Business Analytics Programs & Degrees At The Top Business Schools

From Harvard Business School’s fully online certificate program to Duke University Fuqua School of Business MS degree in Quantitative Management, business schools now offer a wide range of options to study business analytics. You can get a simple certificate program or enroll in a more rigorous degree program at many business schools.

Below find a representative sample of business analytics programs. For international students, there’s the added benefit of STEM designation for most of these degree programs. That means graduates get a 24-month extension on their visa as part of the training that directly relates to their field of study.

As Harvard Business School’s Jan Hammond puts it, “Data is collected every time you make a purchase, navigate a website, travel, make a phone call or post on a social media site. Never before has so much data about so many different things been collected and stored every second of every day.”

That’s why business analytics courses, programs, and degrees to help professionals gain basic data literacy have exploded at business schools all over the world. There are online certificate programs and degrees, along with on-campus residential programs at nearly every business school. Fueling the expansion of these options is employer demand for people who can help collect, analyze and interpret data to allow for smarter business decisions.

OVERWHELMED WITH DATA, COMPANIES ARE TRYING TO HARVEST THE INFO TO MAKE BETTER DECISIONS

The expanding portfolio of coursework in business analytics programs may make it difficult for many to choose which program might be best for them. 

Should you sign up for the $1,850 eight-week online course in business analytics offered by Harvard Business School with its case studies on Amazon, Disney Studios, and Caesars Entertainment? Or would you be better suited to pursue a business analytics master’s degree that provides a much deeper learning experience in the field? 

If you would prefer to earn your degree while still working, a great option is the hybrid program from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce. A third of the 12-month Master of Science in Business Analytics program is delivered in person with eight-weekend residencies at the university’s DC Metro campus in Arlington, VA, and a pair of four-day residencies on the main grounds in Charlottesville, VA. The program is taught by faculty from both McIntire and UVA’s Darden School of Business. The price? $73,782, including meals and lodging during the residencies.

MANY SCHOOLS NOW OFFER BOTH IN-PERSON AND ONLINE DEGREES IN BUSINESS ANALYTICS

Many leading business schools, in fact, now offer both a full-time, residential option, along with an online or hybrid version of their business analytics curriculum. That’s the case at Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Texas McCombs, and Georgia Tech.

The full-time MS in Business Analytics at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business is a nine-month learning journey meant to allow students to tell stories and extract insights from data. After consulting with business leaders on their analytical needs, the school designed a program with advanced analytical skills, including machine learning and optimization, but also the business knowledge and communication skills often taught in fundamental MBA courses. The total tuition for the program is $68,928.

Or Tepper offers a part-time version for the same price stretched over a 20-month time frame. This part-time degree is delivered largely online with weekly live Internet classes that are 75 minutes in length. Every six-unit course requires roughly 65 hours of work. Each week, students typically spend five hours watching videos, reading cases, and preparing for live sessions, along with three hours working on assignments and assessments.

SPECIALTIES WITHIN A HIGHLY POPULAR SPECIALTY BUSINESS DEGREE

During the program, students have three weekend on-campus immersions at the Tepper campus in Pittsburgh, including one that helps to kick off a semester-long capstone course in year two when students meet with faculty and company sponsors. Tepper gears its online option toward individuals with technical backgrounds who want to deepen their analytical skills. The school says that its online MSBA students have varying levels of professional work experience and may have little or no background in business or analytics.

Georgia Tech’s offers both an in-person and online format for their Master of Science in Analytics program, which means students have the flexibility to pursue advanced analytics training in a way that fits their goals and schedules. Their on-campus program is a 12-month, full-time, STEM-designated degree based in Atlanta. Here, students will get a strong foundation in data science, statistical modeling, machine learning, and business strategy while also developing the communication and leadership skills needed to drive data-informed decisions.

The curriculum includes three specialized tracks – Analytical Tools, Business Analytics, and Computational Data Analytics – and culminates in a capstone project where students work in teams with a faculty advisor and an industry partner to solve a real-world business problem. 

MANY SCHOOLS REPORT SENSATIONAL CAREER OUTCOMES FOR BUSINESS ANALYTICS GRADS

Georgia Tech’s program attracts a diverse cohort with strong academic foundations and varied industry exposure. Their 2024 on-campus Class had 94 students representing 21 countries across 5 continents, with 42% of the Class female and 37% international students. Their academic backgrounds were in computer science, engineering, business, finance, economics, math, policy, and more. Notably, 13% already held a graduate degree, with both early-career students and seasoned professionals who had an average of two years of work experience.

For working professionals, Georgia Tech offers another option – their Online MS in Analytics (OMS Analytics) which is part-time and flexible and can be completed in 24 to 36 months. With the same curriculum and instruction as the residential program, the online version offers unmatched value at just under $10,799 in tuition. Students are offered asynchronous lectures, live office hours, and project-based assessments.

At Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies, their Master of Science in Applied Analytics degree has the structure and flexibility you would expect of a top business analytics program. Students choose one of three tracks: a flexible Core path, or concentrations in Emerging Technologies and Quantitative Management Analytics. 

WHAT YOU GET IN A BUSINESS ANALYTICS PROGRAM

The STEM-designated program is composed of 36-credits, designed for early- to mid-career professionals who want to lead data-informed initiatives across industries. 

