Mutual Fund Analysts

High School

Many high school classes provide good preparation for college and a career as a financial analyst. Economics and business courses will help you to learn about financial concepts, investing, and the business world. English and speech classes will help you to build your communication skills, which you’ll need when writing reports, giving presentations, and pitching stocks to portfolio managers. You’ll use a computer and the Internet daily in your job, so courses in database management, Internet research, and other information technology–related areas will be helpful. Mathematics and statistics courses will help you hone your skill at working with numbers and making complex computations. Social studies, science, and philosophy classes will help you develop your critical-thinking skills. Participation in business or investing clubs will also be useful.

Postsecondary Education

To become an analyst, you’ll need to complete a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in finance, statistics, mathematics, computational finance, financial engineering/financial mathematics, or a related field. Many analysts (especially those in senior positions) have graduate degrees.

U.S. News & World Report publishes a list of colleges and universities that offer the best finance programs in the United States. In 2025, the top 10 schools were:

1. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
2. University of Chicago (Booth
3. New York University (Stern)
4. Columbia University
5. Stanford University
6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
7. Harvard University
8. University of California-Berkeley (Haas)
9. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Ross)
10. Boston College (Carroll)

Visit https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/finance-rankings for more information.

The International Association for Quantitative Finance offers a list of colleges and universities that offer degrees in financial engineering/financial mathematics at https://www.iaqf.org/academic-programs.

Certification

Some colleges and universities and professional associations provide undergraduate- and graduate-level certificate programs for finance professionals. For example, Columbia University offers a certificate in quantitative studies for finance, and Stanford University offers a certificate in financial analytics. Contact schools in your area for information about available programs.

The Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association offers the Fundamentals of Alternative Investments Certificate Program. In this online, self-paced course, you’ll learn about traditional vs. alternative investments, risk management, investment returns and risks, and other topics. Visit https://caia.org/programs/fundamentals for more information.

Other Education or Training

Many professional associations provide continuing education classes, webinars, workshops, and seminars. For example, the CFA Society New York offers online professional development programming. The International Association for Quantitative Finance, CMT Association, and associations at the state and local levels also provide professional development opportunities.