Instructor Tony Yeh's presentation at a Certificate Program in Finance information session continues to resonate with Josh Fiedler—specifically, Yeh's insistence that the curriculum emphasizes real-world skills over theoretical concepts. As Fiedler sees this play out in his classes, he equates the finance knowledge learned to the discipline he practices as a mixed martial artist.

The certificate was really about the effective way, what's going to work in a real-world application.

"The techniques are not the prettiest—the beautiful sweeping kicks of tae kwon do, the great movements of kung fu—but it's effective and it succeeds," he says. "Likewise, the certificate program gives you the practical skills to be more effective at your job. Tony made an analogy to basic M.B.A. programs, which sometimes stress more theoretical instruction. But the certificate was really about the effective way, what's going to work in a real-world application."

As an investment banker at Robert W. Baird & Co., Fiedler uses lessons learned in class to solve issues at work. "I had to run an analysis of companies at my work, and I brought ideas from class to this exercise," he recalls. "The scenarios presented in class were directly applicable to this case. I'm thinking of ideas that someone with an M.B.A. may not think of because of the Advanced Corporate Finance course."