MSBA Degree Requirements

MSBA Curriculum

The following requirements are for students who matriculate into the Master of Science in Business Analytics program starting fall 2018. Students who matriculated into the MSBA program prior to fall 2018 should refer to their DegreeMAPs in GWeb for any outstanding requirements they may have.

The Master of Science in Business Analytics program is 33 credit hours long. Three-credit courses are a full semester long (14 weeks). Courses that are 1.5 credits are seven weeks in length and are offered either in the first or second half of a semester.

Students must successfully complete the following course and program requirements to be eligible for the MS in Business Analytics degree.

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Program Requirements

Achieve at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average at the time of graduation.
Complete all degree requirements within five (5) years.

Course Requirements

Students must complete 33 credits of the following coursework to be eligible for graduation.

Core Courses | 25.5 Credits*

*Core courses may be waived based on previous academic coursework. See the MSBA Core Course Waiver Policy for details.

Electives | 7.5 Credits**

**Students who wish to satisfy an elective requirement with a course that has not been pre-approved must obtain written permission from the Program Manager or Faculty Director.

BBA/Master of Science in Business Analytics

Student share a maximum of 9 credits of graduate coursework between the two programs. BBA students interested in applying to the dual BBA-MSBA degree must have an overall GPA of at least 3.0 and must have completed the following three classes with an average grade of at least 3.3.

DNSC 1001: Business Analytics I - Statistics for Descriptive and Predictive Analytics (which will be the equivalent of the required first statistics course STAT 1051, 1053, 1111)
DNSC 2001: Business Analytics II - Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics (which will be the equivalent of the second statistics course STAT 2112, 2118)
DNSC 3403: Decision Models

A minimum of 36 total credits are required for the MS in Business Analytics degree. Students share a maximum of 9 credits of graduate coursework between the BBA and the MS in Business Analytics:

DNSC 6211: Programming for Analytics (in lieu DNSC 4211)
DNSC 6279: Data Mining (in lieu of DNSC 4279)
Three credits of the elective graduate-level classes from the list provided above. These should be taken after completing DNSC 3403.

Additionally, once in the MS program,

Students who achieved a minimum grade of B+ in each of DNSC 1001 and DNSC 2002 can request to take an exam for waiving out of DNSC 6206 and DNSC 6203. The students will have to score B+ or better in the exam to be allowed to waive out of the two courses. If allowed to do so, the students will then have to take 3 elective credits in lieu of the two waived courses.

SAS Graduate Joint Certificate

Students in the MS in Business Analytics (MSBA) program are eligible to complete a SAS Graduate Joint Certificate in Business Analytics. This joint certificate is a partnership between SAS Global Academic Program and the George Washington University School of Business. Courses completed for the MSBA apply towards the SAS certification.

Participants in the joint certificate will analyze real-world data using a variety of analytics, from simple descriptive methods to more sophisticated predictive and prescriptive approaches. MSBA students interested in applying for the joint certificate should consult their academic advisor for more information.