An immersive, business analytics experience.
Our business analytics curriculum is designed to launch your analytics career regardless of your background. You may not have experience working with data when you start the Isenberg MSBA, but you will have strong business analytical skills when you graduate and a strong career path. If you have a background in business or have already developed some analytical skills, we offer more advanced analytics courses to enhance your knowledge and skillset.
The STEM program includes 11 courses, or 31-32 credits and can be completed in less than 1 year. Topics will include business intelligence, data management, data mining, project management, python, designed to convey the analytical tools and skills that are sought after by any organization.
You will learn how to manipulate and visualize data to make more data-driven, effective business decisions. Our coursework delivers data manipulation and programming skills using Python, R and VBA. You will work with both structured data stored in database management systems and unstructured data. Courses in statistics and data mining will show you how to detect patterns and trends in business data. Project-based courses in data science and project management curriculum deliver more advanced analytics skills.
Analytics are applied in business-specific contexts such as marketing, finance and accounting, and management. Our MSBA applied business courses include Advanced Financial Technologies, Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Business, Web Analytics for Digital Marketing, Supply Chain Analytics, and Sport Analytics. Students who have already earned a business degree or credential may substitute analytics electives as needed.
Isenberg offers a virtual lab environment so the industry-leading software you need is always available in on-campus labs and from your home computer or mobile device. Students in our MSBA program will work with relational databases, visualization tools such as Tableau, statistical and data mining tools such as R studio and SAP predictive analytics. Data modeling and project management tools, and programming environments are other examples of the experiential learning provided through the MSBA program.
MSBA Curriculum with Choice of Two Tracks
MSBA students engage with a comprehensive selection of core coursework that provides a foundation for using data analytics to solve problems and drive business strategy. Courses include Database Management for Analytics, Data Management Using Spreadsheets, and Machine Learning for Analytics. The core curriculum also places an emphasis on career outcomes by including the 1-credit, Career & Professional Development course, which helps MSBA students prepare for life after their degrees.
MSBA students then choose between two tracks: Business Foundations and Data Analytics.
This 13-credit track helps students build the essential business analytics and management skills in high demand in today’s business world. In addition to core coursework, students complete four business courses that provide critical data and KPIs used in analytics: Financial and Managerial Accounting, Fundamentals of Finance, Marketing Strategy, and Organizational Behavior and Leadership.
This 12-credit track provides students with in-depth data analytics knowledge and tools needed make insightful, data-driven decisions to improve business performance. Coursework includes Data Science for Business and then three electives from a selection of courses related to business functions and industries. Electives include Data Visualization in Business and Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Business.
MSBA students can choose to further deepen their knowledge of data analytics by undertaking this optional concentration. The Advanced Analytics concentration will enable students to extend their studies from 31-32 credits to 40-41 credits and take advantage of the rich analytics curriculum that Isenberg offers. Students can choose an additional 9 credits of electives.
Concentration in Field Experience: Applying Business Analytics (CPT)
MSBA students can choose to pursue this concentration to expand their opportunities for CPT practical training, as essential preparation for entry into the workforce and improving interview skills. Completion of the concentration requires students to conduct an internship, practicum, or other similar experience with a commercial company, government agency or non-profit organization, and satisfies curricular practicum training (CPT) for international students. This experience exposes students to practical applications of data analytic techniques, including data retrieval, manipulation, analysis and visualization from foundational MSBA courses. MSBA students will then take that applied experience and utilize it in one of their last semester project-based courses.
4+1 Master's Degrees
Undergraduate students at UMass Amherst and other colleges in the Five College Consortium can pursue a 4+1 option, completing their undergraduate degree and their master's degree in 5 years. Isenberg's Master of Finance, Master of Science in Accounting, and Master of Science in Business Analytics all offer this option.
For UMass Amherst students, the 4+1 option can also be accelerated, allowing students to complete both their undergraduate and master's degrees in fewer than 5 years.
Interested students should apply to a master's degree program in their junior year or early in their senior year.
MSBA Faculty
Apply Now
Follow our step-by-step process to complete your online application.
- Review the program specific admissions requirements.
- Click Apply Now to go to the University's Graduate School site where you can find a link to the secure online application.
- First-time users will need to create an account to start a new application. Note: You can submit your application before you have all your materials ready, simply save and resume your application as you gather required materials.
- After submitting, track your application at the Graduate School Status of Application page.