MASTER OF SCIENCE IN

ANALYTICS

Michael Rappa 

Goodnight Director and Distinguished University Professor
Institute for Advanced Analytics
North Carolina State University

• June 2018 •

analytics.ncsu.edu
Jonathan, Jennifer, Jeremiah, Mirna and Viola
Class of 2016

The Institute for Advanced Analytics has been preparing

data savvy professionals for leadership in a digital world
since 2007. Our mission is to produce the world’s finest
practitioners of analytics — individuals who have mastered
complex methods and tools for large-scale data modeling,
who have a passion for solving challenging problems
through teamwork, guided by intellectual curiosity, honesty
and integrity, and who strive to attain the highest level of
professionalism through continuous self-improvement.
Today, data is everywhere. 

But there’s a scarcity of talent
with the skills to make sense
of it and create value.

The Master of Science in

Analytics (MSA) is a
professional degree that
focuses on the tools, methods
and applications of advanced
analytics. Launched in 2006,
it is the nation’s first full-
fledged graduate degree in
Analytics.

The goal of analytics is to

derive and effectively
communicate actionable
insights from a vast quantity
and variety of data. It covers 

a broad spectrum of activities,
including data quality and
management, mathematical
and statistical methods for
data modeling, and data
visualization.

A new interdisciplinary
academic unit — the Institute
for Advanced Analytics — was
established at NC State in
2007 to oversee the program.
As the need of analytics becomes more widespread, there is
mounting demand for—and a growing shortage of—professionals Jessie, Clare, Max, DT and Lisa
with the relevant data skills coupled with an understanding of how Class of 2017 Practicum Team
the techniques are applied to business and the variety of critical United Network for Organ Sharing
tasks facing decision-makers. Richmond, Virginia
 The Master of Science in Analytics seeks to:
enrich students with a challenging learning experience;
give them relevant skills valued by employers;
with a rapid time to degree completion;
Jaewon and affordable tuition with a solid return on investment.
Class of 2017
B.S., Mathematical Decision Sciences Most importantly...
UNC–Chapel Hill, 2016

Senior Associate Analytical Consultant

open doors to professional employment at graduation.
SAS Institute
 Steve (’14) and Ryan (’12)
Preston, Doug, Nicole, Shannon and Pranav
Class of 2017 Practicum Team

eBay
New York City

Sam, Kiersten, Jola, Brannan and Shawna
Class of 2018 Practicum Team
AMC Theatres
Leawood, Kansas
Asurion
The MSA is a comprehensive education that gives students:
the necessary technical skills;
while enhancing their ability to work effectively in teams;
strengthening their communication and problem-solving capabilities;
gaining hands-on experience with real world data using industry
standard analytical tools.
Most importantly...
prepare them to be productive analytical professionals from day one!
As the country’s first full-fledged Analytics degree, the MSA was created
literally from scratch—an integrated curriculum with a unique blend of John, Laura, Scott, Jennifer and Kelvin
Class of 2017 Practicum Team
statistics, applied mathematics, computer science and business disciplines.
It is a dynamic curriculum that continually evolves to meet the need. Disney Parks & Resorts
Orlando, Florida
The MSA is designed to be…
Intensive – accelerating the
learning curve through the
intensity that comes from
condensing 2-years of
graduate study into the
shortest possible duration;
Francis
Class of 2016
B.A., Economics; Mathematics
Vanderbilt University, 2013
Senior Data & Analytics
Consultant at EY
Interactive – leveraging peer- Immersive – learning by
to-peer learning through doing, by engaging in practical
+ teamwork threaded
throughout the entire + problems from the real world,
and being totally immersed in
curriculum; the subject.
Sarah Ahdieh Chelsi
Class of 2016 Class of 2015 Class of 2016
B.S., Clinical Laboratory Science B.S., Business Management B.S., Mathematics
UNC–Chapel Hill, 2012 Babson College, 2012 Claflin College, 2014
Senior Associate Analytical Senior Consultant, Advanced AVP, Operations Research
Consultant at SAS Analytics Enablement at Deloitte Analyst at Bank of America
The MSA is…

10-months of full-time residential study (Mon.-

Fri. / 9-to-5);
a fully integrated curriculum with its own faculty;
limited to 120 students, split into two 60-student
sections;
taught as a cohort, with all classes restricted to
students in the program;
delivered in a modern 30,000 sq. ft. facility for
the exclusive use of our students;
a professional degree aimed at placing its
students in employment upon graduation.

