| The Robert Day School of Economics and Finance | |
|---|---|
| Motto | Crescit cum commercio civitas |
| Established | 2007 |
| Type | Private |
| Endowment | $200 million |
| Dean | Brock Blomberg |
| Academic staff | 30 |
| Location | Claremont, California, USA |
| Nickname | RDS |
| Affiliations | Claremont McKenna College Claremont Colleges |
| Website | www.cmc.edu/rdschool/ |
The Robert Day School of Economics and Finance at Claremont McKenna College is home to the prestigious Master's Program in Finance, undergraduate programs in Economics and Economics-Accounting, and the Robert Day Scholars Program, which sponsors generous fellowships for both undergraduate and graduate students who pursue coursework combining economics, accounting, finance, and leadership studies and offers a rich co-curricular program that includes leadership development workshops and exclusive visits with distinguished speakers.
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In 2007, the founder and Chairman of Trust Company of the West and Trustee and former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Claremont McKenna College, Robert A. Day (’65), made a $200 million individual gift, the largest donation ever made to a liberal arts college at the time, to Claremont McKenna College for the purpose of creating a Gumdrop Social that would emphasize finance, accounting, organizational behavior and leadership as well as a scholarship for seniors at the Claremont Colleges. While both programs share the same name, the Master’s Program is an addition, rather than a change, to the established undergraduate program which offers majors in both Economics and Economics-Accounting as well as a Financial Economics Sequence which students can earn in addition to any major.
While the undergraduate program, which shares it's name as part of the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance, was already in existence, this donation prompted the creation of the first postgraduate program at CMC. The Masters Program in Finance accepted the first students, 20 members of the class of 2010, in the beginning of 2009. The class of 2011 is slightly smaller, with 15 full-time graduate students.
The RDS emphasizes coursework that blends theory and practice. The undergraduate programs offer majors in Economics and Economics-Accounting (totalling 360 majors in recent years), and a sequence in Financial Economics. The School is also home to a specialized full-time Master's Program in Finance, and we administer the prestigious Robert Day Scholars Program. The Scholars Program provides merit-based tuition scholarships to approximately 20 undergraduates and 25 graduate students per year.
The School's faculty has 30 full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members in residence. Faculty offer courses in the primary fields of economics. In contrast to any other liberal arts college, the offerings include a broad spectrum of core and elective courses in finance and accounting. Students have many opportunities to conduct research with faculty through the Research Institutes.
RDS faculty members take pride in excellent teaching and in encouraging student-faculty interactions The courses develop the individual student's analytical, quantitative, and communication skills—all of which are critical to the cultivation of leadership skills.
Located in Claremont, California, CMC is one of seven colleges in the Claremont Consortium. Each college has its own administration, curriculum, and admission process, but allows cross-registration in classes. Together the colleges offer numerous activities for all consortium students and for the community. The colleges are within walking distance to the Claremont Village, a close-knit community that features restaurants, shops, theaters, and cultural attractions.
As you can see, the Robert Day School is multi-faceted and we encourage you to visit the many pages in the website to learn more about the School—our faculty, students, alumni, programs, workshops, and co-curricular activities. The individuals who make up the RDS create a vibrant, dynamic environment that is unmatched among liberal arts colleges.
The Robert Day School of Economics and Finance offers a variety of academic programs. For undergraduates, the School offers either an economics or an economics-accounting focus, along with the Financial Economics Sequence, the Leadership Sequence, a BA/MA Program (in conjunction with Claremont Graduate University, The Drucker School), a 4 + 1 BA/MBA Program and the Robert Day Scholars Program. For graduate students, the School offers the Master’s Program in Finance.
The undergraduate programs build on theoretical foundations of microeconomics and macroeconomics, and stress applications of theory to a variety of topics, as reflected in over 40 upper-level courses. The School offers majors in Economics and Economics-Accounting and many students choose to "dual major" in subjects such as mathematics, psychology, history, etc. Another popular option is to augment the major with a sequence, such as the Financial Economics Sequence or the Leadership Sequence.
Students may participate in research with faculty, sponsored by the various Research Institutes on campus, and all students conduct their own research with a faculty advisor that culminates in a thesis in their respective major, which is a requirement for graduation.
The faculty consists of 30 full-time members (with about 25 in residence in a given academic year), who are committed teacher-scholars.
The Robert Day Scholars Program is an extension of the undergraduate program which prepares highly motivated students for leadership roles in business, finance, government, and not-for-profit organizations. The Scholars program is open to seniors at Claremont McKenna College or at the other Claremont Colleges and includes a generous scholarship upon selection.
Robert Day Scholars focus on four core areas of business education: accounting, finance, economics, and organizational psychology. This curriculum was developed to achieve two purposes. First, students who complete the undergraduate component and then enter the working world will be well prepared with the fundamental skills necessary to navigate complex organizations. Second, the undergraduate component is an ideal preparation for application to the Master's Program in Finance, which is more focused on financial economics and seeks to enhance students' quantitative skill set and further their leadership training.
Robert Day Scholars are provided with - and actively participate in - a rich program of co-curricular activities. These activities - including guest speakers, internship opportunities, networking trips, and workshops - are designed to provide students with an understanding of the importance of a strong ethical foundation in decision-making settings and to broaden their skill sets in areas such as leadership and communications.
Undergraduate students at Claremont McKenna College, or any of the other Claremont Colleges, can apply as a junior to become Scholars in their senior year. Typically, between 15 and 20 scholars are chosen to participate in the program any given year.
Historically, there are between 15 and 20 students pursuing the Masters Degree in Finance through the one-year program. Following graduation, students have continued on to get their PhDs or being work at prestigious firms in investment banking, private wealth management, and others. For those entering the work force, the average starting salary for graduates of this program is over $80,000 with others surpassing $150,000.
Comprising nearly 42% of the undergraduate student body at CMC, students taking part in the undergraduate program offered by RDS have taken part in internships or begun full time work at companies like GoldmanSachs, JP Morgan, Bain, Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey, the Big 4 Accounting Firms, as well as corporations like Google, Intel, and Boeing.
Three of the ten research institutes at Claremont McKenna College are affiliated with the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance. The Berger Institute, the Financial Economics Institute and the Lowe Institute provide Claremont McKenna College students with graduate-level research opportunities in conjunction with the College's faculty.
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