If you want to apply for this Master’s programme, you should hold an academic Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Finance, or a degree in Business Economics, Economics or Business Administration with a specialisation in Finance or Real Estate Finance or one of the Bachelor's from our list of Dutch Bachelor’s degrees.

Eligible candidates must have at least 15 ECTS of coursework in finance. In addition, applicants should have completed:

• An intermediate-level course in Investments, covering topics such as portfolio optimisation and diversification, CAPM, and factor-based pricing models. 
• An intermediate-level course in Corporate Finance, covering topics such as capital structure theory and payout policy. 
• An intermediate-level course in Econometrics, which must cover multivariate linear regression, omitted variable bias, and non-linear Logit/Probit models 
• Some coursework on derivatives or risk management (this can be covered as part of a broader course on Investments or Corporate Finance) 

You must upload a course description of each of these courses in your online application. 

Additional to your Bachelor’s degree it is recommendable to have strong knowledge of economics, math and statistics as you will have a better understanding of the Master’s programme. Therefore, it can be helpful to have additional coursework in microeconomics, macroeconomics, accounting, mathematics and statistics at foundation-year level. 

Students from other UvA faculties

You have direct admission to our MSc in Finance without any further conditions such as a minimum GPA or GMAT:

• if you have finished UvA’s PPLE, with the major E&B, provided that the EB-course Investment and Portfolio Theory 1 has been completed.

Bachelor’s degrees of universities of applied sciences are not taken into consideration. 

Since the Master’s in Finance is a popular programme and we want to guarantee an interactive programme, we apply a selection procedure. One of the selection criteria is the Grade Point Average (GPA).

To select students for this programme, we will look at the average GPA of your finance-related core courses (Corporate Finance, Investment, Derivatives e.g.), plus Econometrics. 

Only applicants with an average GPA of at least 7.0 or higher for these courses are eligible for selection.  

This means that you are not automatically admitted when you have a 7.0 GPA, but that you will be considered for the selection round where places are offered to the applicants with the highest GPA until all places are filled. Please note that applications with a lower GPA can still be submitted and will be assessed. 

Send your GPA calculation along with your application, you do not have to update your GPA calculation after 1 June. In the 3rd week of June the best candidates will be selected. 

One of the selection criteria is the motivation letter. The MSc Finance is an academically challenging programme with a strong emphasis on research methods. Applicants are expected to have a high level of intrinsic motivation for academic study in general, and finance and economics in particular. Your motivational letter should clearly state why you are interested in studying finance and pursuing a career in this field. It should also explain why your academic profile is a good fit for the programme. Furthermore, use the motivation letter to highlight any important aspects of your profile that are not documented elsewhere in your application, as well as extenuating circumstances that you have experienced. (Max. 1 A4)

Please provide a letter of recommendation from a previous or current supervisor, professor, co-worker, or peer who can describe the knowledge, skills, or aptitudes that you possess.