FAQ

Yes! We do not require that applicants have an undergraduate background in business.  Students with 4-year honours degrees in Business, Computer Science, Economics, Mathematics, Engineering and Actuarial Science are encouraged to apply.

If you are unsure if your degree is equivalent to a 4 year honours Bachelor degree, you can check using the World Education Services Degree Equivalency tool at http://www.wes.org/ca/evaluations/preliminary.asp.

You may take supplemental degrees through accredited universities to reach the requirement.

While we normally expect these courses to be completed in the last five years, we will consider courses taken earlier than five years ago, together with other academic information submitted by you.

If you have never taken any of the required courses, you may take them through an accredited university (online or in class) part time, and then submit your transcript showing the successful completion of the courses with your application the following year.

Please note that we will not accept Coursesa courses for required components.  Required courses must be University level courses from an accreditated school that are graded.

Our Master of Finance program is a highly intensive program with a heavy focus on Math, and as such we need to ensure that applicants have sufficient background knowledge in this area in order to be successful in the program.

A B+ is equivalent to a McMaster GPA of 8.5, or a percent grade of 75-79%.

Although we appreciate your inquiry, we are unable to provide pre-assessment reviews on potential Master of Finance applications due to a high volume of inquiries. However, our Master of Finance program requirements are the following:

• Honours (4 year) bachelor degree or equivalent in any discipline with a minimum B+ average (equivalent to a McMaster GPA of 8.5) from an accredited university.
• Prefer a minimum of one term each of university level calculus, algebra, and statistics. The normal expectation is that these courses have been completed within the last five years.
• Minimum GMAT score of 600 or the GRE equivalent.
• At least one letter of reference from an academic source, the other letter of reference may be non-academic.
• Applicants whose native language is not English and did not complete their most recent degree in English are required to submit an Official English language test. Minimum TOEFL score of 92; or IELTS score of 6.5. Note – for our 2019 class, our average TOEFL score was 100 and the average IELTS score was 7.
• A copy of your current Resume/CV.
• No prior work experience is required for our program.

If you feel that you meet or exceed our program requirements, we would welcome an application from you to join our September 2020 class.

To apply for our program, visit http://mfin.degroote.mcmaster.ca/apply/ and begin your application on our Mosaic application portal. Please ensure that you upload a copy of all the required supporting documentation as part of your application. Our application portal will close on February 14, 2020 for international applicants and March 25, 2020 for domestic applicants.

No. Our Master of Finance program does not require a personal statement of interest.

You do not need to mail us hard copies of your documents as part of your application. Scanned documents are used for the assessment of your application. If there is a required document that you were not able to upload on your online application, please e-mail a copy to mfin@mcmaster.ca.  Please ensure that you include your full name, McMaster Student Number and Application Number in your email.

You do not need to submit official copies of your transcripts with your Mosaic application, we will accept unofficial copies.

We only require official transcripts once an offer of admission has been extended to you, at which point you will be required to mail them to us.

Please note that we recommend that you do not submit your application in Mosaic until you have all of your documentation.  If you choose to submit your application without the required documentation, your file will not be reviewed by the Admission Committee until it is complete.  The deadline for submitting any missing documentation is February 21, 2020 for International applicants and April 1, 2020 for Domestic applicants.

The GMAT is a standardized testing tool that is widely used for Graduate Admissions. It tests students on their analytical writing, integrated reasoning, verbal reasoning, and quantitative reasoning.

No. This requirement is a mandatory part of the application and will not be waived under any circumstances.

The minimum GMAT score is 600.

Students who take the GRE test can find their equivalent GMAT score here:  https://www.ets.org/gre/institutions/about/mba/comparison_tool/.

The highest GMAT score is used in admissions.

For GMAT scores – Please ensure that you release your scores from your Testing Centre to McMaster University – Institution # 0936 and the DeGroote School of Business Master of Finance Program – Program Code #0D1-LC-57.

For GRE scores – Please ensure that you release your scores from your Testing Centre to McMaster University – Institution # 0936 and the DeGroote School of Business Master of Finance Program.

Please include with your application a copy of your Test Taker report.

The GMAT or GRE test is valid for 5 years from the test date.

Minimum TOEFL score: 92

Minimum IELTS score: 6.5

If you have attended, in full-time academic studies (non-ESL), an accredited English University for your entire 4-year undergraduate degree, you may request that the English Language test be waived.

In this case we will require a clear statement on your transcript; or an official supporting letter from the University institution which indicates that instruction is fully in English language.

For TOEFL scores – Please ensure that you release your scores to McMaster University – Institution # 0936.

The IELTS or TOEFL test is valid for 2 years from the test date.

Your referees will be automatically notified by Mosaic when you add their contact information in your student summary and submit your application.

If your referee did not receive the Mosaic notification, you can resend the reference request to your referee yourself. When you log in to Mosaic, in your student centre, if you look under view requirements (where your checklist is), you should see a button that you can hit to resend the notification.

Alternatively, you can always have your reference email a copy of a letter to mfin@mcmaster.ca, but the letter will need to have your full name and McMaster student id included and must be sent directly from your referee.

Entrance scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $20,000 are available for both domestic and international applicants and are available on a competitive basis based on the students’ academic performance, extra curricular activities/experiences, and other criteria the MFIN Admission Committee considers to be essential for the program.

There is no application required for entrance scholarships.

Our current fees are outlined on our website at https://mfin.degroote.mcmaster.ca/fees-and-funding/.

Over the course of the 16-month program, you are only charged for three academic terms.  You are not charged for the summer term as you are on an official program break during this time.

All students are also required to pay a supplemental fee for each academic year. Given that this program is 16 months and spans over two academic years, supplemental fees for both academic years are required.

No, the application fee is non-refundable.

No, the deposit is non-refundable.

After you submit your application don’t forget to check your requirements list to ensure that you have submitted the required information and monitor when it is received by our office.

Once your application is complete, meaning all required documentation has been submitted, it will be sent to our Admissions Committee for assessment.

Each application will be thoroughly reviewed by our Admission Committee.

We will start extending offers at the end of January 2020 on a rolling basis.

Administrators update the checklist in Mosaic manually. Due to the high volume of applications received, the checklist will not be updated immediately.

If there has been a substantial amount of time since you submitted your documents (more than 2 months) and the checklist still shows them as pending, please email mfin@mcmaster.ca

You do not need to mail us hard copies of your documents as part of your application. Scanned documents are used for the assessment of your application. If there is a required document that you were not able to upload on your online application, please e-mail it to mfin@mcmaster.ca.  Please ensure that you include your full name, McMaster Student Number and Application Number in your email.

Due to the high volume of applications that we receive, we are unable to provide you with an update on your application status.

Once a decision has been made, you will be contacted directly.