Whether you are majoring in business, statistics, economics, computer science, engineering, or a liberal studies nonbusiness field, a degree in business analytics offers a way to link your undergraduate studies to business. By earning a Master of Science-Business: Operations and Technology Management: Business Analytics, you’ll learn to harness the power of analytical tools to provide insight and actionable recommendations in any business setting.

You’ll also apply what you learn to real-world experiences and have opportunities to explore various career paths through site visits, guest speakers, case competitions, and other professional development activities.


Kristin Branch, director of the MS in Business Analytics, shares details on the program’s curriculum and bridging the classroom experience with opportunities in the business world.

STEM-Designated

This program delivers a STEM-designated business analytics master’s degree, using a multidisciplinary approach to blend science, technology, and data analysis. STEM designation also benefits international students and their ability to work in the United States upon graduation.

Leading-Edge Curriculum

The dynamic curriculum includes eight new, leading-edge business analytics courses plus analytics electives from various industry-specific fields like marketing, supply chain, and management. The program entails completion of 30 credits: 21 of required courses and 9 elective courses.

The curriculum is divided into a foundations semester and an applications semester:

  • The foundations semester starts with a statistics and programming boot camp, where students are introduced to R and Python. The core method classes include data management/SQL, data visualization, machine learning, experimental design, and prescriptive analytical modeling.
  • The applications semester includes one analytics course elective (three credits) and six credits of experiential learning.

Experiential Learning Gives You Career-Ready Skills

Learn from the best in the business analytics field in Wisconsin and across the globe. You’ll complete a consulting practicum with a real corporate client in the second semester. Companies give you live analytical projects where you work to define problems; pull, analyze and clean the data; run the analytics; and make a recommendation back to their client.

You’ll also participate in:

  • Live case studies
  • Case competitions
  • Hackathons
  • Current business analytics topics through guest speakers
  • Company visits to leading-edge technology firms locally and nationally
  • Networking and learning opportunities with industry mentors and alumni
Jensen Sang

“I am driven by leveraging analytical tools to have data guide business decisions. It is exciting to be learning R and Python. I’m looking forward to applying the tools into business applications.”

—Jensen Sang, MSBA ’20

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