<p>There is nothing in the course catalog about joint BA/MSFM programs, which almost certainly means that there isn’t one. I strongly suspect that there won’t be one, or that it would be extraordinarily difficult to arrange, for the following reasons: </p>
<p>The MSFM program is clearly designed as continuing education for people in the financial industry, or people who want to change careers. All the classes are at night, it’s set up for part-time students, etc. It looks sort of like a remedial credential, or a half-assed, limited MBA, not something someone would start a career aspiring to as a terminal degree, unless the plan was to be a math major at Southern Illinois, work for a couple years, and then get a Chicago credential through the MSFM program. The MSFM is also clearly a professional degree, and I think Chicago just doesn’t do joint undergraduate/professional degrees.</p>
<p>Some of the courses – maybe all of them, or almost all of them – replicate material found in normal undergraduate and graduate courses in math, statistics, and economics, but the MSFM courses look narrower and less theory-based than the equivalent “normal” courses. The only courses that aren’t clearly comprised in the regular curriculum are the financial applications courses taught by non-faculty. My instinct is that it’s going to be tough to get college credit for these courses vs. the regular ones, or for these courses in addition to the regular ones, and tough to get MSFM credit for non-MSFM courses.</p>
<p>A BA/MSFM would look a lot different than a BA/MS in math, or a BA in math/concentration in economics, and those are what people are going to tell you that you ought to be doing as a University of Chicago undergraduate. The math/concentration in econ BA degree is probably as or more powerful in the marketplace than the MSFM would be, and open any doors you would want the MSFM for. The knowledge difference you would acquire by taking the MSFM program does not look that significant – but maybe you could be allowed to take the financial applications course as an elective.</p>
<p>I may be reading this altogether wrong, but my strong suspicion is that the MSFM program isn’t directed at people who are or were Chicago undergraduates (unless they were anthropology majors or something and wake up five years after graduation with a burning desire to earn a living). If you are entering the University of Chicago wanting to be a quant jock, you shouldn’t need that credential, or you should want to be aiming at higher-quality credentials (PhD or MBA).</p>