Online Master’s in Business Analytics
The world runs on data. Join the race to the top.
Expertly curated by Silicon Valley leaders, the Online Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program from the Leavey School of Business will help you develop the analytical mindset required to solve modern business challenges. Even better, SCU’s leading-edge Online MSBA is brought to you by a business school ranked #3 in Best Online MBAs, #1 in Academic Excellence and #1 in Career Outcomes by Poets&Quants.1
Whether you want to help companies expand their capacity for big data, translate and demystify digitized business models or uncover digital revenue opportunities, the standout faculty at SCU Leavey and the invaluable knowledge they’ll impart will more than prepare you for your next steps. And by earning your MSBA online, you can accomplish it all without compromising your career or other priorities.
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Are you looking to take your career to the next level? Earn your master’s degree online with Santa Clara University. Our Online Master of Science in Business Analytics, offered through the Leavey School of Business, was built to meet the demand for professionals who can skillfully wield analytics tools to produce improved business outcomes through a powerful combination of information technology and business coursework.
Complete the form to get a program brochure for SCU’s Online MSBA program. Get more details about the program, including information on the program structure, curriculum, benefits and application requirements.
Wield the Power of Business Analytics
Here, big data defines big opportunities. An Online Master of Science in Business Analytics helps you master the theories and practices needed to become a leader at any point in your career path, in any organization. We believe in harnessing the power and use cases of numerous data types to carry out modern business intelligence. Throughout the program, you can expect to develop a deep understanding of statistics and optimization, business analytics and information technology as you form an enduring foundation rooted in business acumen and data analysis.
The MSBA online program will also train you to use essential programming languages like SQL, Python, and R, database management, econometric tools and machine learning. With a wide range of elective courses to choose from, you can narrow your focus to a business-forward or analytics-driven path. All in all, our cutting-edge curriculum—which was designed by an advisory board of industry leaders—will help you influence decisions that are poised to perform.
Secure Your Spot in Big Data
The future of business will be shaped by data, and the leaders who have a firm grasp of the tools and techniques of business analytics will be the sculptors. Modern firms collect and create volumes of data, but they lack the analytical skills to extract insights and derive value from their unorganized (and sometimes archaic) datasets.
With so much valuable data available, companies are increasingly invested in finding the right people to help them capitalize on it—and they’re paying them well, too. The demand for professionals trained in data science and analytics increased by 50% across a number of sectors in the past few years, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has listed data science as one of the top 20 fastest growing occupations.2,3 By 2025, the global market for big data is predicted to grow to $229.4 billion, and the average base salary for data scientists is $97,004, with the high end at $136,000.4,5
Program Details
- 42 units of credit
- 17 courses
- Complete in just over 1 year
- 3-day on-campus residency
- Expedited admissions pathway available for SCU alumni
- 2 opportunities to start per year (fall and spring)
- Capstone (faculty-sponsored) or practicum (company-sponsored) learning component

Completing Admission for the Online Master’s in Business Analytics
- Completed MSBA online application
- $158 application fee
- This fee will be waived for current SCU students and alumni
- 4-year bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university
- GMAT/GRE scores or waiver
- Official transcripts for undergraduate degree and any post-baccalaureate work
- Current resume or CV
- 2 letters of recommendation
- 3 business essays—collected together in one document—should be uploaded in the “Documents” tab of the Program Materials section (it will be labeled “Personal Statement” there)
- Personal admission interview
- Qualified applicants will be invited to schedule a personal admission interview. Interviews can be conducted in person at Santa Clara University, via Zoom, or by telephone
- Applicants for whom English is a non-native language must demonstrate English proficiency by submitting TOEFL or IELTS test scores. This requirement will be waived for applicants who score above the 50th percentile on the GMAT or GRE verbal section
- All students, faculty, and staff are required to be fully vaccinated. To see full details please visit the COVID-19 Vaccination FAQs.
Alumni Expedited Pathway to Admission
We are proud to offer a preferred an expedited admissions pathway for the Online Master’s in Business Analytics to SCU alumni who qualify. Students are welcome to apply via this pathway if they have graduated with a GPA of 3.0 or above from the Leavey School of Business, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Education and Psychology, School of Law, or School of Theology, or a GPA of 2.5 or higher from the School of Engineering or in any STEM-related discipline.
Expedited alumni applicants need only submit the online application, personal statement and current resume/CV for initial consideration. Leavey alumni will be evaluated solely on this basis, while alumni from other schools and departments at SCU may be contacted if our admissions team deems further documentation necessary to make a decision regarding your application (GMAT/GRE scores, letters of recommendation, personal statement, etc.). Speak to an Admissions Advisor for more information.
GMAT/GRE Waiver
A waiver for the GMAT/GRE requirement is available to applicants who have four or more years of full-time work experience and meet one or more of the following criteria:
- A bachelor's degree from an accredited school with a cumulative GPA of 3.4 (on a 4.0 scale) for STEM majors or 3.5 or higher for non-STEM majors
- A master's, doctorate or professional degree (JD, MD) with a cumulative GPA of 3.3 or higher (on a 4.0 scale) from an accredited university
- A professional certification such as CPA or CFA (Note: Certificate programs do not count toward this requirement)
- A conferred degree that is quantitative in nature, e.g., math, engineering, or hard sciences (undergraduate or graduate)
- Five or more years of military enlistment
- Alumni of the Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business with a GPA of 3.0 or higher
No GMAT/GRE waiver is automatic, and an approved waiver enables consideration for the Online MSBA program but does not guarantee admission.
