MBA in Applied Security Analysis
The Applied Security Analysis Program (ASAP) at Wisconsin is a proven program with a distinguished history of preparing students to become leading investment professionals. Since 1970, the program has provided unique hands-on experience in investment management to a select group of students. Many of our graduates go on to become worldwide leaders in money management at investment firms and other organizations with investment operations.
Center of Expertise
Stephen L. Hawk Center for Applied Security Analysis
The Applied Security Analysis Program was founded by Professor Stephen L. Hawk, who served as its faculty advisor from 1970 to 1983. In 1999, in honor of Professor Hawk’s founding of the program, alumni and friends endowed the Stephen L. Hawk Center for Applied Security Analysis. Students have access to state-of-the art investment tools/analytics and personal workspace within the Center. The program is supported by two directors who have academic and practical investment experience, and a staff that assist with advising and mentoring to help match students with appropriate career opportunities. Mark Ready, Ph.D, is the academic director of the program and Kevin Spellman, CFA, is the Hawk Center director.
“ASAP was key to finding my way to Wall Street and preparing me to work in the securities industry.”
Brian Yelvington, Class of 2001,
Brian S. Yelvington,
Senior Macro Strategist,
CreditSights, Inc.
Development of Investment Skills
Our students develop outstanding fundamental, quantitative and technical portfolio management and security analysis skills. We combine a thorough theoretical foundation with the first-hand experience and challenges of managing real money while working successfully as a team. The result: the program has the same rigor as the most demanding and stimulating positions on Wall Street. The ASAP has earned its reputation as a top student investment education program because the program:
- combines traditional investment theory with real-life investment practice
- is a CFA® Program Partner with the CFA Institute
- is truly a program, not a class or an investment club (students operate an investment firm)
- is a two-year investment program
- has a long history (founded in 1970) and an outstanding national reputation
- has a large pool of assets (more than $42 million)
- has two asset classes (equity and fixed income) and five portfolios
- provides students complete discretion over the securities held in the portfolios (there is no “safety-net”)
- has produced many top investment managers, including the CEO of the CFA Institute
- has a tightly-knit alumni base that remains dedicated to the ASAP
- is selective and only admits only 15-21 students per year
- provides very rigorous training and has demanding clients that prepare students well for the real world of investing
- provides students with many opportunities to engage in discussions with investment professionals.
The program is housed in its own center, where students have access to an extensive array of investment resources and physical space for work and meetings. It is supported by six staff members (including the two directors), many contributing alumni, School of Business faculty who teach the finance and general MBA curricula and the boards.
Hands-on Portfolio Management
Our two-year program culminates with second-year students actively managing real portfolios totaling more than $42 million. Students report to boards, but all investing decisions reside with the students, offering them a rare opportunity to manage without a “safety-net” typically present in many programs. This experience is truly representative of a real-world investment firm and provides our students with an immediate edge upon graduation.
Second-year students operate an investment firm and spend the majority of their time doing so. The students manage five portfolios in two asset classes — equities, fixed-income and real estate securities. Each student is assigned to an asset class team (but can assist other asset classes) and has research duties for that team and other responsibilities for the overall firm. Students are prepared for portfolio responsibility through a first-year core MBA curriculum, specialized finance courses, a seminar series organized by ASAP alumni, and a CFA review course.
First-year students learn to generate high-quality stock reports, a skill that prepares them for summer internships with major investment companies. During the summer, students write industry reports on groups they will be responsible for as analysts in the second year.
The ASAP is a CFA® Program Partner with the CFA Institute. The partnership indicates that the ASAP incorporates more than 70 percent of the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) Curriculum, the CFA Institute Ethical and Professional Standards and adheres to other requirements.
The Clients
Boards serve as clients for our students. Each is composed of successful investment professionals who challenge and support the students and provide the experience of a client-manager relationship. They also foster invaluable industry connections. Students formally present portfolio performance, investment processes, strategy and economic forecasts to clients three times a year, with the fixed-income team making an additional presentation to the University of Wisconsin System.
There are three ASAP boards – one for each asset class and one for the overall program. Members of the boards include chief investment officers, portfolio managers, directors of research, and analysts at many well-respected investment organizations. Board members include professionals from the following firms:
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In addition, the University of Wisconsin System is the overall client for the fixed-income assets.
In short, ASAP, as part of the Wisconsin MBA program, attracts top students who are passionate about investments, and prepares students for the CFA examinations and to conduct investment research (and occasionally sales and trading) through an intensive two-year training program culminating in the management of real portfolios in the second year.
Success
Our nearly 500 alumni are placed at approximately 250 firms across the U.S. and around the world, both on the buy-side and sell-side of Wall Street, and in management, research, trading and sales positions. This tightly-knit network provides an invaluable resource that lasts a lifetime. In the spring of 2007, students were placed in full-time and internship positions at the following firms:
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Associates Program
The goal of the Associates Program is to capture the best undergraduates in the nation who have a career focus in investment management but lack the necessary investment experience to be directly admitted into the Applied Security Analysis program (ASAP) and the Wisconsin MBA. The Associates Program, which is offered by the Stephen L. Hawk Center for Applied Security Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business, provides a way for these otherwise-qualified undergraduate students to gain invaluable investment experience. Click here to learn more.
Contact
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Stephen L. Hawk Center for Applied Security Analysis G. Kevin Spellman, Hawk Center Director |