At the Daniels School, MSF students go beyond the classroom. With a curriculum built around real-world application and direct engagement with industry, the program offers students opportunities to manage real capital, advise on startup investments and work with corporate partners on live consulting projects. This hands-on approach prepares our graduates to step confidently into careers in asset management, corporate finance, venture capital and financial analytics.
The Student Managed Venture Fund (SMVF) immerses MSF students in the full venture capital investment process. Over the course of a semester, students evaluate real startups drawn from active deal flows.
Participating students sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), ensuring they approach the experience with the same professionalism required of industry analysts. Working in teams, students analyze the business model, market potential, financials and risks of their assigned companies, and then develop a formal investment recommendation.
The course culminates in a capstone experience where students present their recommendations to professors, peers and a panel of professional investors. Together, the group deliberates on the startups under consideration and selects one company to join its current round of financing. This experiential process gives students a unique opportunity to bridge classroom knowledge with real-world decision-making, while also developing critical skills in due diligence, valuation and persuasive communication.
SMIF gives me the opportunity to work alongside faculty and alumni to enable my career in asset management, investment research, and equity research. We all work together to create biweekly reports and evaluate companies.
Sanskruti Nainutia, MSF 2023
Research & Product Associate, InCred Asset Management & Alternative Investments
MSF students have the opportunity to participate in high-impact co-curricular competitions that mirror real-world finance challenges. These events help sharpen technical, analytical, and presentation skills in a competitive, team-based environment.
Purdue proudly hosted the MSF Case Competition in both 2024 and 2025, bringing together top graduate finance students from institutions such as Indiana University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Notre Dame and Washington University in St. Louis. Each year, the competition focuses on a timely and challenging finance topic, M&A strategy in 2024, and a private equity deal evaluation in 2025, offering students a platform to apply their technical and strategic skills in a high-stake setting. Teams conduct in-depth analysis, craft investment or corporate finance recommendations and present to a panel of seasoned professionals from the finance industry. The event provides valuable exposure, mentorship opportunities and practical experience that strengthens both resumes and real-world readiness.
Aligned with the MSF program’s Wealth & Asset Management (WAM) track, this annual fall competition offers students hands-on experience in private client advising and portfolio management. Supported by Wells Fargo, Morningstar and eMoney Advisor, students use professional tools to build portfolios, craft financial plans and respond to evolving client needs—culminating in a final presentation to a panel of industry professionals. This experience sharpens students’ financial planning, communication and investment strategy skills while enhancing their resumes for roles in private wealth, advisory and asset management.
Many students participate in the annual Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge. Participants are tested in analytical, valuation, report writing and presentation skills. Through this challenge, participants gain real-world experience assuming the role of a research analyst.
The competition provides a great opportunity for intensive training. Additionally, as a leading organization for investment management professionals with a goal of advancing ethics, market integrity and professional standards of practice, the CFA Institute Competition provides mentoring and networking opportunities.
Our program faculty are engaged with the CFA Society Indianapolis, a local chapter of the national organization bringing together the Indianapolis investment community.
The Bloomberg Global Trading Challenge gives MSF students the opportunity to experience the fast-paced world of global markets by competing against top students from around the world.
Working in teams of 3–5 and guided by a faculty advisor, participants use the Bloomberg Terminal to define market assumptions, design return-generating strategies and execute trades in a live, simulated trading environment. The competition is measured by time-weighted relative return against the Bloomberg World Large, Mid & Small Cap Price Return Index (WLS Index), providing a realistic benchmark for performance. This experience builds skills in portfolio construction, risk management and real-time decision-making — essential tools for careers in investment management and trading.
Our students' future career goals and aspirations are in the forefront of everything we do. Professional development begins on day one.
Familiarize yourself with Daniel’s career services office and standard networking engagments available to all our residential master’s students.
Download the Industry Overview to explore the growing field of finance including job titles on the rise, salary expectations, and in-demand skills.
Each semester the MSF program team organizes a trip to a major metropolitan area with a goal of exposing students to the various concentrations within the field of finance and connecting them to industry leaders through corporate office visits. Past cohorts have traveled to Chicago, Indianapolis and New York City to visit organizations like Morgan Stanley. The team hopes to incorporate visits to San Francisco and other cities in the western U.S. in future trips.
The Purdue Finance Workshop (PFW) was developed in 2014 by finance alums living and working in Manhattan. The focus of the group is to increase Purdue’s brand on Wall Street – cultivating opportunities to prepare Daniels School of Business finance graduates to be successful in the field of banking and investments.
If you would like to receive more information about the MS Finance program at Purdue, please fill out the form and a program specialist will be in touch.
If you’d like to learn more about any of the above opportunities, please reach out to the MSF admissions specialist.
