Masters in Finance: Concentrations explained

By Charlotte Tait, MiF Recruitment Manager

Year after year, the ability to follow Concentrations within our Masters in Finance (MiF) programme proves highly popular with our students and it’s something prospective students often ask us about. We’ve therefore decided to shine a light on them, putting together some information on what they entail as well as collating some insights from current students who are pursuing them. 

What are Concentrations? 

Concentrations are a great way of signaling to recruiters and potential employers that you have specialised in a particular area of finance. Students achieve a Concentration by taking the Practitioner Courses and choosing from a list of electives that correspond with the Concentration.  

We offer four Concentrations on the MiF: Investment Management Analysis, CFO, Corporate Finance, and Risk Management and Derivatives. It isn’t necessary to decide on the Concentration you want to do before the start of the programme. Students are able to decide when they are on the programme, and often find that towards the end of the MiF, simply by pursuing their specific interests, they have already taken several electives that correspond with a Concentration. Therefore, they only need to select one or two additional electives in order to achieve a Concentration.  

It’s important to note that MiF students are not required to do a Concentration and can freely choose up to 10 electives from our list of 40.  

If, however, you decide to do a Concentration and complete the Electives and Practitioner Courses to do so, this will be shown in your transcript and the Programme Office can also write a letter to support this should you wish to flag it to the attention of potential employers. 

See below the Practitioner Courses required for each of the Concentrations:  

Concentration Practitioner Course to achieve Concentration 
Investment Management and Analysis The Business of Asset Management 
CFO The Business of Corporate Finance  
CFO 
Corporate Finance The Business of Corporate Finance 
Risk Management and Derivatives Applied Risk Management and Derivatives 

Why choose a Concentration? 

Andrew Yeo (MiF Part-time 2021)
Investment Management and Analysis, and Corporate Finance Concentrations
“While my background is in Risk Management & Derivatives, I wanted to make use of the opportunity at London Business School to learn more and pursue different tracks. Having a list of Concentration requirements made it easier for me to customise the MiF after the core courses, and made it easier to pick from a varied list of electives during the bidding process. As part of the Concentration you also get to take a Practitioner Course. Having practitioners such as Senior Managers from BP and BNP Paribas, Senior Partners from law firms, and distinguished Alumni from LBS, talk about industry practices was incredibly helpful in bridging the gap between what is theoretically correct versus what is actually being done in the real world. I would definitely encourage students to pursue a Concentration or even two Concentrations – this isn’t as intense as it sounds because some electives fulfil different Concentration tracks.”   

Vartan Indjeian (MiF Part-time 2021)
CFO and Corporate Finance Concentrations
“Based on my experiences and my long-term goal to be a CFO of a Private Equity or Venture Capital firm, I am seeking to obtain the CFO and Corporate Finance Concentrations. Completing the elective coursework for both Concentrations will help me expand my technical finance skills to be in a better position to transition into this type of role, as well as build my leadership and people management skills which are crucial to meet my goals.” 

Michael Coombs (MiF Part-time 2020) 
MiF Practitioner Courses
“At first, I was concerned about selecting electives that would ensure a Concentration aligned with my professional goals, but I quickly realised that most people’s course choices naturally align with the Concentrations that they are interested in any way! The most helpful part of pursuing the Concentration were the Practitioner Courses, which really draw materials from your syllabus and compares and contrasts it with what people are truly doing in the market day-to-day.” 

Interested in applying to the MiF? 

If you have any questions about the MiF programme you can reach out to me or my team by email or call us on +44(0)207007505.  

You can also submit your profile for an informal review of your profile and fit for the programme.

To get more insight into the MiF student experience and programme content, feel free to reach out to our Student Ambassadors here.  


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