Should I apply? I am an MBA with significant coursework in finance. Will the Swiss Finance Institute program benefit me? What if I am a liberal arts student at an Ivy League college, majoring in physics, with no prior coursework in business or finance? Will I survive the program?

Our class is very carefully selected to be highly diverse. Although the median age is in the early twenties, our program participants range from exceptionally mature college freshmen to finance MBA's. We receive several hundred applications from which we assemble a class of approximately one hundred students. The following information should help you determine if our program may be suitable for you.

What makes our program remarkable and extraordinary? It is important to review the entire website to get a sense of all that the Institute has to offer to its participants. We can easily point out many things that we believe make us unique:

Academic Orientation: We are not a typical "summer camp." Our academic experience is as rigorous as working at an investment bank or trading on a prop trading desk. The program is suitable only for those individuals who seek a rigorous intellectual and training experience.

Faculty from I-Banking, Trading and Hedge Funds: Our lecturers, in their background, experience and outlook, are not like typical university or corporate instructors. They have actual relevant industry experience as well as significant teaching and mentoring experience. The only way to receive inside scoop on the investment banking industry is to speak with a seasoned industry professional who wishes to mentor you. Please visit our faculty page for more information.

Applied Skills: : Our students develop skills that allow them to hit the ground running once they start at investment banks, hedge funds and consulting firms. They also develop strong networking and interviewing skills.

Location: : We are in the heart of Europe, nestled in the Swiss Alps.

Residential Experience: : Our students typically experience either mountain chalets or hotels in great locations, which is unique for any educational institution.

Extra-curricular: : Our students travel to France and Italy for weekend activities.

Affordable: : Other programs are substantially more expensive.

Lifelong Friendships: : Students work in teams and develop a lifelong network of friends who are going to be successful.

Industry Recognition: : SFA curriculum and training are very well respected by investment banks and other top employers.

Networking: : In the recent programs, SFA organized networking events for its students to mingle with investment bankers from various bulge bracket firms and admissions officers from top five US graduate business schools. Our alumni base continues to grow, and we organize reunions and networking events around the world.

Investment Banking Program (IBP):

The Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, Hedge Funds and Sales & Trading Program: This program is specially designed for individuals who wish to pursue a career in those areas. The focus of this program is on valuation, capital markets, M&A and competitive analysis; it does not focus much on accounting, operations or information systems. We typically have many finance majors as well as finance MBA's in our programs. We also have non-finance majors. Majority of the material we cover in our programs is not covered in undergraduate or MBA finance courses. About half of our class is made up of liberal arts college students with limited or no background in finance (The American term “liberal arts” here refers to students at top US universities who are concentrating in arts and sciences, such as mathematics, economics or chemistry, as opposed to technical areas such as taxes, computer programming or law). Liberal arts students are required to do some homework before arriving at the Institute, which is communicated a few weeks prior to arrival and designed to prepare them to meet the challenges of the program curriculum.

IBP Curriculum: The program is very rigorous. Classes are held for five to eight hours every day. Additionally, in the evenings, students study in groups and independently for several hours. There are assigned textbook readings and case studies selected for richness and practical relevance to the topic, and for making the discussion as approachable as possible to the audience. Formal presentations similar to those delivered by investment bankers before their clients during “beauty contests”, as well as negotiations that relate to price and structure of a deal, form an integral part of a highly dynamic learning experience.