MBA Quant Experience

Xiaoming-Alex Yang, a second year student in Columbia's accelerated program, comments:

At Columbia, financial calculators are always allowed if you want. However, most professors do have laptop off policy at classes while some exams only allow you to use financial calculators.

David Landers, who recently completed his MBA at Indiana's Kelley School, reports:

At Kelley, the guiding rule is that laptops should remain off during class unless working in Excel. With that said, most of the professors are flexible and have no problems with laptop use as long as they are being used for class materials or taking notes. It's clear from day 1 what each respective professor's policy is and that policy is often determined by the type of material / cases covered.

A blank Excel sheet is usually allowed for exams. Some professors have open book test, however it should be noted that the time available for most seven week course exams is 1.5 hours. Students can use financial calculators if they choose to, but none of the classes that I took spend any time discussing their functions and certainly did not require them.

Peter Park, a second year student at HBS comments:

For class: HBS classes are laptop-down, including finance classes. You can use calculators during the class to follow along with the discussion.  For the most part, there is no need for a financial calculator; a regular calculator will probably be enough.  I had a financial calculator, but never used it for functions beyond mult/division during class.

For exams: All HBS exams are case-based, usually with a 4-5 hour time limit, and grades are based on a written response/analysis of the case.  For FIN 1 & 2 exams, you're required to attach exhibits to support your analysis from an excel model you build during the exam.  Everything's open book and open note w/exception of online sources, and you can use calculators and Excel.  Since the response requires a lot of excel, I never used a calculator.  I'd say the same for most of my classmates. 

Michael Converse, a first year student at UCLA's Anderson School, offers his perspective on quant skills preparation.  Note that the calculus he mentions needing for Managerial Economics is covered in the MBA Math course and requires no more than 30 minutes to understand the concepts and apply the mechanics.

At UCLA Anderson, we needed to know how to take a first derivative for a unit of MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS. I wouldn’t suggest taking an extensive calculus course just to learn how to take a first derivative. I took an INTRO TO CALCULUS course and regret wasting the time. I now know a lot of calculus that I will never apply. My time would have been better spent preparing for school.

In finance, some professors used advanced calculus to show how certain formulas are derived. Knowing calculus makes you feel better while watching or reading a complex derivation, BUT at the end of the day you’re tested on and use the formula…not how it was derived!

Ultimately, I would give calculus low priority in terms of preparation. If you want to get a basic understanding of a subject that you haven’t had any exposure to I would recommend, in addition to mbamath.com:

READING:

THE CARTOON GUIDE TO STATISTICS (seriously, this book is great)

ACCOUNTING FOR DUMMIES

TAKING:

MATHEMATICS FOR MANAGEMENT (most universities offer them online during the summer)

Jelka Dasent, a first year student at UT Austin's McCombs School, comments:

At McCombs, we do not use Excel in exams, and for Finance we are expected to be able to know how to use the financial calculator to find TVM [Time Value of Money]. The Finance Lectures give you a handout of the functions they want you to be able to use. All Finance exams are closed book, closed notes and no computers.

Jessica Grote, a first year student at Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, reports on Excel at Olin:

Excel is essential for several classes at Olin.  Fortunately, Olin offers an excel overview during the 2-week "Gateway Olin" orientation program.  This is a great way for Excel beginners to learn the basics or for Excel whizzes to do some fine-tuning before the core program begins.  Once classes begin, it is easy to further Excel skills through the help of teammates during group projects.  In addition, professors often provide detailed Excel directions and are more than happy to walk through the steps with students who seek one-on-one support.

Anne Thompson, a first year student at Dartmouth's Tuck School, reports:

At Tuck the policy is "whatever  makes life easier in the real business world is what you should learn how to use in school."  This means that most of us use excel and there are no classes that require the use of a financial calculator, however, for the students who already use financial calculators they are free to continue to do so.  As for exams, most are open notes and laptops/calculators available for exams -- the one exception to this is Capital Markets class, which requires all exams to be taken without any notes. 

Chantrelle Nielsen, a second year student at MIT Sloan, reports:

At MIT we don't have Excel or laptops available for exams, but we generally can bring formula sheets, and standard calculators are sufficient for exams in Finance I and II.  There may be a few more advanced finance classes where they are helpful, but I doubt it.

Kate Canale, a first year student at Virginia's Darden School reports:

Same at Darden, everything is take home, open book, open notes etc.  I have never used a financial calculator here since Excel does everything for you, but I know some people that prefer to use calculators. 

 

Regarding Excel and calculators in Duke's EMBA program, Rick Bollar reports:

In the Duke Global Executive program, all of our exams are open book and we can use class materials, notes, textbooks and computers (and of course Excel) to complete them.  On the flipside, the exams typically take 8-16 hours to complete.

I think most of my peers do not use a financial calculator, but I find it's easier to use my HP than Excel for most TVM calculations and I use it to crosscheck my Excel calculations.

Responding to inquiries from prospective MBAs about quant skill tools and expectations at various programs concerning Excel, financial calculators, and calculus, I have posed the question to current MBA students serving on the MBA Math board of advisors. 

Of particular interest are exams.  Some schools limit laptop use (and thus Excel) during exams to limit the potential for internet-facilitated cheating.  It's a "trust but verify" approach to the honor code.

Responses will follow as separate posts.

I welcome responses from current students at other MBA programs.

Hankamer School of Business recommends MBA Math for admitted students who need quantitative skills preparation.