Interested in Data Analytics? Apply to This B-School

If you’re intent on an analytics-focused online MBA program, you might want to consider Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. Tepper’s online MBA (OMBA) program, which ranked number two in P&Q’s “Top Online MBA’s” ranking, offers students a strong foundation in advanced analytics with an emphasis on leadership development as well.

Fortune recently spoke to experts about some of the aspects that make Tepper’s OMBA program truly unique, including its flexible program format selection, focus in data analytics, and tight-knit community.

“The common thread is that the students who are interested in Tepper are really interested in the value proposition of the combination of leadership and analytics,” Kelly R. Wilson, Tepper’s executive director of masters admissions, tells Fortune.

FLEXIBLE CHOICE IN PROGRAM FORMAT

One of the key benefits of Tepper is the ability for students to freely choose from the business school’s three MBA program formats: full-time in-person, part-time online, or part-time flex. Applicants don’t need to submit separate applications for each format and are evaluated by the same criteria for all three.

“The pedagogy is the same regardless of program delivery format. We have the same standards for admission” among all MBA programs, Wilson tells Fortune. “The program itself allows for students to transfer between programs, which is not something that you’ll find to be a typical aspect of an MBA program.”

AN EMPHASIS IN DATA

Students who are particularly interested in the intersection of data analytics and business will find Tepper’s curriculum to be a perfect match.

“Because I’m in a technology field, it was important to me to have an MBA that was very data science focused,” Lou Godmer, a principal software engineering manager at Microsoft, who started the Tepper MBA program this year, tells Fortune. “The Carnegie Mellon program definitely fits that bill.”

The B-school’s curriculum is filled with a variety of data analytics-focused courses.

“Our curriculum includes training in advanced analytics with courses like optimization and statistical decision making, as well as several electives that meet our analytical depth requirement to ensure students are prepared to transform data into useful information that drives decisions,” Cindy McCauley, Executive Director of Online Masters Programs at Tepper School of Business, tells P&Q.

A TIGHT-KNIT COMMUNITY

Collaboration is core to Tepper’s community. The program specifically seeks out students who can contribute to the diverse population of unique backgrounds and even asks applicants to demonstrate how their own background has shaped their identity in the required admissions essay prompt:

The Tepper community is dynamic and unique. Each community member’s individual journey has shaped them into classmates who are collaborative, supportive, and inclusive. Describe how you have overcome adversity during your journey. What did you learn about yourself and how has that shaped who you are?

Tepper’s admissions officers say the essay prompt plays a key role in showing them whether or not an applicant is truly the right fit for Tepper or not.

“Just to uncover how they’ve handled those types of situations gives us a sense of how they will contribute to the community, but also how they’ll perform through their experience at Tepper and beyond,” Wilson tells Fortune.

Sources: Fortune, Tepper School of Business, P&Q

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