Master's in Business Analytics

In today’s business world, data is king. Successful business decisions depend on the ability to analyze, interpret, and communicate data findings across departments and sectors.

The M.S. in Business Analytics (MSBA) program in Clark’s Graduate School of Management (GSOM) equips you with the skills and techniques to interpret data, formulate insights, and communicate your knowledge effectively to data scientists, managers, and executives. Whether enrolled in our full- or part-time program, you’ll learn how to synthesize data into powerful information to influence decision-making.

Employers across industries increasingly recognize the value that business analytics professionals can deliver to their teams. Over the course of the program, MSBA students use real-world datasets to tackle complex challenges. As a result, our graduates are prepared to help organizations make strategic decisions that improve organizational performance.

Program Overview

Your coursework is organized into four primary areas of focus: analytics methodologies, data handling and processing, applications, and computation. You will establish foundational skills in each area, building on this groundwork each semester. You’ll use critical thinking skills to gather, evaluate, and interpret information, and enhance your leadership and management skills as you learn how to collaborate with diverse stakeholders within organizations.

An understanding of database and data warehouse design principles
Foundational skills in industry-standard data analytics technologies and software
The ability to interpret and synthesize data to make practical recommendations
Effective communication and presentation skills

Big Data Statistics
Programming with Python
Big Data Computing
Business Intelligence

Requirements

11 course units

10 core courses
1 Experiential Learning Requirement (ELR) course or internship

Coursework includes online, hybrid, and in-person classes.

Course Catalog

GSOM makes experiential learning a priority. In addition to gaining hands-on experience in many courses, you must complete either an internship at an external organization or a dedicated experiential learning course, in which you will work on projects that affect real change in an organization, the community, or region.

The Graduate School of Management is fortunate to be part of a small, liberal arts-based research university located in an urban environment. Your fellow MSBA students will typically be a mix of professionals with work experience, recent college graduates, and international students. This close-knit community provides a wide variety of perspectives on current global business challenges and opportunities.

Attend guest speaker series and panel discussions that bring executives from corporations around the world to the Clark campus.
Participate in networking events specifically created for business analytics students.
Take part in group projects benefitting our urban community.
Participate in the SAS Global Forum Competition and GSOM’s Annual Analytics Poster Competition.
Join Graduate School of Management student clubs and organizations, including the Clark Business Analytics Association.

GSOM-Skills-You-Learn

Faculty research in the Graduate School of Management tackles issues that impact not only business, but also society at large, engaging locally with topics that have a global reach. Faculty members bring their findings to bear on the classroom experience, giving students the opportunity to work with real datasets from their findings.

Using machine learning to help detect multiple heart conditions
Examining Steam game data by genre
Predicting credit card default
Using latent Dirichlet allocation to recommend videos
Conducting sequence analysis of viral events

shibbir_khan-msba-student-clark-university-2018- — Clark graduate uses analytics to predict how long immigrants will stay in the United States.
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Clark’s MSBA program gives you a grounded approach in the fundamentals of business analytics, taking you from the basics of descriptive analytics (what happened) and diagnostic analytics (why it happened), to predictive analytics (what will happen) and prescriptive analytics (how we can make it happen). Through data, you can communicate effectively and productively with colleagues across disciplines and at every level of an organization, offering a range of opportunities to advance your career.

Career Outcomes

Senior Director of Digital Analytics
Health Care Data Analytics
Senior Manager of Inventory Analytics
Pricing Analyst
Marketing Analyst
Data Solutions Associate
Business and Data Analyst

Faculty Research Areas

Jing Zhang

Professor

Systems of knowledge in the world of big data

Professor Zhang dedicates her research to examining management information systems, including interorganizational knowledge sharing and networking.

View Course

Pankush Kalgotra

Assistant Professor

Examining health care through the lens of data

Professor Kalgotra focuses on health care analytics, network science, neuroimaging in information systems, and the dark side of information technology.

Master’s in Business Analytics

Why Study Business Analytics at Clark?

Faculty Focus

Applying big data to big health

Program Overview

Skills for Success

Sample Courses

Opportunities Abound

Sample Student Research Topics

Faculty Research Areas

Systems of knowledge in the world of big data

Examining health care through the lens of data