The MSA isn’t…

a menu of core and elective courses;

overly theoretical in its focus;
a research or teaching apprenticeship;
intended to be a prelude to a Ph.D.;
a business, computer science or statistics degree 

in disguise;
a day longer than necessary to accomplish its goals.
Rocky
Class of 2017
B.S.B.A., Business Administration;
Economics UNC–Chapel Hill, 2013 The MSA is a single integrated curriculum aimed at acquiring practical
Senior Consultant at EY
skills that can be applied to real world problems, drawing upon…
applied mathematics
statistics
computer science
econometrics
Dustin
Class of 2017
operations research
B.S., Civil Engineering marketing science
NC State University, 2013
communications
Data Scientist at Cognizant
Matthew, Damon, Kristy, Darin and Manaswini Elevate
Class of 2018 Practicum Team Fort Worth, Texas
 The MSA advantage:

students hone their skills working on gigabyte- to terabyte-scale data

problems drawn from real world organizations;

students use industry standard software tools and can obtain

professional certifications while completing their degree;

team-based learning emulates the reality of today’s workplace and

Manuel, Christopher, Bailey, Jennifer
and Kevin
provides an opportunity to develop leadership potential;
Class of 2016 Practicum Team
frequent performance evaluations and individualized coaching guide
Cargill continuous self-improvement.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Joshua, Lucia, Sam, Jiajing and Nikhil
Class of 2018 Practicum Team

Asurion
Nashville, Tennessee
 Experiential Learning: The Practicum

students work in teams of 4-5 individuals;

work on real world problems and data provided by industry

sponsor (under confidentiality);

highly structured, substantive work conducted over 8-months;

culminates in final report and presentation to the 


Tori, Alec, Polly, Shreye and Liping sponsor;
Class of 2018 Practicum Team

Museum of Fine Arts projects are selected from a large pool based on learning
Boston, Massachusetts value (there is no sponsorship fee).
Holden, Ryan, Catherine, Cecilia, and Kosta
Class of 2017 Practicum Team

B2W
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
 Since its inception, the Institute’s students have taken on 156 projects from 110 sponsors representing
virtually every industry sector.

Advertising E-Commerce Insurance Retail

Agriculture Energy Intelligence Social Media
Airlines Entertainment Manufacturing Software
Asset Management Financial Services National Security Sports
Banking Healthcare Non-Profits Telecommunications
Chemicals Heavy Machinery Pharmaceuticals Textiles and Apparel
Consumer Products Hospitality Publishing Transportation

Michael, Ashley, Alex, Cindy and Daniel Revenue Management Solutions

Class of 2018 Practicum Team Tampa, Florida
Jeremiah, Viola, Mirna, Jennifer, and Jonathan
Class of 2016 Practicum Team

Art Gallery of Ontario

Toronto, Canada

Class of 2018 Practicum Sponsors
AMC Theatres (Leawood, Kansas)
Asurion (Nashville Tennessee)
Central Intelligence Agency (McLean, Virginia)
Chick-fil-A (Atlanta, Georgia)
Direct ChassisLink (Charlotte, North Carolina)
Disney (Orlando, Florida)
Duke Health (Durham, North Carolina)
Elevate (Ft. Worth, Texas)
General Motors (Detroit Michigan)
M&T Bank (Buffalo, New York)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Massachusetts)
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Texas)
Jabari, Allison, Caroline, TJ, and Ricky
Class of 2018 Practicum Team
NCCI
Boca Raton, Florida
National Council on Compensation Insurance (Boca
Raton, Florida)
Piedmont Health (Carrboro, North Carolina)
ProMetrics (King of Prussia, Pennsylvania)
Putnam Investments (Boston, Massachusetts)
Red Hat (Raleigh, North Carolina)
Revenue Management Solutions (Tampa, Florida)
The Home Depot (Atlanta, Georgia)
Trillium Health (Greenville, North Carolina)
Visionist (Columbia, Maryland)
Volvo Trucks (Greensboro, North Carolina)
Class of 2016 students run in Krispy Kreme Challenge to
raise money for the North Carolina Children’s Hospital.
 MSA graduates are in high demand...

