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Study Finance

Gain a deeper understanding of finance through advanced courses and real-world experience with investment funds. Develop analytical capabilities, ethical stewardship, and a personalized investment philosophy applicable to real-world capital markets.

Program Snapshot

Program Type

Minor

Credit Hours

20

Campus

Salem

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Our Finance Minor

Explore the world of finance through a liberal arts perspective. Analyze industries and evaluate value, risk, and opportunity while gaining insight into capital markets, including endowments, venture capital, and individual investors. Develop practical skills in financial analysis, valuation, and portfolio management, while learning to navigate trade-offs in complex decisions. Through hands-on experience, you’ll build the tools to make informed, long-term financial decisions.

Why choose a Finance minor at Willamette? 

  • Real-world investment experience. Participate in a student fund course that offers real-world investment exposure. Develop and defend investment strategies while making decisions in a collaborative, real-time environment.
  • Gain highly sought-after skills that pair with any major. Finance is a growing field that has an impact on nearly every industry. Build your degree and career opportunities through a powerful education in finance.
  • Opportunities inside and outside the classroom. Some finance courses are shared with MBA students, allowing undergraduates to learn alongside graduate peers. Students can also engage with the broader finance community through clubs like the Financial Literacy Club.

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Do you have questions about the Finance program at Willamette? Fill out this form and we'll get in touch!

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Our Faculty

Our faculty bring real-world financial expertise into the classroom, with backgrounds in corporate finance, investing, and global markets. They've conducted research, advised organizations, and navigated complex financial decisions firsthand. Through hands-on teaching and close mentorship, they help students make informed decisions in a rapidly changing economy.

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Curriculum

Explore topics like accounting principles, investments, managerial finance, and valuation while building a strong foundation in financial decision-making. Our program emphasizes hands-on learning, including a student-managed fund that gives you real investing experience to showcase on your resume.

  • Finance 351: Student Investment Fund

    Apply financial concepts in a hands-on setting by managing a real portfolio of stocks and ETFs. Track economic, market, and company events throughout the semester, and present your results and outlook to an external panel.

  • FIN 430: Financial Statement Analysis

    Learn to assess organizational prospects, risks, and value using tools like comparative data analysis and the Toulmin model. Apply these skills to publicly traded companies, entrepreneurial ventures, and non-profits, culminating in modern approaches to valuation and financial forecasting.

Program Requirements

The Finance minor requires 20 credit hours, including 10 hours of core courses, at least 6 hours of experiential courses, and at least 4 hours of electives.

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Admissions Information

Our Finance minor is open to first-year, transfer, and international students. Learn more about Willamette’s undergraduate admissions process to get started.

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FAQs

Absolutely! Our liberal arts college offers a way for Oregon students to minor in finance. Our minor works alongside the curriculum within the Business Administration bachelor's degree and the Atkinson Graduate School of Management.

A finance minor gives students a strong foundation in a growing and dynamic field. While it prepares you for careers in finance and investing, the skills you gain, like analyzing data, evaluating risk, and making strategic decisions, are valuable in almost any industry. Potential career paths include:

  • Financial Analyst
  • Business Analyst
  • Operations or Supply Chain roles
  • Nonprofit or Government budgeting roles
  • Startup work

Absolutely! A finance minor can help students understand budgeting, forecasting, risk, investments, return on investment, financial statements, and even decision-making. It can also prepare students for graduate school, personal finance decisions, and even career mobility. A finance minor pairs especially well with:

However, it can also help students in nearly any major. Combine English and finance for roles in marketing or understand freelance and budgeting when pairing an arts degree with a finance minor. Speak to our Career Development Center to learn how a finance minor might help your career prospects.

Choosing a minor can be challenging, but it is important to consider your career goals and desired skills during the process. Business and finance are both great minors, but they offer different skill sets. A business minor is broad, discussing a variety of topics such as marketing, management, accounting, and strategy. A finance minor is more focused, discussing financial data, decision-making, budgeting, and investments.

Both can enhance and transform your major, but they do focus on different concepts. Our career advisors can help you understand how each minor could work with your major.

Absolutely! A finance minor can prepare you for graduate studies in business, finance, law, public policy, and economics. Graduate programs, in turn, can open doors to careers in healthcare, environmental policy, management, arts administration, and technology. Willamette offers relevant programs such as:

Willamette University

Finance

  • Salem Campus

    Address

    900 State Street
    Salem Oregon 97301 U.S.A.