Business Analytics Prerequisites

Completion of a Calculus Course

Completion of at least one college-level calculus course is required, at the level of Calculus I or higher. Short Calculus, Pre-Calculus, or Survey of Calculus courses do not meet this prerequisite. Applicants who have not yet completed a calculus course should not submit an application to the program until they have completed the course and received either a final grade or official, verifiable certificate of completion.

This requirement can be satisfied in one of two ways:

• Academic coursework, with course title and final grade appearing on an academic transcript from an accredited university or college (Upload a course description or syllabus on the "Carlson Masters Programs requirements" page of the application).

OR

• Completion of one of the MSBA faculty-approved online certificate options listed below (Upload your official, verifiable certificate of completion on the "Carlson Masters Programs Requirements" page of the application).

These are the only online certificate courses that may be used to satisfy the calculus prerequisite.

Demonstrated Computer Programming Competency

Demonstrated competency in computer programming is required. The following programming languages satisfy the requirement: Python, C, C++, C#, VB (not VBA), or Java. Competency is required in only one of these languages. Competency may be demonstrated one of three ways:

1. Academic Coursework - University class on transcript showing formal education in and successful completion of programming coursework as an undergraduate or graduate. Upload a course description or syllabus which includes the name of the programming language learned. This course must appear on your transcript (uploaded in the Educational Background section of this application.) Do not re-upload your transcript on the "Carlson Masters Programs requirements" page of the application; this upload must be a course description or syllabus indicating the language learned in your programming class.
2. Professional Experience - Resume indicating specific projects, assignments, or responsibilities with clear details of how computer programming was utilized in a professional, full-time work capacity (internships do not count toward this prerequisite). Simply listing the programming language you know is not sufficient. You must have bullet points indicating which programming language you use and how you use the programming language to complete your professional work. 
3. Completion of Online Coursework* - Certificate(s) of completion for an online course (or a course sequence) in computer programming (preferably Python) with a duration of no less than 20 hours*. The course (or course sequence) must cover basic programming concepts and techniques including but not limited to: conditional statements, loops, functions, input/output, file handling, foundational data types and structures such as strings, lists, and dictionaries. Recommended courses, which are strongly preferred by our Academic Director, are listed in a table down below. 
   
   Please upload a verifiable certificate of completion on the "Carlson Masters Programs requirements" page of the application. If the certificate title does not include the programming language used, please include a course description or syllabus with the upload indicating programming language taught. 

Applicants who have not yet satisfied the computer programming requirement should not submit an application to the program until they can demonstrate competency in one of the three ways listed above.

Selecting Online Programming Coursework to Meet the Prerequisite

If you have not completed academic coursework in or professional experience using one of our accepted programming languages, the online course you select to meet our prerequisite should cover basic programming concepts and techniques. Recommended courses, which are strongly preferred by our Academic Director, are listed down below. Regardless, the course(s) must cover the following topics at minimum:

• conditional ("if") statements
• loops
• functions
• input/output
• file handling
• foundational data types and structures (e.g., strings, lists, dictionaries)

While our basic requirements for the online course option are 20 hours minimum of instruction and an official, verifiable certificate of completion, we strongly recommend taking additional steps to become more comfortable with object oriented programming before applying. Consider taking a full specialization track or professional certification online, consisting of a variety of programming courses in your chosen language (we recommend Python). Strongly consider also applying what you learn in your online studies to your work, internship, or personal projects, and add these new experiences to your resume.

While a 20-hour online certificate course will meet our basic prerequisite, additional study and applied practice will:

• Boost your application
• Better prepare you for our programming-heavy curriculum
• Impress hiring managers in your post-program job search

MSBA faculty-suggested online certificate options

Listed below are some MSBA faculty-suggested online certificate options that will each meet our basic programming prerequisite. You are not limited to the options on this table to meet the basic requirement; however, these options are strongly preferred by our Academic Director.