MS in Business Analytics (MSBA) vs MBA: Pros and Cons

Apart from MBA, there are several other masters-level degrees to pursue. The one that suits you depends on your career aims, and things such as:

• Duration of course
• Programme expenses
• Place you hope to work after graduation

Types of business masters degrees

The most renowned course in the business world is the Master of Business Administration or MBA, and it has a great honour attached to it.On the other hand, other business degrees are comparatively new like Masters in Finance (MiF) and the Masters in Management (MiM).MiM and MiF degrees at a glance

Few of you might term the MiM degree as a ‘mini-MBA’, however, that is not true. It is right that MiM courses in the US are mostly shorter than the basic two-year American MBA, the opposite is true in Europe, where the degree of MiM is of two years (which is 2 times the typical European MBA). This applies to both Essec and SDA Bocconi, both of which included highly ranked MBA and MiM programmes.

In simple words, Mim candidates are not required to have long years of work experience as required for MBA programmes.

On the flip side, the MiF degree focuses on, as you may guess, the financial aspect of a business, not the final decision making.

Unlike MiM, most MiF programmes continue for a year in Europe, such as in London Business School and HEC Paris. MIT Slogan and Carnegie Mellon University in the US also has MiF programmes spanning 18 months.

Various of these programmes are for students without previous work experience, however, schools like Georgia Tech prefer an internship experience.

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MS in Business Analytics – The New Kid On The Block

Even though MiF and MiM are well-known per the Financial Times rankings of these programmes, there are many others.

Master of Science in Business Analytics is one of the courses with increasing popularity. Like a MiF, an MSBA emphasizes the attention towards processing rather than management.

The length, of course, depends on the varying duration of programmes from 18months (Carnegie Mellon in the US) to two years(Bocconi in Italy), most of them resting around 12 months (as found at ESADE, MIT Sloan, and Chicago Booth). Also, read the Top STEM MBA Program

Reduced study time often translates into savings

As a fact, MSBA degrees, for the most part, have a low cost compared to an MBA from the same school. However, be cautious, you cannot just cut-half the expense of an MBA, depending on the programme, you may have to pay more per semester hour for the degree of MSBA, or you may pay significantly less.

*The present one-year tuition cost was doubled for the US Universities, to account for the second year and might be inaccurate two-year tuition expense as second-year costs are not declared yet, in most cases.

** Add Dollar 32,500 to have the (optional) certificate of research to complement your degree.

Duration and cost aren’t the only differences between MBAs and MBAs

Apart from the expected differences that a business analytics degree will include like take up a contrary ground to the business administration, along with the difference in duration and cost of such degrees, there are other differences you should be aware of if you’re unable to choose between these two:

• MBA mostly demands five to seven years of work experience unlike MSBA programmes where you don’t need work experience, several recommend other courses if you have five or more years of work experience.
• This results in much younger students, mostly in their early twenties.

The unexpected thing is the probable benefit of the three-years of extended OPT visa (read this) for the MSBA courses in the US.

You should resist believing that every degree qualifies only because it’s a Master of Science. While most MSBA degrees qualify, only a few MiM and MiF programmes do. If you want to reap the benefits from this, you must check-in beforehand. Post-grad salary is the next important outcome that requires more transparency.  On one hand, MBAs target (and often achieve) tremendous salary growth after obtaining their degree, at times 100%, on the other hand, MSBAs stand a very less chance to reach these figures.

At present, it’s difficult to comment as these programmes are new and the information required to predict isn’t available at hand. (nor uniformly calculated between programmes).

Although, the salary increases are available for MiM and MiF programmes that have landed to the Financial Times ranking:

*1st position on the MIF pre-experience ranking.
**1st position on the MIF post-experience ranking.

In case you are thinking about why more number American schools are not on the lists, it all sums up to the fact that the programmes are more than five years old and hence does not qualify to be checked by the Financial Times. (telling you how new these degrees are)

A few programmes do provide salary results- especially the ones housed in the business school (instead of engineering which is mostly the key determiner of whether it qualifies for the extended OPT visa).

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MS vs MBA in Analytics in India

Differences Between Masters in Business Analytics & MBA in Analytics Courses Offered in India:

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