Fields of ResearchThe research of the Finance Group - http://www.finance.uni-mannheim.de/en/home/ (Albrecht, Maug, Niessen-Ruenzi, Ruenzi, Terberger, Theissen, von Thadden (Economics),Weber, Demirci) covers all major fields in finance, including Asset Pricing, Banking, Behavioral Finance and Decision Making, Corporate Finance, Corporate Governance, Investment Management, and Insurance and Risk Management. The research results are regularly published in the leading finance journals, such as the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, and the Review of Financial Studies and faculty present their work at the prime international conference (American Economic Association, American Finance Association, European Finance Association, Western Finance Association).
Behavioral Finance has become increasingly popular in recent years. This field addresses the problems of how individuals behave and how they build their expectations. While traditionally focusing on retail investors, behavioral finance now increasingly also analyzes the behavior of corporate managers and professional investors.
Corporate Finance deals with the optimal structuring of contracts with agents, equity and debt holders of a firm under symmetric and asymmetric information, while Corporate Governance is concerned with rules and regulations governing the firm and its optimal control.
Investment Management examines (optimal) investment strategies of individual investors and institutions as well as the dynamics and problems that arise when investors delegate investment decisions to, e.g., mutual funds or hedge funds.
Risk Management is strongly related with asset pricing, banking and corporate finance. It studies the exposure of financial and non-financial firms to market, credit, liquidity, operational and economic risk.
Program Structure
The curriculum in Finance reflects the demanding quantitative methods which are used in the above-mentioned fields and the strong microeconomic foundations. The core courses in the first semester are designed to give the students a strong foundation of the relevant mathematical, econometric, and microeconomic principles of finance. The courses in mathematics, microeconomics and econometrics are joined courses with the Center for Doctoral Studies in Economics. The course on “Discrete-Time Finance” covers the central problem of how to allocate consumption and investment from a financial point of view, no-arbitrage equilibria, linear pricing rules, pricing kernels, and the change of numéraire.
The core courses in the second semester represent the major subfields of Finance: Individual decision making under a neoclassical and behavioral view, investment-consumption decisions and asset pricing in continuous time, and theoretical and empirical corporate finance problems. The course “Econometrics of Financial Markets” extends the common econometrics course to typical financial issues such as the estimation of dynamic market processes, testing asset pricing and market microstructure models, and designing event studies.
Finally, in both semesters students participate in the Finance research seminar series, which features regular presentations by renowned researchers from top universities around the world and allows to get in touch with cutting-edge research from the very first day.
Admission to the CDSB Program
General Information
PhD programs at the CDSB:
- The application deadline is March 31, 2016 for the fall 2016 intake. Applications can be submitted from November 2015, and there is an early admission deadline on January 31, 2016.
- Applications from candidates who are not accepted in the early round will be reviewed again with all other applications after March 31.
- The prerequisite for admission is a master’s degree or a four year bachelor's degree in the respective field or equivalent.
Business Research programs at the CDSB:
- The application deadline is March 31, 2016 for the fall 2016 intake. Applications can be submitted from November 2015.
- The prerequisite for admission is an enrollment in the Mannheim Master in Management of the Business School at the University of Mannheim and average grades of all master courses of the first semester: 2.0 or better.
We solely offer online application and applicants must submit their information and documents through our online application portal - https://gess-application.uni-mannheim.de/portal/. Applications sent in via mail will not be considered.
Admission is based purely on academic performance and potential.
Application Documents
The following information is required for an application:
- Personal data
- Letter of motivation: Please provide a statement explaining your current goals, career plans and reasons for being interested in the PhD program in Business. Discuss your study plans and your fields of interest. Your statement should be in English and not exceed 700 words.
- Certificates and transcripts of grades: A transcript from each college or university is required. The degree certificate is not sufficient. The transcript should show courses, grades and degrees received, mentioning rank or distinction if applicable. A translation is required for any transcript in a language other than English or German. At this stage of the application process it is not necessary to notarize or apostil the translations. If you are accepted we need notarized translations. An apostil is not necessary. If you have not yet finished your current degree, please attach a preliminary grade report (again in English or German).
- GMAT (or GRE): All applicants must enter or upload test scores on the online application. While GMAT is the preferred test, adequate GRE scores may be handed in alternatively. There is no minimum required score. Ask the GMAT Customer Service to report your test scores using the following program code: VLC-95-89 (or the Educational Testing Service using the program code: 0933).
- Letters of recommendation: Two letters of recommendation are required from faculty who are able to assess your academic ability and potential.
- Writing sample: Please attach a writing sample in English or German, e.g., a paper you have written during your studies.
- Any supplementary information is relevant to your application.
Online Application
In order to make the application process as convenient as possible for you, we offer an online application portal - https://gess-application.uni-mannheim.de/portal/, which is available from November 2015, on.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
http://gess.uni-mannheim.de/doctoral-programs/business-cdsb/cdsb-programs/phd-programs/finance.html