Successful businesses rely on people with the knowledge and experience to invest assets wisely. By earning your Graduate Certificate in Investments—in just four or five courses—you'll learn quantitative tools and best practices, empowering you to make smart investment decisions for your organization.
Graduate Certificate in Investments Program Overview
- Program Structure: 4–5 courses
- Class Schedule: Monday–Thursday evenings at 5:20 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
- Time to Complete: 1 to 3 years
Part-Time Graduate Certificate | Typical program timeline

*Starts in September or January. May be completed at a flexible pace but is usually completed in three semesters.
Unique Features
12 or 15
Credits may be applied toward a future MBA
Top 50
Among national universities (U.S. News & World Report)
- Learn cutting-edge theories and quantitative tools for making sound investment decisions
- Specialize your studies with electives that are relevant to your goals, such as real estate investing, personal financial planning, or risk management and insurance
- Build your confidence and experience through project-based coursework and case studies—key components of Northeastern's practice-oriented approach to learning
- Access expert career guidance from an experienced counselor at Northeastern's office of Employer Engagement and Career Design
- Complete your certificate in as few as four courses, with the option for one additional elective to deepen your knowledge
- Build the foundation for a future master's degree from Northeastern—you may be able to apply your earned certificate credits toward an eligible master's program
The student experience
Anders Rathlev, Graduate Certificate in Investments‘21
“The coursework in investment analysis, portfolio management, and risk management filled in lots of gaps in my knowledge, and taught me formulas and models that I now use all the time. My technical skills have also greatly improved.”
Admissions
- English language proficiency: English proficiency, both written and verbal, is necessary for success in D'Amore-McKim classrooms. For more information, review our admissions policies.
- GMAT Required? No.
- Where do I apply? Learn more here.
- Interview required? Upon request.
- Pre-requisite for admission? Undergraduate degree in accounting or finance.
Helpful Guides
Application Checklist
Need guidance on completing your application? The application checklist provides step-by-step instructions and tips from our admissions team.
Personal Statement Guide
Need guidance in composing the personal statement for your application? The essay guide will help you organize your thoughts and draft your copy.
There are three entry terms each year in January, May, and September.
Admissions at D'Amore-McKim – Deadlines & Decisions
Find the deadlines and decision dates you need to know. Submit your application by the earliest date possible for priority consideration.
Northeastern University's Student Financial Services website is your best resource for the most current and comprehensive information to help prepare you financially.
To view tuition rates, please visit the Northeastern Student Financial Services page. Click the dropdown under “Graduate Programs” and find the cost per credit for the current academic year listed next to “D'Amore-McKim School of Business Programs.”
There are a number of resources to help you finance your Northeastern graduate education, and the Student Financial Services team is here to guide you through the process and make it as simple as possible. Please visit the Graduate Financial Aid page.
Once you are a student, your financial aid advisor will work with you one-on-one to answer your questions, point you to resources and provide valuable insight as you navigate the financial commitments of your program.
At Northeastern, we value and celebrate diversity in all its forms and strive to foster an inclusive culture built on respect that affirms inter-group relations and builds community, which is vital to learning and discovery.
Clubs and Organizations
Northeastern has many opportunities for you to be engaged with our community. Examples include the following:
Graduate Students of Color Collective
The purpose of the GSCC is to build community for graduate students of color at Northeastern University by promoting education, professionalism, and civic duty. The GSCC fosters student, staff, and faculty relationships to establish a campus home for higher education at Northeastern. Through civic engagement with surrounding communities, the GSCC recognizes the continued struggles of marginalized populations, and the need for those who have succeeded to give back.
Grad Q
Grad Q is a student organization for LGBTQ+ graduate students at Northeastern. Grad Q is focused on building community, social events, advocacy, and mentoring undergraduate students.
Campus Resources
We have a number of cultural centers on campus to support our campus community by providing programs, lectures, and events for students with a range of affiliations and interests including the LGBTQA Resource Center, Office of Global Services, Latinx Student Cultural Center, Asian American Center, and many more.
Curriculum
Your coursework for the Graduate Certificate in Investments will teach you strategic skills for tackling complex financial challenges in domestic and international financial markets.
Through your required coursework, you'll learn valuation techniques and quantitative tools that will allow you to build models for any investment instrument you want to analyze. The electives you choose allow you to dive deeper into the topics that support your career goals, including real estate investing, personal financial planning, or risk management and insurance.
