The Department of Mathematics at the University of Chicago also offers a one year graduate degree program leading to a Master of Science degree in Financial Mathematics. The program is designed to produce graduates with a good understanding of the theoretical background of pricing models for financial derivatives, but more importantly a real understanding of the underlying assumptions and an ability to critically ascertain the applicability and limitations of the various models. A significant part of the program will be taught by professionals from the financial industry and will be devoted to examining how models behave in practice under a variety of market conditions, to examine how realistic the underlying assumptions are and to understand what happens when these assumptions are violated.