The Master of Science in Business with a decision sciences and business analytics concentration provides students with knowledge of quantitative skills and experience in analyzing problems and using data for decision-making in a business environment. Depending upon individual student interests and adviser approval, the required nucleus is supplemented with relevant elective courses from within the School of Business or from outside departments.

For additional information, please visit our website at www.business.vcu.edu/graduate.

Curriculum

Prerequisite course
All students must have completed a course in calculus prior to attempting graduate business courses. This prerequisite can be met after admission to the program.

Foundation courses
Students must complete up to four classes (0 to 12 credit hours) from the following list. At the time of application, all undergraduate and graduate transcripts will be reviewed to determine if the following courses may be waived. Waivers of foundation courses only occur when a student has completed the required undergraduate equivalent courses with at least a C grade.

MGMT 524 Statistical Elements of Quantitative Management

And three of the courses below, or proof provided of satisfactory equivalent preparation

ACCT 507 Fundamentals of Accounting

FIRE 520 Financial Concepts of Management

MGMT 540 Management Theory and Practice

MKTG 570 Concepts and Issues in Marketing

Required core courses
Students must complete 12 credit hours in the following courses:

INFO 664 Information Systems for Business Intelligence
MGMT 632 Statistical Analysis
MGMT 645 Management Science
OPER 528 Stochastic Simulation

Students also must complete six credit hours by taking two of the following four courses:
INFO 614 Data Mining
MGMT 643 Applied Multivariate Methods
MGMT 669 Forecasting Methods for Business
MGMT 677 Quality Management and Six Sigma

Students also must complete 12 credit hours from the School of Business approved electives list below or other graduate courses that meet the approval of the faculty adviser.

School of Business approved electives (other business or university graduate courses may be selected that would fit with the student’s interests and career objectives)

ACCT 608 Managerial Accounting Concepts
ECON 610 Managerial Economics
ECON 612 Econometrics
FIRE 629 Real Estate Investment Analysis
FIRE 635 Investments and Security Analysis
INFO 610 Analysis and Design of Database Systems
INFO 611 Data Engineering
INFO 616 Data Warehousing
MGMT 648 Managerial Decision Making or OPER 643 Decision and Risk Analysis
MGMT 675 Operations Management
MGMT 691 Topics in Management (supply chain management or topic approved by adviser)
MGMT 697 Guided Study in Management
MKTG 673 Marketing Research
MKTG 691 Topics in Marketing (marketing analytics or topic approved by adviser)

Note: Students may also take any remaining course from the list above (INFO 614, MGMT 643, MGMT 669 or MGMT 677) to count as an elective.