for 11 consecutive years over 90% of the candidates have received

one or more employment offers before graduation;

in 2018, 96% had offers of employment and 95% were employed at

graduation;

candidates averaged 12 initial interviews and 3 job offers;

Ruth, Chris, Anderson and Eliza
Class of 2018 Practicum Team many sectors of the economy are hiring;
Visionist
Columbia, Maryland wide variety of employers, from new ventures to global enterprises.
Kristi, Virginia, Aditya, Carlos and John
Class of 2016 Practicum Team

NFL Jaguars
Jacksonville, Florida
 LEADING EMPLOYERS OF MSA GRADUATES
• Accenture • Community Care of NC • Google • Red Hat
• Ally Financial • Deloitte • IBM • Rho
• Amazon • eBay • JP Morgan Chase • RTI International
• Ankura • Elder Research • Lash Group – • SAS Institute
• Bank of America • Elevate AmerisourceBergen • The Home Depot
• BB&T • Elicit, LLC • Liberty Mutual • The Walt Disney Company
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC • EY • M&T Bank • TIAA
• Boeing • Facebook • Marriott International • U.S. Government
• Cigna • Fifth Third Bank • Northrop Grumman • Visionist
• Citrix • Genworth Financial • Putnam Investments • Zencos
• Cognizant • GlaxoSmithKline • PwC

(Top-10 employers are highlighted in RED)

Barrett, Jennifer, Elliott, Amanda and Idrees
Class of 2018 Practicum Team
General Motors
Detroit, Michigan
Class of 2018 Intramural Soccer Team – League Champions
 MSA graduates are highly valued...
Ned, Kyle, Kimberly, Veer and Carrie
Class of 2018 Practicum Team
Putnam Investments
Boston, Massachusetts
In 2018, the average base starting salary was $98,200
$106,700 for candidates for 3 or more years of
professional experience prior to entry
$93,700 for candidates with little or no work
experience prior to entry
base salary range: $72,500 to $145,000
median signing bonus: $11,250
ROI payback period: 20 months
 Class of 2018 by Major Employment Category and Average Base Salary

35% 32% 30% 3%

Data Scientist Analyst Consultant Manager
$108,450 $92,400 $92,300

Julia Taylor Ryan Jason

Class of 2016
B.S.P.H., Environmental Health
Sciences, UNC Chapel Hill, 2015
Advanced Analytics Data Scientist
at IBM
Class of 2016
M.A., B.S.B.A., Economics; Finance
University of Alabama, 2014
Senior Business Intelligence Analyst
at The Home Depot
Class of 2016 Class of 2016
B.S., Mechanical Engineering M.S., Chemical Engineering, Stanford, 2000
NC State University, 2015 B.S., Chemical Engineering, Washington
Analytics Professional University in St. Louis, 1998
at General Motors Data Scientist at BCBS of North Carolina
 Citizenship Residency Gender

Student Demographics,
Non-U.S.
19% Education and
Non-Resident
Female Employment
NC Resident 40%
47% Male
53%
U.S. Citizen 60%
81%

Distribution of Employment
Graduates by Cohort Year
Undergraduate Major Outside NC by Region
120

Other West
8% 14% Northeast
Mathematics 80
23%
Statistics
Engineering / 33% Midwest
Science 17%
30% 40

South
Economics / Finance 40%
Business Southwest
29% 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 6%
Cohort Year
Employment by Major 

