's Academy

The Dean’s Academy is an academic forum for high-achieving first-year students, transfer students, and current undergraduate students on the Corvallis campus who wish to maximize the educational and experiential aspects of their college experience.

Details
Undergraduate
Option
Financial Planning

The financial planning option helps you empower others to have a secure and prosperous long-term financial future through responsible planning. With the knowledge and skills, you acquire, you can completely control your finances.

Details
Undergraduate
Option
International Business

When you think about where you want to be in life, are you thinking about the whole world? Then international business knowledge is a must for you.

Details

Finance opportunities

Study abroad

Sydney, Australia: University of Technology Sydney

Vienna, Austria: Vienna University of Economics & Business

Santiago, Chile: Universidad de Chile, Facultad Economia y Negocios

Explore study abroad opportunities >

Associated clubs

Beta Alpha Psi

Finance Club

Institute of Management Accountants

See all clubs >

Scholarships

Chevron International Experience Scholarship

Deloitte Scholarship

McNeal Family Accounting Scholarship

Pattee Family Accounting Scholarship

See all scholarship opportunities >


 

Ways to attend

We offer class in the modalities that work for you and your schedule.

In-person: Corvallis

Attend classes in Austin Hall, the $50 million, 100,000-square-foot building with five research centers, a marketing research suite, 10 classrooms, 23 computer- and teleconference-equipped project rooms, a 250-seat auditorium, a café and faculty offices.

Online

Study from anywhere and earn one of our 100% online, fully AACSB-accredited business degrees. Nationally top-ranked for online learning, our classes are taught by business faculty who are known for research excellence and industry experience.

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Ready to take the next steps? Complete the form to receive detailed information about our programs and how they might work for you.

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Accelerate your education

The Accelerated Master's Platform (AMP) allows current College of Business undergraduate majors to take graduate classes, apply those credits to their current undergraduate degree, and also transfer them into the Master of Business Administration (MBA) or Master of Science in Business (MSB) programs.

Students apply to the program in the junior year and take up to 22 graduate credits during their senior year. With careful planning, College of Business students can potentially complete their MBA or MSB at Oregon State University quicker than they would otherwise be able.

Although AMP is open to all College of Business undergraduate programs, the finance program is particularly well-suited.

Student stories

Undergraduate
Option
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Details
Undergraduate
Major
Minor
Option
Accounting

Today's accountants are tech-savvy problem solvers, insightful planners and strategic thinkers. Many of the “number-crunching” tasks formerly thought to be part of an accountant's world have long ago been replaced by sophisticated software.

Details
Undergraduate
Option
Dean's Academy

The Dean’s Academy is an academic forum for high-achieving first-year students, transfer students, and current undergraduate students on the Corvallis campus who wish to maximize the educational and experiential aspects of their college experience.

Details
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