Their on-campus format is completed in 12 months full-time and offers an immersive experience in the heart of New York City. The curriculum blends technical coursework in data visualization, machine learning, and decision modeling with leadership, communication, and ethics. Tuition sits at $99,144, and the degree culminates in a capstone project where students partner with faculty and real organizations to address pressing analytical challenges.

Like Georgia Tech, Columbia’s online program is designed for the working professional who needs more scheduling flexibility. Students complete the online degree over 24 months part-time, engaging with asynchronous coursework and live virtual sessions that foster real-time collaboration with peers and instructors. Both formats are taught by scholar-practitioners with deep industry experience, and the degree awarded is identical, regardless of delivery mode.

Over at Texas McCombs, their MS in Business Analytics is offered both on-campus and online. 

Their online version is a rigorous, 10-month immersive program for those looking to fast-track their analytics expertise in an intensive, collaborative environment. For those balancing work and study, the working professional format spans 23 months and combines online learning with periodic in-person sessions, allowing students to immediately apply what they learn in real-world business contexts. 

SCHOOLS REPORT EXCELLENT CAREER OUTCOMES FOR BUSINESS ANALYTICS GRADS

The career outcomes for these programs are sensational. The Class of 2024 outcomes underscore the program’s strong ROI: the average salary was $105,507, with a median of $107,500. International graduates reported a median salary of $120,000, and roles in data science (43%), business intelligence (14%), and consulting (8%) topped the placement list. Employers included Amazon, Dell, Goldman Sachs, Whole Foods, Walmart, and Expedia. Salaries varied by experience, ranging from $80K (≤1 year), $109K (1–3 years), to $118K (3–5 years).

What you get from these programs varies not only by price but mainly by the learning commitment. Wharton’s Business Analytics: From Data to Insights is a nine-week online certificate program designed for professionals who want to harness analytics for smarter decision-making, and you don’t need a technical background to be accepted. The program requires 6-8 hours per week and costs just $2,850.

As Wharton says on their site, the course helps students “look at data and identify insights, improve your ability to make predictions for the long term, and prescribe future actions that help make better business decisions,” and it’s backed by the latest research from the Wharton AI & Analytics Initiative. 

The curriculum for this certificate covers descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics, and includes four live teaching sessions, a data analytics simulation, and individual feedback on assignments. It’s an ideal program for executives, managers, analysts, and consultants who want to translate analytics into actions across marketing, operations, HR, and strategy.

Of course, what you gain from a nine-week certificate program at Wharton will vary slightly from what you’ll gain from a full degree learning experience over an entire year or more at such places as Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Texas McCombs, Georgia Tech, or any other world-class business school.

To make the selection of the right program for you a bit easier, we’ve collected info on the business analytics offerings at 22 leading U.S. business schools.

BUSINESS ANALYTICS PROGRAMS & DEGREES AT THE TOP 25 U.S. BUSINESS SCHOOLS

Program	Format	Length	Cost
Pennsylvania (Wharton) Business Analytics: From Data to Insights	Online	Nine Weeks	$2,850
Northwestern (Kellogg) Business Analytics: Decision Making With Data	Online	Nine Weeks	$2,210
Harvard Business Analytics	Online	Eight Weeks	$1,850
MIT (Sloan) Master of Business Analytics	On Campus	One Year	$93,834
Columbia MS in Applied Analytics	On Campus or Online	12 Months/24 Months	$99,144
UC-Berkeley (Haas) Business Analytics for Leaders: From Data to Decisions	Online	Two Months	$2,425
Duke (Fuqua) MS in Quantitative Management: Business Analytics	Online	19 Months	$72,100
Michigan Ross Master of Business Analytics	On Campus	Ten Months	$64,290 (resident)/$69,290
New York (Stern) MS in Business Analytics	Online Hybrid	One Year	$90,400
University of Virginia (McIntire) MS in Business Analytics	Online Hybrid	12 Months	$73,782
Cornell (Johnson) MS in Business Analytics	Online Hybrid	16 Months	$87,500
Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) MS in Business Analytics	On Campus or Online	9 Months/20 Months	$68,928
UCLA (Anderson) MS in Business Analytics	On Campus	15 Months	$87,000
Southern California (Marshall) MS in Business Analytics	On Campus	18 Months/24 Months	$84,086
Texas-Austin (McCombs) MS in Business Analytics	On Campus or Online	10 Months/23 Months	$50500 (resident)/$55,500
Washington (Foster) MS in Business Analytics	On Campus	12 Months	$48,632 (resident)/$61,563
Indiana (Kelley) MS in Business Analytics	Online	15 Months/30 Months	$25,500
Georgetown (McDonough) MS in Business Analytics	Online	16 Months	$69,960
Emory University (Goizueta) MS in Business Analytics	On campus	12 Months/24 Months	$82,629
Georgia Tech MS in Analytics	On Campus or Online	12 Months/24 Months – 36 Months	$41,737 (resident)/$55,505, Online: $10,799
Washington University (Olin) MS in Business Analytics	On Campus	18 Months	$98,850
Chicago (Booth) MBA/MS in Applied Data Science	Online Hybrid	24 Months	$96,084

© Copyright 2025 Poets & Quants. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Poets & Quants, please submit your request HERE.