The First Applied Corporate Finance & Investment Banking MBA

Since 1999, the Nicholas Center has been focusing exclusively on delivering practical training in corporate finance and investment banking

Do you see the big picture when it comes to finance?  Corporate finance requires a deep understanding of financial methods and techniques - from valuing assets to providing insights on important business development decisions.  Investment banking focuses on raising capital for companies and making business deals happen.

The Wisconsin MBA in corporate finance and investment banking prepares you to see the big picture and to succeed as a financial officer, consultant, or investment banker.

The specialized Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance and Investment Banking combines the breadth of an outstanding first-year core curriculum with the depth of financial consulting project-based experience in the second year. Critical analysis of corporate financial problems is at the heart of the program. The Nicholas Center is the only truly applied corporate finance MBA program in the country. Why is Wisconsin's specialized MBA approach gaining international recognition? According to BusinessWeek, specialized programs "give students the kind of targeted, real-world experience sometimes lacking in traditional MBAs."

The Nicholas MBA program offers students a unique opportunity to gain practical experience working on meaningful corporate finance consulting engagements. Students work in teams on assigned finance projects for consulting firms, investment banks, public corporations and private companies. The financial consulting engagements typically involve an analysis of problem areas for the engagement sponsors in areas such as working capital management, evaluation of funding sources, valuation, cost of capital, capital expenditure decisions, acquisition analysis, and joint venture and strategic alliances. Throughout the academic year, students work on approximately four to six diverse financial consulting engagements. Overall, each class works with 16 -18 different corporations, firms and banks.

Our graduates become financial leaders in all areas of corporate finance and investment banking.

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Founder's Vision

Ab Nicholas

The Nicholas Center, formerly known as the Applied Corporate Finance (ACFIN) program, was established in 1999. Since its inception, students admitted to the program have worked on corporate finance engagements for a variety of public and private, mature and start-up, financial and non-financial companies. In 2003, Albert "Ab" Nicholas, a graduate of the Wisconsin School of Business, made a $6.4 million gift to benefit ACFIN. Additionally, an anonymous donor contributed a $2 million gift to accelerate the advancement of the Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance and Investment Banking.

Consulting Engagements

Finance Consulting Engagements are a cornerstone of the Corporate Finance and Investment Banking MBA at Wisconsin. Throughout the second year, Nicholas Center students work in teams to apply technical and theoretical financial tools and concepts to analyze problems, improve decision making, and develop recommendations for high-level executives at a variety of firms. Nicholas projects present a wide variety of complex challenges, such as working capital management, funding sources, valuation, cost of capital, capital expenditure decisions, acquisition analysis, and joint venture and strategic alliances for investment banks, public corporations, private companies, consulting firms, and start-up companies.

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Student Profiles
Miguel MirelesMBA 2012
Miguel graduated from Texas Tech University with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 2007 where he interned for Kimberly Clark Corporation as a process engineer.  After graduation Miguel enrolled in the University of Wisconsin Law...Read More
Your Career
Each student in the Nicholas Center receives individualized career and academic advising from Center staff. We also facilitate contact between students and our extensive network of industry executives, alumni, corporate recruiters, and faculty.

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Alumni Profiles
Fernando MiramontesClass of 2006JP Morgan Inv Mgmt Inc
Advisory Board

The Nicholas Board of Advisors plays a critical role in the success of the Nicholas Center. Board members are practitioners from financial services/investment banking and consulting firms, as well as corporate officers.

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