The MBA curriculum centers mainly around leadership and business administration skills emphasizing business analytics.

A Master of Science in Business Analytics curriculum places greater emphasis on a hard business analytics skillset and technical application of data.

Our MBA curriculum contains courses covering leadership, team dynamics, economics, corporate financial strategy, and project management. An MBA curriculum may have a single introductory course combining predictive analysis, machine learning, big data, or data visualization—while an MS curriculum may split each of those topics into their own full courses.

Both business and data analysts usually work between a business team and a technology team, though their precise roles between those teams are unique. In some roles you may be asked to wear both hats, while larger organizations may have a more fleshed out structure in how they organize business vs. data analysts.

A data analyst may prepare the specifications and requirements for a project while business analysts actually execute the details of the project. Business analyst responsibilities commonly include directly interfacing with stakeholders, while data analysts may report primarily to a business analyst or project manager.

Generally speaking, data analysts spend a greater percentage of their time engaged in technical tasks while business analysts focus their energy on the bigger picture with an emphasis on people management rather than technical proficiency.

Business analytics can be a great career choice for analytically minded business professionals who may prefer leading meetings and communicating data insights as opposed to coding/programming or regularly working deeply with spreadsheets or databases.