Required course
FINA 6203 | 3 Hours
Complete 3 or 4 elective courses from the following
Offers the first of a two-course sequence that focuses on the acquisition, measurement, and management of firm resources. Business managers make strategic decisions about the acquisition and use of a variety of firm resources. Helps enable students to understand and utilize critical information in corporate financial reports to improve business decision making. Offers students the opportunity to learn contemporary methods of financial reporting and analysis used by internal decision makers and external capital providers. Required course for co-op MBA/part-time MBA.
ACCT 6200 | 3 Hours
Provides an overview of all of the hedging markets and hedging instruments. Explores specific hedging use of options, forwards, futures, swaps, and options on futures. Focuses on advanced financial risk management of interest rates, currency rates, equity returns, and fixed income returns. Students use readings and case problems to study when and how to use hedging instruments to alter a portfolio's risk exposure.
FINA 6211 | 3 Hours
Exposes students to theory, applications, and evidence concerning highly sensitive interest rate products. Discusses recent developments in pension fund management, asset/liability management, duration matching, “gap” management, concurrent interest rate and exchange rate management, and other important issues now confronting domestic and international financial and corporate management. Studies how to customize a risk management program.
FINA 6212 | 3 Hours
Discusses policy, strategy, and administration of financial services firms. Topics include issuance of securities, the service function within financial services, pricing a negotiated issue of common stock or competitive bid issue, and meeting capital requirements of a securities firm.
FINA 6213 | 3 Hours
Provides students with a comprehensive understanding of real estate finance. Emphasizes factors affecting real estate investment. Topics include valuation (appraisal), market analysis, development, taxation, ownership types, short-term financing, mortgage markets, and investment strategies. Designed for students interested in a general overview of real estate finance, as well as those intending to pursue a career in the real-estate field.
FINA 6217 | 3 Hours
Develops portfolio construction, revision, and performance measurement. Highlights portfolio construction in an efficient capital market. Topics include risk-return analysis, the effects of diversification on risk reduction, and the costs of inflation, taxes, and transaction costs on fixed income and equity security portfolios. Examines financial models of capital asset pricing as the basis for the analysis of portfolios from the institutional investor's viewpoint.
FINA 6219 | 3 Hours
Examines today's evolving environment, in which effective utilization of human resources is a source of competitive advantage. To maximize the contribution of organizational members, managers must be able to understand, diagnose, and influence workplace behavior in the context of change. Topics include management of cross-functional teams and boundaryless organizations. Emphasis is on the role of corporate culture and distributed leadership.
HRMG 6200 | 3 Hours
Focuses on the international business environment, and examines the influence on global decision making of such areas as the international economy and trade issues, legal and political context differences, governmental actions, cultural and ethical system differences, exchange rates and international currency markets, international institutions like the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund, and regional agreements like the European Union, NAFTA, and Mercosur. Also analyzes why firms internationalize their operations, how they can internationalize, and key areas such as international manufacturing, marketing, human resource management, and strategy.
INTB 6200 | 3 Hours
Trains managers to understand the competitive implications of global economic policies, the business effects of technological change, and the commercial imperatives of alternative political systems at a macro level. At a micro level, it creates a framework for industry analysis in a global setting that combines economic analysis, competitive analysis, and business decision-making skills.
MECN 6200 | 3 Hours
Focuses on marketing analysis and planning. Emphasizes analysis of customer needs and company and competitor capabilities. This analysis forms the basis of a sound marketing strategy that provides value to customers in a way superior to competitors. Discusses how to deliver this strategy through the development of an intergrated marketing program covering product offerings, pricing, promotion, and distribution. Includes professional accounting students.
MKTG 6200 | 3 Hours
Focuses on strategy development and implementation for a line of business and for the corporation as a whole by adopting a top management perspective. Beginning with developing a mission statement and goals for the firm, focuses on environmental scanning, incorporating economic, technological, sociopolitical, and legal trends in conducting industry analysis, thus assessing opportunities and threats and the firm's capabilities before formulating strategy that represents a fit between the environment and the firm. Discusses how to develop competitive advantage and assess competitive positioning, and studies how organizational structure and systems contribute to implementing strategy. Stresses the role of leadership and motivation before moving on to feedback mechanisms to assess success in strategy implementation, leading to revision of strategic plans as needed.
STRT 6200 | 3 Hours
The curriculum is subject to change by D'Amore-McKim faculty. Course offerings may vary by semester.
Get in touch
Samir Saueressig

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