Registration for the 2018 pre-program courses is now closed. Check back in October for the 2019 courses.
The MFE Program offers pre-program courses specifically tailored to the program in order to help admitted students and prospective students review the concepts necessary to be successful in the MFE Program.
Enrollment in the pre-program courses is open to the public; we encourage individuals who are thinking of applying to the program, along with those who simply want to review or enhance skills that are covered in the courses, to enroll. Students can choose to take the courses online or in person at the Haas School of Business. Online participants will receive links to the video lectures 1-2 days after the lectures take place. They will be able to view the lectures at any time that is convenient for them. The courses run from January to March each year.
Certification & Grading
The pre-program courses are graded on a pass/not pass basis. Students who complete the assignments satisfactorily and on time will receive certificates of completion. From 2014-2017, certificates of participation was offered to attendees who did not pass the course.
Course Fee and Dates
| Course | Fee (USD | Fee for Admitted Students (USD) | Start / End |
| Math Foundations for Financial Engineers | $1,895 | $1,595 | December 20, 2018 - February 7, 2019 |
| C++ Programming | $1,895 | $1,595 | January 15, 2019 -March 5, 2019 |
| Statistics for Financial Engineers | $1,895 | $1,595 | January 9, 2019 - March 13, 2019 |
*$200 discount for non-admitted students if you register and pay by November 15, 2018
**$100 discount for admitted students if you register and pay by November 15, 2018
Course Access
A few days prior to the first day of the course, we will send students who have registered and paid for the course the location of the class and access to the course site via email. If you do not receive the notice, please contact the MFE Office by calling us at (510) 642-4417 or emailing us at mfe@haas.berkeley.edu.
Cancellation of Enrollment
If you need to cancel your enrollment in the preprogram courses, please contact mfe@haas.berkeley.edu ASAP. Refunds requests will be processed Jan 26, 2018. If you request to cancel enrollment after the start of the course, unfortunately, we will not be able to refund your course fee.
More Information:
Please contact the MFE Program at (510) 642-4417 or mfe@haas.berkeley.edu. For questions regarding registration, call (510) 599-1503.
Course Details:
The Math Foundations for Financial Engineers Course will be available online for students unable to attend in person.
The Master of Financial Engineering Program (MFE) at the Haas School of Business offers a 30-hour foundation course that equips students with the mathematical background necessary to understand the courses in the MFE Program.
The course is recommended for those with an undergraduate degree and/or those with advanced degrees who need a refresher course in mathematics. For pre-readings, we recommend that you read the books listed below. The main challenge of the course will not be the math, but the mental framework needed to think effectively in financial terms.
This course will be taught by Dr. Johan Walden.
If you are an MFE student:
If you are not an MFE student:
Individuals interested in applying to the Haas Master of Financial Engineering Program; those pursuing any quantitative analysis in the business world; those interested in actuarial science, or for those interested in seeing how mathematical theory can be applied in "real life."
The C++ Programming course will be available online for students unable to attend in person.
This course will be taught by Dave Klein
A C++ Programming enviroment is required for the course. The instructor recommends Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition. This is a free C++ environment available for download from Microsoft. The instructor will be using this environment for his in-class examples.
Any C++ environment should be sufficient for the course but if you have questions, contact mfe@haas.berkeley.edu.
If you are attending the in-class lectures, you need to bring a laptop with the C++ environment installed on it. This is very important since the second half of all lectures will be hands-on practice.
This course is designed as a first introduction to object oriented programming in C++ for financial engineers, quantitative analysts, accountants, and other finance professionals. The course focuses on programming skills required for pricing and risk managing financial instruments in equities, fixed income, and credit.
This course is introductory in nature and is not intended for information technology specialists, computer scientists, or professional programmers in the finance industry.
Each session consists of a one-hour lecture followed by a half-hour segment of hands-on exercises. In the course of the program, participants will develop, step by step, the infrastructure needed to meet the demands they will encounter in the Master of Financial Engineering at UC Berkeley, as well as the basic programming requirements for financial engineering work in the derivatives securities in industry.
The following topics will be covered, with concentrated focus on financial problems:
Successful students will earn a certificate of completion from the UC Berkeley Center for Executive Education.
The Statistics for Financial Engineers Course will be available online for students unable to attend in person.
The Master of Financial Engineering Program at the Haas School of Business offers a 30-hour course that gives students the statistics and probablity training necessary to understand the courses in the program. The course is recommended for those who need a refresher course in statistics.
The primary objectives are to prepare students for the statistics demands of the MFE program and to give finance professionals the necessary statistical tools for analyzing and modeling the behavior of financial data. This course will build on the introductory statistics topics covered in the Math Foundations for Financial Engineering class.
The Statistics for Financial Engineers is a VEE Approved Course
For more information on this course contact the MFE program at (510) 642-4417 or mfe@haas.berkeley.edu. For questions regarding registration, call (510) 599-1503.
Successful students will earn a certificate of completion from the UC Berkeley Center for Executive Education (CEE).
The course will be taught by Dr. Martin Lettau.
Individuals interested in applying to the Haas Master of Financial Engineering Program, those pursuing any statistical analysis in the business world, or those interested in seeing how statistical theory can be applied in "real life."
None, although students should have taken university-level mathematics.