ECON GU4280

All the necessary skills on firm funding and valuation. All the necessary skills for investment bankers and business consultants.

Homework: assignments plus cases worked on in groups. For the cases, he will assign two of them in a row and you only have to turn in one. There were like 9 cases assigned altogether, turn in 4-5. It averages out to around a homework (either assignment or case) every week. Done in a group but can take a long time. Each group must also present once. Midterm and final: open books, open notes, laptop required. If you do the review questions, you'll be fine

5 group projects 1 midterm - easy but took off random points so your grade ends up being not that great 1 final - open everything (open book, notes, computer, internet...printer even). asked us to do bunch of questions from projects and asked for backup data printed out...

not a lot; you are in a group of 4-6 of your classmates and you have to turn in problem sets (we had 3) which are done individually and cases (i think we had 4?) which are done with your group. The first problem set is fairly straight forward, the next two problem sets are simple valuations. The cases are more in-depth valuations but still pretty straightforward (follow the template she lays out in class, just make sure to take note of the small subtle differences, like including deferred taxes or whatnot!), and you get the benefit of working with your group. In-class midterm, fairly simple, testing (easy) concepts (though there aren't that many concepts to test..), though I feel that the midterm was somewhat harshly graded; out of 120, more than half the class got above a 95. Take home final, to be done individually, another valuation that is pretty straightforward, with difficult questions at the end. Professor Ravina said to take 5 hours; but you might be pressed for time (I sure was!) If you receive over a 85 overall (so over 85% on all aspects, problem sets, cases, midterm, final, participation), you will receive an A.

Corporate finance structure and theory of financing

Basic valuation methods for projects and companies (DCF, DDM, Comps), but not as in depth as IEOR2261 went.

Roger Mesznik is definitely a brilliant man. He fills the class with random tidbits of information and sometimes goes on tangents telling stories from his experience. Because of this, class is always very interesting. That being said, what is taught in class rarely relates to the homework. The textbook and the internet is a huge help on homework. Also, a warning: Roger can be fairly intimidating in class. He calls on people at random, will yell at you if you are on your phone. He is genuinely a nice guy though and as long as you pay attention, you'll be fine. Attendance is taken every class, not sure how it affects your grade though. Homework consists of two parts: assignments and cases, all of which require the use of Excel. He does go over a lot of the Excel in class. You are allowed to form homework groups and only have to turn in one copy. For each homework, a group is assigned to present to the entire class. The assignments are fairly straight forward, just a couple of problems. The cases are all taken from the Harvard Business School. He requires that you all buy the case pack at the beginning. Do not have everyone buy it. It's like $90 just for access to a PDF. It would be better to just split the cost of one account. There is no point in having everyone buy it. For the cases, Roger gives you almost zero guidance. it is hard to figure out exactly what he is looking for.…

Took it Fall 2012. WORST PROFESSOR in Columbia history ever. Not only incompetent, but the most anal. Threatened to take off points if didn't put in thousand separator commas (i.e. 1,000,000) for the final. THAT anal. I actually filled out the University reviews, which I never do, just to let the administration know how much he sucked. If he hasn't been fired by now, avoid at all cost. Go take a real corporate finance class in the Econ department.

This was one of my favorite classes this year; Professor Ravina came to class prepared with a length slideshow (also available online) that fully and in great detail explained parts of how to value companies. She is a very sweet person and her lectures amply display her knowledge and willingness to teach her students. She makes learning valuation pretty interesting and I looked forward to her class every Monday and Wednesday even though it was at an odd time slot. If you want to go into investment banking, definitely take this class with Professor Ravina; I had heard horror stories about other teachers who were dry and unhelpful, but Professor Ravina is very approachable and it excites her to see energetic students who wish to learn the material. The course itself is sort of limited in its scope in that it only teaches how to value companies, so it is only practical for investment banking.

I learn how to create out a full-blown valuation in finance. This is a skill that I know will serve me well in my career later on. I also learned what makes a good business.