As a JMU finance major, you'll gain a strong foundation in the principles of valuation, financial statement analysis and the concepts behind sound financial decision-making, preparing you for a career in individual, corporate, governmental or international markets. This broad area tends to overlap into a number of specialized fields such as investment management, asset securitization, risk management, real estate and banking. The major in finance requires a minimum of 120 credit hours of undergraduate course work. Fifty percent of this work, or 60 credit hours, must be taken outside of the College of Business. In counting the 60 credit hours of non-business courses, students may include all hours taken in General Education, up to a total of nine hours in economics (ECON courses must be counted as economics), and three hours of COB 191. Business Analytics I. The remaining hours, to bring the total to 60, must be taken from any department outside the College of Business. Students should carefully select these non-business electives to help them gain additional knowledge and expertise for their careers and personal lives. Many James Madison University finance graduates go on to careers in financial analysis, and the need for financial analysts remains strong. The financial analysis concentration helps prepare students for these careers and also Levels I and II of the Chartered Financial Analyst exam.