(Feb 2009)
The following are my personal opinions for a good curriculum for students that want to specialize in financial economics. They have not been endorsed by any other faculty or committee.
In your first year, take an acting course. This is because only first-years are permitted into acting classes. Being able to present yourself as someone who you may or may not naturally be is a very important skill.
Econ Preparatory:
Finance:
This is a curriculum of 8-9 core courses. Most also count towards economics or COE/economics concentrations. If you complete them, you will go off into the world (of business or graduate school) very well prepared. It is much more important that you know the basic material from these courses very well, preferably scoring an A+ in them, than it is for you to have taken many business-like courses--both for your own education, and for your job interviews.
Capstone: For investments-interested students, I view Econ 1759 as much better than even an honor thesis. If you take this capstone course, you will end up way ahead of 99% of all finance graduates. However, be well prepared: you need very good programming skills, in addition to the other skills, and you need a good deal of time. If you can take 1759 in your junior year, it will also prepare you to write a good research honor's thesis in your senior year, perhaps based on the 1759 class project. (I won't sponsor other finance student honors theses.)
Of course, we also offer many other good and relevant courses, such as International Trade Econ1540, International Finance Econ1550, Politics and Finance Econ1800. In addition, if we offer a good course on ethics and economics, you should take it. All of these can be very interesting in themselves, even if they are not primarily geared towards financial economics per se.
In my opinion, advanced math courses (such as real algebra) can be interesting, but they also have little direct application in financial economics. (They are great for students who want to enter a PhD program in economic theory or math.) The important math courses from a financial economics perspective are [a] basic high-school algebra, [b] intro calculus (up to basic one-dimensional integration), and [c] basic linear algebra. Mathematical aptitude and comfort with working with equations is much more important than mathematical sophistication. Exception to the Rule: If you want to go into fixed income or options, then there is one advanced math course that would be very good: stochastic calculus.
Entrepreneurship, like math, can also be interesting, but it is not a particularly important field for financial economics concentrators, either. As with math, this is not to say that you should not take entrepreneurship courses—entrepreneurship courses can be interesting in themselves. If you are interested in the Corporate Finance and Consulting Specialization, then Danny Warshay is teaching a good case course in entrepreneurship (engineering), which is complementary. However, you should absolutely not take Danny's case course before you have taken the five base courses listed above. (Also, Angus Kingon will be offering new kinds of courses, which I am not familiar with.) Taking a good course on technology in engineering (and the business and ethical issues arising from new technology) would also be a good idea.
Job and Timing Advice: Try to do very well especially in Econ1710 and Econ1720. It is also the case that if you are among the top-ten students in your Econ1710 or Econ1720 course, it will help your job placement directly. (Because there are so many students in these courses, it is impossible for you to shine in non-grade related ways.) Optimally, you should have taken Econ1710 and Econ1720 in your fourth semester at Brown, so that when interviews for summer jobs for your junior year come around, this knowledge can help you get a good internship. (If you take them in your fifth semester, they will be contemporaneous with your interviews. Pedagogically, I would prefer if you took them in your fifth or sixth semester; pragmatically, from an interviewing perspective, you are better off taking them in your fourth semester.)
Do not forget: you are not in a vocational program or a business school, but in a liberal arts program. You should not just take courses with professional motivations. You would be cheating yourself—and transforming your Brown-label into a wannabe Wharton-label won't help you much even if you want to go into business, either.
Although last, the following may be the single-best suggestion that I can give you: If you are not comfortable speaking up or presenting yourself, you should take a course in theatrical acting, such as Tsda 0030, in which you should learn to play a role on stage. (Unfortunately, this seems to be open only to Freshman, so take it early. I just learned that there is another course offered to upper classman, TA0230 [and TA 1160].) If you cannot do this, try to see if there is an amateur acting company or acting workshop that you can join. Being able to play roles and speak up (as a stage actor has to) may be as important to your success in life than all the economics&finance courses you may ever take. When you interview or talk to a client, you are in effect playing a role!
Please note that Akio Yasuhara is teaching a corporate finance course that is different from the course that Pegaret and I were teaching. It is probably quite good, too, but his emphases are very different. If you want to take the same kind of course that Pegaret and I have been teaching, you should wait until Fall 2009. (In my subsequent course(s), I do assume that you have taken a course more similar to my own course. If there is anything lacking, you will have to make it up.)