To complete a degree, a minimum of 120 credits is required, with no more than four of those credits in physical education, and no more than another four credits from INFO 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168 and 169. These courses may be counted as non-business electives. The foundation program specifies course work required during the freshman and sophomore years. Students who successfully complete a minimum of 54 credits in the foundation program — including UNIV 111, 112, and 200 (with a minimum grade of C in UNIV 112 and 200), ECON 210-211, MGMT 171 and 212 and ACCT 203-204 — and meet the course and GPA requirements are eligible for admission into a major in the School of Business. All students entering junior-level business and economics courses are expected to have competency in computer-based word processing and spreadsheet skills.

The admission requirements for the School of Business detail the requirements for students to be admitted to the advanced business program with a major in the school. Candidates for the bachelor’s degrees offered in business must complete the 120 credits outlined in the combination of the foundation and advanced programs. At least 30 hours of the required business courses for the Bachelor of Science must be taken at VCU.

Students in the financial technology program must attain a minimum grade of C in all technically oriented and upper-level courses. A student receiving a grade below C may repeat the course one time to raise the grade to the required level. In addition, a minimum GPA of 2.5 must be maintained. Students who fall below a GPA of 2.5 will be placed on program probation and will be given one semester to return to the minimum GPA of 2.5. Students who do not return to the required GPA will be advised out of the program. A student must have a minimum GPA of 2.5 to graduate from the program.

The Bachelor of Science in Financial Technology offers tracks in actuarial science and financial engineering. The program provides quantitatively oriented students the opportunity to apply mathematical, statistical and programming tools to the financial, risk management and actuarial disciplines. Designed to meet the growing need for quantitative modeling and analysis in finance, risk management and actuarial science, the program is technical and interdisciplinary in nature. The curriculum emphasizes courses in finance, statistics and mathematics with supporting courses in related areas.

The actuarial science track provides excellent preparation for the basic professional examinations and continued study in actuarial science. Students who complete this track also may find employment in areas such as quantitative applications in corporate and public financial policy, actuarial modeling and forecasting, reserves computation and rate making, and computer and information systems in the financial services and risk management industries.

Learning goals

To support career advancement over time by giving our students the academic foundation in information systems needed for continued professional development.
To help students develop the professional skills that will be needed by the businesses and organizations that hire our graduates.
To help our students develop ethical awareness so that they are able to deal with an ethical dilemma in the workplace.

Degree requirements for Financial Technology, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in actuarial science

Learning outcomes

Upon completing this program, students will know and know how to do the following:

Graduates will be able to understand the role of information systems and information technology in the organization, especially as a source of information.
Graduates will be able to understand the value of, and be able to use, financial/accounting data to make decisions at both strategic and operating levels within the context of their discipline-specific knowledge.
Graduates will be able to communicate effectively both orally and in writing.
Graduates will be able to understand the importance to themselves, their organization and the larger community of working effectively in teams.
Graduates will be able to use the appropriate quantitative/statistical analysis and reasoning to make business decisions.
Graduates will be able to demonstrate an ability to respond appropriately to ethical dilemmas in business. From a scenario (i.e., what is good for some consumers might not be good for society as a whole), the student will be required to identify both sides of the dilemma, state what action they would recommend and incorporate the marketing concept and the American Marketing Association Code of Ethics in developing their recommendation.
This program is to provide cutting-edge quantitative skills with mathematical, statistical and programming tools.
Graduates will be able to explain and use terminology identified with risk management, demonstrate competence in the use of risk modeling and prepare corporate risk management plans.
Graduates will be able to apply mathematical, statistical and programming tools to finance, risk management and actuarial disciplines.
In recognition of the growing demand for communication of complex financial information, graduates will be able to clearly articulate financial analysis information in writing and in presentations.
Graduates will be able to estimate Value at Risk-VaR (financial/operational) for a business situation and recommend optimal hedging strategies.

General Education requirements	Credits
University Core Education Curriculum (minimum 21 credits)
UNIV 111 Focused Inquiry I	3
UNIV 112 Focused Inquiry II	3
UNIV 200 Writing and Rhetoric	3
Approved humanities/fine arts	3
Approved natural/physical sciences	3-4
Approved quantitative literacy	3-4
Approved social/behavioral sciences	3-4

Business General Education requirement (6 credits)

ECON 210-211 Principles of Economics	6

Required courses (77 credits)
ACCT 205 Introductory Accounting Survey	3
ACCT 303 Intermediate Accounting I	3
ACCT 304 Intermediate Accounting II	3
FIRE 311 Financial Management	3
FIRE 312 Intermediate Financial Management	3
FIRE 314 Investments	3
FIRE 333 Risk and Insurance	3
FIRE 414 Security Analysis and Portfolio Management	3
FIRE 428 Employee Benefit Planning	3
FIRE 432 Insurance Law	3
FIRE 455 Options, Futures and Swaps	3
FIRE 465 Managing Financial Risk	3
INFO 350 Intermediate Programming	3
INFO 364 Database Systems	3
INFO 450 Advanced Programming	3
MATH 201 Calculus with Analytic Geometry	3
MATH 307 Multivariate Calculus	4
MATH/STAT 309 Introduction to Probability Theory	3
MATH 310 Linear Algebra	3
MATH/OPER 327 Mathematical Modeling	3
MGMT 325 Organizational Communication	3
STAT 212 Concepts of Statistics or MGMT 301 Business Statistics I	3
STAT 321 Introduction to Statistical Computing	3
STAT 513 Mathematical Statistics I	3
STAT 514 Mathematical Statistics II	3

Elective courses (18 credits)
Approved general education electives (choose four)	12
CHEM 101-102 General Chemistry
ENVS/GEOG 105 Physical Geology
PHYS 101 Foundations of Physics
PHYS 107 Wonders of Technology
PHYS 201-202 General Physics
Any ANTH, PSYC or SOCY course except PSYC 214 Applications of Statistics, which business majors cannot take for degree credit
Any ARTH, DANC, MHIS, or THEA course open to non-arts majors
Any HIST, INTL (except INTL 493 International Studies Internship), PHIL, POLI or RELS course
Any foreign language course
Any honors module
Any additional Tier II University Core Education Curriculum approved courses
Approved English literature course (ENGL 201-206; ENGL 211; ENGL 236; ENGL 241; ENGL 291; ENGL 295)
Approved actuarial science electives (choose two)	6
FIRE 424 Property and Liability Insurance
FIRE 426 Life and Health Insurance
FIRE 430 Issues in Risk Management and Insurance
FIRE 493 Internship in Finance, Insurance and Real Estate

Total minimum requirement	123

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