Investment Banking and Capital Markets: Finance majors
Advising one-pager · BBA in Finance, 2026-27 catalog · Gatton College, September 2026
Download the printable PDF Updated 2026-09-17
What it is
Investment bankers advise companies on raising capital and on mergers and acquisitions, and the same skills lead to private equity, corporate development, and capital markets roles. Hiring rests on technical skill in accounting, valuation, and financial modeling, and on a junior-summer internship that is usually recruited well before senior year. This sheet is a roadmap for a student who says they are interested.
Start early: the programs carry the first two years
- Wall Street Scholars: a competitive cohort program for incoming freshmen and rising sophomores, with a one-credit class each semester of the first two years, Bloomberg Market Concepts, Wall Street Prep modeling seminars, alumni networking and city visits, and a finance or accounting internship before junior year. Apply through the Finance department’s Wall Street Scholars page.
- Finance Society (student-run, open to join) and its Gatton Select program, a banking preparation curriculum for freshmen chosen by interview in the spring semester.
- Wall Street Prep for students who want more financial modeling and technical interview preparation on their own.
The courses
The roadmap has no required courses. These four are the most directly relevant, and all four fill requirements the major already has.
| Course | What it adds | How it counts |
|---|---|---|
| ACC 475 ✓ Financial Statement Analysis | Reading and projecting a company’s performance from its statements | the major’s choose-one |
| FIN 440 ✓ Business Valuation | Income and market approaches to valuing whole businesses | FIN 400-level slot |
| FIN 430 ✓ Financial Modeling | A capstone that ties corporate finance and asset pricing together by building financial models | FIN 400-level slot |
| FIN 490 (Investment Banking and Private Equity) ✓ | The special-topics section on banking and private equity | FIN 400-level slot |
FIN 440 follows FIN 405; FIN 430 and FIN 490 follow FIN 405 and FIN 410. For FIN 490, students register for the section subtitled Investment Banking and Private Equity.
The posted four-year plan, with the investment banking courses on top
| Year | Fall | Spring |
|---|---|---|
| Freshman | CIS 110, MA 109, UK Core ×3 | CIS 111, MA 123, UK Core ×3 |
| Sophomore | ECO 201, ACC 200, MKT 300, STA 296, elective | ECO 202, ACC 201, MGT 301, MA 162, AN 105, elective |
| Junior | ACC 301, FIN 300, ECO 391, CIS 300, elective | FIN 405, FIN 410, elective ×3 |
| Senior | FIN 440 ✓, FIN 430 ✓, MGT 340, ACC 475 ✓, elective | FIN 490 (Investment Banking and Private Equity) ✓, AN 300, elective ×3 |
Roadmap course Counts for roadmap and major ✓ Major requirement UK Core, electives Italic = recommended One term only
Three things to know
- 1.
- Start freshman year. Wall Street Scholars and Gatton Select both select first-year students, so the topic is worth raising with an interested student in the first year.
- 2.
- Recruiting runs ahead of the courses. The courses fall in senior year, after the junior-summer internship is usually decided. Technical preparation before then comes from the programs and Wall Street Prep.
- 3.
- It costs no extra hours, but the slots are shared. All four courses fill the three FIN 400-level slots and the choose-one. A student also pursuing the CFA or CFP competes for the same slots, and the extra courses move to free electives.
Terms. FIN 400-level slot: one of the three upper-level finance courses the major requires. Choose-one: the major’s single choice among ACC 302, ACC 475, FIN 359, or
another FIN 400-level course. Free elective: any course the student chooses that counts toward graduation hours.
Contact: John Saliling, Director of Wall Street Scholars and Lecturer in Finance, john.saliling@uky.edu
Plan from the 2026-27 Finance sample curriculum; prerequisites from the catalog. The catalog year a student entered under governs; confirm in the degree
audit.
A general guide, not official advising. Compiled from publicly posted UK catalog and curriculum pages; requirements change and no warranty is given. Confirm your plan with your academic advisor and your myUK GPS degree audit.
Which sheet? Wealth management or financial planning: CFP. Investment research or portfolio management: CFA. Investment banking or private equity: Investment Banking. Real estate lending, investment, or development: Real Estate. Students can combine them. All sheets: willgerken.com/roadmaps