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Students participate in the MS in Business Analytics Kickoff session.

Curriculum

Harness the power of analytics and artificial intelligence with the 1-year MS in Business Analytics. Provide insights in any business setting.

Curriculum Overview

Whether you majored in business, statistics, economics, computer science, engineering, or a nonbusiness field, a degree in business analytics offers a way to link your undergraduate studies to business.

  • 4-week summer bootcamp (online) + 2 semesters
  • Build career-ready analytics and AI skills
  • Gain hands-on experience with cutting-edge tools

STEM-Designated Program

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.

Program Timeline

HIDDEN Summer Bootcamp + Foundations Semester + Applications Semester

Online Programming Bootcamp

Learn the basics of statistics and programming and grow the foundational skills needed in a business analytics career.

Foundations Semester

Take core method classes: machine learning, data technology, data visualization, experimental design, prescriptive modeling, and project management.

Applications Semester

Take what you’ve learned and apply it to hands-on projects including the consulting capstone and elective coursework.

Sample Curriculum

Required Courses

  • Advanced SQL and Data Warehousing
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Consulting Capstone
  • Current Topics in Business Analytics and AI
  • Data Technology
  • Data Visualization
  • Experiments and Causal Methods for Business Insights
  • Machine Learning
  • Prescriptive Modeling and Optimization
  • Statistics and Programming Bootcamp

Electives

  • Business Automation Using AI
  • Business Strategy
  • Business Valuation
  • Health Analytics
  • Marketing Analytics
  • Marketing Research
  • People Analytics
  • Product Management
  • Project Management
  • Real Estate Finance
  • Risk Analytics
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Supply Chain Analytics
  • Text Analytics

This is a representation of coursework. Specifics may vary.

View curriculum details in Guide

The Cutting Edge: Practical AI Training for Real Business Impact

Artificial intelligence is changing the business world fast—and our curriculum is keeping pace. Throughout the program, you’ll build AI literacy you can carry directly into the workplace.

  • Work with industry‑standard platforms and AI technologies like Snowflake, Databricks, Claude, dbt, and generative AI models.
  • Use natural language to explore and ask questions of data.
  • Analyze unstructured text using large language models (LLMs).
  • Apply techniques like retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG) to tailor LLM outputs to specific datasets and business use cases.

Stand Out With Skills Gained in Our Consulting Capstone

Industry professionals talking at meetup

Learn from the best in the business analytics field in Wisconsin and across the globe. Complete a consulting capstone 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
  • Perform analytics and build models
  • Make a recommendation back to the client

Learn more about the consulting capstone
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 (MS ’20)
Supply Chain Technical Program Manager, Dell Technologies

Get a Head Start as a UW–Madison Senior

UW–Madison undergraduate students interested in earning the MS in Business Analytics degree may take up to six credits of the graduate coursework their senior year. This reduces your course load and tuition during the graduate program, allowing more time for the job search. The credits may also count toward your undergraduate degree requirements.

Explore starting your coursework early

Sample course list

  • Data Visualization, 1 credit
  • Causal Methods and Experiments, 2 credits
  • Data Tech, 2 credits
  • Cloud Technology, 1 credits

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