Curriculum

Students must be enrolled in a minimum of 8 credit hours to remain in full time status, which is a requirement of the program for visa purposes. Full courses are worth 3 credit hours, and 1st or 2nd session courses are worth 1.5 credit hours.

Students have to be enrolled in the seminar series and 6 credit hours of other finance courses. The seminar series is the only requirement of the program; students may select finance courses of their choice from the course schedule that is distributed prior to arrival in Columbus.

KAIST students register for courses at the same time as all other Fisher students and need to submit their requests for courses in a timely manner. Otherwise, some of the courses requested may already be full. If a class you request is full, you will have to give program administrators an alternative course to enroll you in.

Course Offerings

Course offerings change every single year; here is a list of courses that are typically offered. A complete list of up-to-date course offerings will be given to you prior to your arrival in Columbus.

Please be aware that not all classes offered in the Fisher College of Business are offered to KAIST students, so please make your course selection from the schedule provided to you by program administrators. Also, students enrolled in this program are enrolled solely in the Department of Finance and are not eligible to take courses with other departments or colleges within the university.

Specialized KAIST Seminar - Requirement

The seminar, titled BUSFIN 7500 Recent Advances in Financial Markets, is the most beneficial part of the program. The seminar class is the only required course for KAIST students during Spring Semester. At each seminar a different Finance Department Faculty member will present on a number of different subjects, including findings on the latest research in their field. This seminar series is an unprecedented opportunity to hear many of the world’s finance research leaders speak in one location. These seminars are presented by our Faculty members, specifically to provide KAIST students with the most cutting edge information and research in a variety of fields.

Over the course of the seminar, students are required to develop a thesis idea. At the end of the semester's 1st session, students will be required to submit a brief paper detailing their potential thesis. At the end of the semester's 2nd session, students will be required to submit a more detailed paper, either elaborating on their original idea from the first session, or starting work on an entirely different subject. These papers will count as 100% of the grade for Spring Semester. However, grades can be lowered for inadequate attendance.

Course Grades and Credit

All classes in the finance department at the Fisher College of Business are worth 1.5 or 3 credit hours. After all grades are submitted by professors in the Department of Finance, transcripts will be sent to KAIST and will be considered as transfer credit, applicable toward your MBA at KAIST.

Program Completion

At the end of Spring Semester, the Department of Finance will meet with all students to congratulate them for completion of the program. From this point on, KAIST program participants will always be alumni of The Ohio State University.