Minimum number of credits required to graduate: 32
Minimum Cumulative GPA required to graduate: 3.0
The Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) provides a pathway for students who wish to acquire or further refine their data analytic knowledge and competencies to either enter or advance their careers within the broad field of applied business analytics.
The MSBA program is designed around practical, hands-on applications of real-life data to commonly encountered business problems, with the goal of providing a pathway for students to become proficient at transforming data into decision-guiding knowledge. The learning process inspired by that goal is rooted in the idea of evidence-based management, which emphasizes thoughtful applications of available and applicable data to answering business questions; in keeping with that, the individual courses that comprise the Program address distinct elements of the overarching process of how to systematically and reliably extract informative insights out of data.
The eight (8) courses that comprise the MSBA program are grouped into three distinct segments, developed expressly to meet the Program’s stated goal of enabling students to master the use available data as a mean of solving practical business problems.
- Core Knowledge (4 courses / 16 credits): Focused on development of essential conceptual and application data analytic knowledge. In this segment, students learn the basics of data assessment and preparation, statistical estimation and inference, and strategies to use to translate data analytic outcomes into meaningful, decision-informing knowledge.
- Capstone (1 course / 4 credits): Hands-on demonstration of Core Knowledge, framed in the context of applied business problem. This mid-program Capstone is designed to offer students the ability to demonstrate the earlier acquired Core Knowledge, in the context of a hands-on, applied business problem scenario.
- Immersion (3 courses / 12 credits): Project-based application of data analytic know-how to business contexts, such as marketing, healthcare, or risk management. The Immersion courses are entirely project-based, internship-like - or actual internships - experiences focused on specific areas of business of interest to individual students, such as marketing or risk management.
Tools & Applications
Data Management & Analysis: The MSBA program uses GUI-based (i.e., point-and-click) SPSS system as the default data management and analysis tool (students are provided access); alternatively, individual students may elect to use R or Python open-source programming languages, if preferred.
Data Visualization: Tableau Public is the default tool used, but students may elect to use other data visualization tools, if preferred.
Admission Requirements
The MSBA program entrance requirements are as follows:
Undergraduate degree, with a minimum of 3.0 cumulative GPA
Resume
Personal statement (or interview with program director or department chair)
Program Requirements
The Master of Science in Business Analytics is comprised of 8 four-credit courses for a total of 32 credit hours.
Core Knowledge
4 courses, 16 credits
BUA 5010 - Problem Framing & Data Preparation Credits: 4
BUA 5020 - Estimation & Inference Credits: 4
BUA 5100 - Making Sense of Data Credits: 4
BUA 5200 - Learning with Data Credits: 4
Mid-Program Capstone
1 course, 4 credits
BUA 5300 - Capstone
Immersion Courses
BUA 6110 - Exploratory Analysis Credits: 4
BUA 6210 - Confirmatory Analysis Credits: 4
BUA 6310 - Data-Driven Decision-Making Credits: 4
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