Undergraduate Major & Minor - Management Information Systems

Management Information Systems (MIS) is where business meets technology. MIS professionals are the ones who figure out how to leverage technical tools to make a business faster, smarter, and more competitive. You’ll become a "tech translator," bridging the gap between what a business needs and what technology can do.
 

The MIS curriculum is where tech skills meet business strategy.You’ll get hands-on with the tools businesses use every day, including Python programming, database design, and systems modeling. You’ll learn how to take massive amounts of data and turn it into visual insights that help leaders make smart decisions. Throughout the program, you’ll move from the basics to solving complex, real-world problems for companies, culminating in a senior capstone project where you’ll act as a strategic consultant.
 

You’ll be the connection between the technical side of a company and its leadership. Whether you want to be a business analyst, a database administrator, or a business intelligence specialist, your job will be to design the digital future of an organization. Our graduates are highly scouted by top companies like Target and 3M because of their ability to bridge communication gaps and make wise strategic decisions.
 

Find more Management Information Systems Career Key Info

Check out our MIS Course Mapping Resource

Carlson provides premier experiential opportunities to put your technical skills to the test in real-world corporate environments. The ultimate highlight within the curriculum is the MIS Experiential Live Case (IDSC 4301), a culminating course where small student teams function as active consultants to solve a live, ambiguous technology challenge for an actual partner organization. Outside the classroom, students can join Club MIS to build peer networks and attend private corporate networking nights. Furthermore, Carlson MIS majors routinely compete in Analytics for Good Hackathon and CoMIS case competitions, where they solve complex enterprise challenges under strict deadlines and pitch solutions directly to active tech executives.
 

While both fields are deeply rooted in technology, they approach it from entirely different angles. Computer Science is an engineering and math-heavy discipline focused on building software, writing complex low-level code, and developing algorithms from scratch. Management Information Systems, conversely, is a business discipline focused on applying that technology to optimize corporate strategy and solve organizational problems. While a computer scientist creates a database application, an MIS professional designs the database framework, integrates it into an enterprise system, and analyzes the data to help executives make smarter business decisions. If your goal is to be a back-end software developer or engineer, Computer Science is your path; if you want to be a high-level strategic problem solver who bridges the gap between technology and corporate leadership, MIS is the perfect fit.

STEM-designated degrees are academic programs in a “STEM” field that the U.S. government has identified as being beneficial to students and U.S. companies. STEM refers to majors in science, technology, engineering, and math.

These degrees usually have an increased level of quantitative and/or technical rigor compared to degree programs without a STEM designation. And if you're an international student, they let you work in the U.S. for up to 3 years without needing sponsorship.

• Students who complete a unique independent study project may petition to have IDSC 4491 Independent Study in Information Systems (1-4 credits) apply toward their major.
• Please note that this major has strict sequencing and students need to allow for three semesters to complete IDSc 3202, IDSc 4204W, and IDSc 4301.