Following Edmundo: An MSF's Class Rankings

Just like the title says, I've decided to dedicate this blog to some of the best classes I've taken in my short stint at the OGSM. Let me start by saying that as an MSF major, we are not allowed to take a lot of marketing/VC/HR courses since our program is strictly quantitative finance. That said, forgive me if it seems like my class schedule is one sided, but that's the way it is. Certainly, you can audit any course you wish but the class rankings I give are classes that I took for grades. I would consider a good class a class where I got the most bang for my buck: good book OR practical material OR good teacher OR assignments with great relevance that sparked my interest OR any kind of combination of these.

1) Corporate Val - Craig Lewis: I'm a big fan of Craig Lewis and his teaching style. He could pretty much teach me anything and I'd be engaged. He's thoughtful as a professor and very practical in his teaching methods. This class is especially useful for you young people looking to be I-Bankers or Equity Analysts (my old job) as it will give you some necessary tools for thinking about how to value companies. Book is called Valuation by McKinsey Comp. Not too shabby.

2) Derivatives - A lot of people think about derivatives and suddenly go into shock; indeed, this is a common stereotype for this class and the security instrument for that matter. I HIGHLY advise you to take it with Bob Whaley since he is the author of the book that you will be using. It's very quantitative (be warned) but it's challenging and rewarding. The material is EXTREMELY practical and that class has definitely sparked my interest in risk management.

3) Anything with Bruce Barry (see previous posts) - I really like Bruce Barry and his teaching style. It's sometimes hectic but always seems to follow a progression. He teaches Negotiations and Controversies in Business. He always makes exceptions for MSF students and he is a refreshing bit of air in terms of his teaching style and thoughts. He's also not a bad pool player either and has a strong affiliation to the NY Giants (that's one thing I cant understand).

4) Spreadsheets & Advanced Spreadsheets - Larry LeBlanc. Practical application would be phrasing both of these classes mildly. I've become very proficient in excel and VBA thanks to his teachings. Finance people, VBA is a good skill to know and I highly recommend taking these two classes. It will teach you a new way to think about a problem since you will be working with Excel code and not punching keys on your calculator. Thankfully, my team in both courses were very devoted and much better at Excel than I was but still, I learned a whole lot in this course and there is just so much you can do in Excel (yes, there are functions besides the 'average' key).

Alright, that's all for now. Thanks for the idea Edmundo!

Comments

[Jared]

I would definitely echo your thoughts on LeBlanc - a very good set of skills to have with you!