Class record · MFIN · CSOM

MFIN 8863

Ph.D. Seminar: Empirical Asset Pricing · 1 instructor on record · 5 sections

What the course score is made of

88BC evaluations5 records · weight ×1.0 · Spring 2022 – Fall 2025

—Student reviewsno reviews — does not contribute

—RateMyProfessorsno ratings — does not contribute

That is the class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it. Who taught it, and how each of them scored, is the board below — that is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between.

What the challenge rank is made of

93rdMore challenging than 93% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

99BC — “Intellectually Challenging”5 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question for this class only — students answer it positively about courses that stretched them, so it measures intellectual challenge and NOT grading, workload or quality. Almost every BC class scores high on it, which is why it is shown as a rank rather than a score.

What the workload rank is made of

78thMore work than 78% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

60BC — “Workload”5 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College reports workload for this class only as one of five bands, not as a number of hours, and it does not publish what the bands mean — so this site will not translate it into hours. Higher means more work, which is not the same as worse.

This course is for second year Ph.D. students of finance. The course is intended to generate enthusiastic, high quality intellectual activity around the course material. Focuses on the development of skills that will help students become conversant enough with basic theory and the current literature on asset pricing that would permit them to read critically and analyze papers in this area, develop enough expertise in selected empirical methods in finance that they will be able to use these techniques in their research, and to find potential thesis topics.

The only instructor on record

5 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record

Instructor	Overall	Workload	Challenge
Pierluigi BalduzziProfessor · Finance	915 records	78th	93rd

There is no ranking to read here: Pierluigi Balduzzi is the only instructor with evaluation records for MFIN 8863, so the number is a record, not a position.

Also taught by Pierluigi Balduzzi

1 other class

Class	Instructors	Course score
MFIN 8880Fixed Income Analysis	222 records	80

Other MFIN classes

All of them

Class	Instructors	Course score
MFIN 1021Fundamentals of Finance	1297 records	83
MFIN 1127Corporate Finance	983 records	80
MFIN 1151Investments	1172 records	82
MFIN 8801Investments	627 records	84
MFIN 2270Data Analytics in Finance	325 records	81
MFIN 8807Corporate Finance	1022 records	85

The line

All 13 items · means across 5 records

The Professor4 items

Clearly Explains MaterialThe instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.

9031st pctl

Available Outside of ClassThe instructor was available for help outside of class.

9779th pctl

Brings Out Your Best WorkThe instructor motivated me to do my best work.

9351st pctl

Sparked My InterestThe course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.

8919th pctl

The Course3 items

Well-Organized CourseThe course was well organized.

9149th pctl

Clear Learning GoalsThe learning objectives for the course were clear.

9042nd pctl

Useful Beyond the CourseWhat I learned is applicable beyond this course.

9139th pctl

Assignments & Feedback3 items

Assignments Help You LearnAssignments and exams contributed to my learning.

9470th pctl

Gives Feedback PromptlyI received feedback on my work in a timely manner.

9678th pctl

Meaningful FeedbackThe feedback I received on my work was meaningful.

9463rd pctl

Workload, difficulty & attendanceNot ratings

WorkloadHow much work the course took outside class, on Boston College's five-band scale — the band boundaries are not published, so this is not a number of hours.

6078th pctl

Intellectually ChallengingThe course was intellectually challenging.

9993rd pctl

Attendance MattersAttending class was necessary to do well in this course.

8830th pctl

Bar length is the rank against every comparable record we hold, not the raw score: BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so a raw-scale bar would be nearly full on every row and would tell you nothing. Every bar is one ink colour — nothing here is graded green or red. The hatched bars are not ratings at all: a higher number on either describes a different course, not a better one.

Game log

5 sections · newest first

Instructor	Term	Sec	Instr	Course	Work
Pierluigi Balduzzi	Fall 2025	01	90	85	—
Pierluigi Balduzzi	Fall 2024	01	95	95	—
Pierluigi Balduzzi	Fall 2023	01	91	89	—
Pierluigi Balduzzi	Fall 2022	01	87	80	60
Pierluigi Balduzzi	Spring 2022	01	90	90	—

How to read this boardInstructors are ranked on their record in this class only, never on their average across everything they teach. Scores are out of 100 — Boston College's 1–5 agreement scale, ×20, the way these numbers were printed for years. Workload is BC's own five-band figure, not a number of hours, and is shown as a rank. A dash means the question was not reported, and is never a zero.