Getting Involved
Majoring in finance at LSU is more than just sitting in a classroom! There are many ways to get involved in our business community to expand your professional network.
Department of Finance
Your Future — Capitalized.
The LSU Department of Finance prepares students to apply financial acumen and analytical skills to thrive in different markets, adapt to evolving business models, and deliver strategic value to an organization. Students have the opportunity to focus on asset management, commercial banking, investment banking/corporate finance, and commercial real estate.
Bottom Line: Our degrees will prepare you for a successful career in the fast-paced
world of finance.
Ways to Study Finance at LSU
The Department of Finance offers high-quality curricula to undergraduate and graduate
students interested in careers in corporate finance, asset management, real estate,
insurance, banking, financial planning, and business law.
Research
The Department of Finance faculty develop ground-breaking theories in finance scholarship and bring their expertise to the classroom and beyond. Explore our thought leadership efforts in banking, capital structure, credit ratings, consumption-based asset pricing, financial innovation, indexing, institutional investors, risk management, and more.
Faculty
Our internationally recognized faculty are leaders in their fields and are dedicated to sharing their knowledge and real-world experience with their students. The Department of Finance faculty are actively engaged and accessible to ensure they develop their students into future finance industry leaders.
The SMART Lab
Experiential Learning Opportunities
Venture Capital Apprentice Program
A formalized partnership with the LSU Department of Finance, Red Stick Angels, Innovation Catalyst Partners, and NexusLA. It provides an exclusive student opportunity to work with “real life” early-stage, venture-backed companies on various projects, including preparing financial models, fundraising decks, business plans, and market research.
Wall Street Prep Student Passport
WSP training offers corporate finance video training and certification on various finance concepts, including M&A, financial analysis and modeling, DCF and other valuation techniques, debt and credit issues, and advanced Excel and PowerPoint instruction. Students receive a lifetime subscription for $115. LSU Finance is one of a handful of universities to incorporate WSP into the curriculum.
The Tiger Fund
LSU Finance students oversee the Tiger Fund portfolio, which is comprised of publicly traded equities and private equity fund investments. The Tiger Fund was founded in 2005 by a generous grant from the LSU Foundation. The Tiger Fund provides students with valuable hands-on experience in security analysis and the management of an investment portfolio and strengthening their skills and abilities in market analysis, financial research, oral and written communication, and teamwork.
CFA® University Affiliation
The E. J. Ourso College of Business has a CFA® University Affiliation from the CFA Institute, a global association for investment professionals that awards the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. The CFA affiliates with globally diverse, high-profile institutions that cover a significant portion of the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge and embrace the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct in their degree programs.
CFA University Affiliation recognition provides a signal to students and the marketplace that the Ourso College's curriculum is closely tied to professional practice and is well suited to preparing students to sit for the CFA exams.
Equipped For Success
Student Impact
“FIN 3720 lectures, modeling practice, and the case studies, along with access to Wall Street Prep, allowed me to cultivate technical skills not always available on college campuses. These skills are essential when recruiting for internships and jobs in investment banking, private equity/credit, corporate development, and more. This course and the instructor’s industry expertise and network allow LSU students to compete with students from any university, anywhere, and helped me obtain internships in private credit and corporate development throughout my first two years at LSU.”
- Hayden Field; LSU Finance 2025
Asset Management Academy
AMA helps students develop the tools to work in the asset management industry through rigorous research practices. AMA is a think tank run by students and is open to undergraduate and graduate students in various disciplines, focusing on research, using investment theory, statistical analysis, and computer science to build critical skills.
de Soto Society
A networking organization for students interested in careers in the finance industry. de Soto gives students the opportunities to network with finance alumni, helps place members into high finance roles, and provides tools to succeed in internships.
Student Real Estate Association
SREA seeks to increase awareness of the numerous business opportunities in the real estate industry by having influential professionals from the Baton Rouge area share insights on the profession.
Compete with the Best
Tiger Fund managers participate in the Bloomberg’s Global Trading Challenge. In this international competition, teams of university students develop investment strategies and invest a notional $1 million on the Bloomberg terminal. Our 2021 team placed tenth in the global competition.
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Commercial Banking Initiative
The Commercial Banking Initiative (CBI) is a high-impact academic program housed in the Department of Finance. CBI develops the next generation of commercial banking leaders through classroom instruction, interaction with industry leaders, and experiential learning opportunities.
Real Estate Research Institute
Housed in the Department of Finance, RERI studies trends in the Louisiana real estate
market. Established in part with funds from the Louisiana Real Estate Commission in
1985, various private sources and grants have provided continued funding for the institute.
Credit Analyst Ed. Program
The challenges facing the banking industry are numerous, and the need for trained
personnel has never been greater, particularly the need for credit analysts who understand
the banking industry and can underwrite complex commercial credits.
Finance News
Have you noticed fewer brick-and-mortar banks in your neighborhood recently? Following decades of consistent growth, the number of bank branches in the U.S. began declining in 2010. A new working paper with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) by Rajesh Narayanan, professor in the LSU Department of Finance, suggests this trend is due to technology making customers more powerful and less loyal, dramatically impacting profits.
Thirty students from LSU's E.J. Ourso College of Business provided research and strategy support for three local companies and one organization as part of the Venture Capital Apprentice Program (VCAP). Nexus Louisiana, Innovation Catalyst and the Red Stick Angel Network formed the project in collaboration with the E.J. Ourso College, LSU Innovation Park and the Louisiana Small Business Development Center.
The Center for Community Engagement, Learning, and Leadership (CCELL), in conjunction with LSU Campus Life, is pleased to announce that 44 seniors will graduate with the Engaged Citizen Program (ECP) medal and distinction for Spring 2025. This is the largest cohort of ECP graduates to date. Three E. J. Ourso College of Business students are among this year's honorees.
Contact Us
Department of Finance
2900 Business Education Complex
501 South Quad Dr.
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
225-578-6291 | finance@lsu.edu
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Give to the Department of Finance Development Fund to support research, student experience and more.