Tuition and Fees
Tuition for the Online Master's in Business Analytics is currently calculated at a per unit rate of $1,318. This rate is subject to change annually.
Online MSBA Tuition | 2022-2023 Academic Year |
Cost per Unit of Credit | $1,358 (42 units) |
Total Tuition | $57,036 |
Application Fee* | $158 |
*The application fee will be waived permanently for SCU students and alumni who apply in the SCU Alumni Pathway, as well as veterans and active-duty military!
Merit-based scholarships are available for the Online Master of Science in Business Analytics. Please reach out to your Admissions Advisor for more information.
Master’s in Business Analytics Courses
At the Leavey School of Business we pride ourselves on our reputation for flexibility and customization. The Online MSBA program provides just that, an opportunity to tailor your curriculum to your specific needs with 10 units to be chosen from a selection of up to 14 elective courses. Whether you want to focus on Big Data modeling and reinforcement learning, broaden your understanding of cloud computing and cloud computing architecture or delve into natural language processing and deep learning, our program can be tailored to fit your needs.
Corequisites
Due to the heavily quantitative nature of the Online Master’s in Business Analytics, applicants should provide evidence of successful completion of coursework in the following subject areas during or following their undergraduate education:
- Statistics: Content should include topics in statistics, descriptive statistics, regression, probability, random variable and distributions, the central limit theorem, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing for 1 and 2 populations, goodness of fit, and contingency tables
- Calculus 1: Content should include differential and integral calculus; key concepts of limit, derivative, and continuity; derivatives in graphing and optimizing functions; and fundamental theorem of calculus
Applicants who have not completed these courses may be considered for provisional admission to the Online MSBA program, contingent upon their completion prior to enrolling in the program
Core Courses (32 units)
FNCE2402/MSIS2402 Math for Finance and Analytics (4 units)
MSIS 2503 Database Management Systems – Fundamentals of SQL (2 units)
MSIS 2507/IDIS 3802 Data Analytics with Python (4 units)
MKTG 2505 Marketing Analytics (4 units)
MSIS 2508: Data Science & Machine Learning with Python (4 Units)
ECON 2509 Econometrics with R (4 units)
MSIS 2510 Prescriptive Analytics (4 units)
IDIS 3598 Practicum or Capstone (6 units)
Practicum projects are defined by external partners who provide a dataset and the question of interest. Starting from a real-world problem and using input from the partner, students will refine the problem to scope the project, apply analytical tools to generate insights, interpret the findings, summarize the findings in a report, and present them to the partner or faculty supervisor. Practicums occur over two quarters and are worth 2 units of course credit each quarter, or 4 total units. The practicum will serve as a culmination of all of your work throughout the Online Master’s in Business Analytics program.
Capstone
Capstone projects use data and examine analysis questions provided by faculty over the course of one quarter. Students refine the problem to scope the project, apply analytical tools to generate insights, interpret the findings, and summarize the findings in a final report. In certain situations, students with full- or part-time jobs or with an internship can approach their employers to find a suitable project if desired. In those instances, the employer and faculty would provide supervision.
Elective Courses (10 units to be selected from the following)
MSIS 2527 Big Data Modeling and Analytics
MSIS 2537 Reinforcement Learning
MSIS 2528 Applied Cloud Computing
MSIS 2529 Dashboards
MSIS 2539 Data Visualization
MSIS 2513 Database Management Systems - Design, Development & Administration
MSIS 2538 Cloud Computing Architectures
MSIS 2534 Natural Language Processing
MSIS 2536 Deep Learning
FNCE 2409 Econometrics (2 units)
FNCE 2526/FNCE 2426 FinTech
FNCE2524/FNCE2404: Time Series Analysis Forecasting
FNCE2525/FNCE2408: Analytics of Finance
ECON 3000: Managerial Economics
Residency Weekend
The Online Master of Science in Business Analytics program starts with a three-day, on-campus residency weekend. This event will be the first time you will meet your faculty and fellow students face to face. You’ll also begin your first course, covering the first few modules of FNCE 2502 Math for Finance and Analytics with R.
Residency weekend offers a valuable opportunity to begin forging the bonds that make collaboration in Santa Clara’s online programs so stimulating and beneficial, as well as a chance to begin building your Silicon Valley network with a diverse group of motivated peers.
Featured Articles
- Retrieved on March 23, 2022, from poetsandquants.com/2021/11/08/best-online-mba-2022/
- Retrieved on March 23, 2022, from lambdaschool.com/the-commons/data-science-job-growth-in-2021-and-beyond
- Retrieved on March 23, 2022, from https://www.bls.gov/ooh/fastest-growing.htm
- Retrieved on March 23, 2022, from marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/big-data-market-1068.html
- Retrieved on March 23, 2022, from payscale.com/research/US/Job=Data_Scientist/Salary