Program Overview

The objective of the Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program is to provide students with the knowledge, tools, and skills needed to analyze data and make effective business decisions. Students will be educated in all areas related to business analytics and big data analysis including, but not limited to, data management, visualization, data-mining, machine learning, and integration strategies for analyzing large, structured and unstructured datasets. The program includes a summer capstone project built around student teams with faculty advisors, which will develop business analytics solutions for problems hosted by live business clients. The capstone experience has been designed so students can develop their problem-framing, teamwork, project management, and communication skills for managing business analytics projects in an organization.

Learning Outcomes

• Graduates will possess the business foundation necessary to apply business analytic concepts in organizational settings.
• Graduates will be able to create and manage analytics ready data.
• Graduates will demonstrate statistical and programming skills required to analyze data.
• Graduates will be able to select and apply appropriate data modeling tools to provide insight for the analysis of business situations.
• Graduates will be able to clearly explain information and insight gained from analytic models in a business context.

Major Requirements

The Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) is a one-year, full-time, face-to-face program that starts in the Fall semester and finishes in August. The courses are taught primarily during the day or early evening. The program requires a minimum of 30 semester hours. All academic requirements must be completed in residence. The MSBA has been designed for people with a statistics/quantitative background, such as engineering, science, computer science, economics, and/or business. Business work experience is not required for this program. Students with an undergraduate business background may waive up to 6 semester hours associated with the two required business foundation core courses.

The specific degree requirements include:

1. 18 to 24 semester hours of core BSAN graduate courses, depending on student’s business background
2. Completion of 4 BSAN courses associated with the Capstone Project Experience (6 semester hours)
3. A minimum of 6 semester hours in BSAN analytics course electives beyond core classes. Electives are offered to support more depth in three possible pathways in the areas of either marketing analytics, healthcare analytics, or general data analytics.