Highest Prior Degree Prior Work Experience Domestic Employment Gov/Mil Industry Sector
2%
PhD
3% 3% Res/Edu
4% Other
13%
Masters Health
None Technology
19% 5%
29% 32%
MBA 3 or more
4% years
50%
Bachelors Consulting
U.S. 20%
74% 1-2 years 97%
21% Financial Services
25%
Sean, Keona, Deborah, Jared and Craig
Class of 2016 Practicum Team

VF Corporation (The North Face)

Greensboro, North Carolina
 Student Enrollment by Country of Origin
25

20

15

10

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Australia Bangladesh China China Armenia Armenia Brazil Bermuda Bulgaria Argentina Argentina
Belgium Brazil Hungary India Belarus Belgium Canada Brazil Brazil Australia Brazil
Canada China India Mexico Canada Canada China Canada Canada Canada China
China Colombia Pakistan Turkey China China Germany China China China Colombia
Czech Rep. Eritrea Poland U.S.A. Colombia Colombia India Colombia Croatia Dominican Rep Costa Rica
India India Taiwan Côte d’Ivoire Costa Rica Myanmar Ecuador Egypt Germany El Salvador
Romania Peru Ukraine Hong Kong India Poland Egypt Ethiopia Greece Egypt
Thailand Romania U.K. India Nicaragua Russia France Ghana Ghana Germany
U.S.A. Russia U.S.A. Mexico Russia Singapore Germany Israel India India
U.S.A. Peru Taiwan Sri Lanka Italy India Mexico Iran
U.K. Turkey Thailand Hong Kong Nepal Peru Kyrgyzstan
U.S.A. U.K. U.S.A. India Nigeria Poland Latvia
Vietnam U.S.A. Uruguay Jamaica Pakistan Rep. of Korea Pakistan
Mexico Russia Russia Philippines
Russia Taiwan Singapore Poland
Taiwan Ukraine Spain Saudi Arabia
U.S.A. U.S.A. U.K. Singapore
Vietnam Venezuela U.S.A. Spain
57 countries of origin since the Class of 2008. Uzbekistan U.K.
U.S.A.
 8

3 18
23
3 13
3 1 38
1 2
39
1 2 79
21 6

379
12 28
14 1
4

16

Geographic Distribution of Alumni (n=710)

 Student Satisfaction Ratings
Class of 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Exit Surveys

High

Satisfaction with
learning experience
High
Low
0 150 300 Satisfaction with

4.5
Low employment
0 150 300

/5.0
4.6 /5.0

n=507 High
4.7 /5.0

Likelihood to recommend MSA

89% response rate
Low
to prospective students
0 200 400
 Most peer programs in analytics and data science provide little or no data on
admission and student outcomes needed to make benchmark comparisons.
Instead we rely on MBA programs, which provide data publicly as part of the
ranking process, for benchmarking our performance.
The MSA compares favorably to the top-5 highest ranked MBA programs with
similar cohort sizes:
the MSA out-performed the selected MBA programs on 11 of 13 key
performance metrics;
were the MSA ranked alongside MBA programs, the analysis suggests it
Ashley, Jared, Tom, Haani and Caroline
Class of 2018 Practicum Team would fall in a range between 21 and 29;

The Home Depot 5th consecutive year the MSA performed favorably to MBA programs of
Atlanta, Georgia similar cohort size in the 20-30 range of the U.S. News annual ranking.
The Master of Science in Analytics
by the numbers… Annual Admissions Report
http://go.ncsu.edu/msa-admissions

Annual Employment Report

http://go.ncsu.edu/msa-employment

Annual Alumni Report

http://go.ncsu.edu/msa-alumni Elizabeth, Sarah, Daniel, Lindsay,
Matias and Adam
Annual Benchmark Report Class of 2018 Practicum Team
DCLI
http://go.ncsu.edu/msa-benchmarks Charlotte, North Carolina
Class of 2018 Commencement
Jeremy
Class of 2015
B.S., Economics, University of South Dakota–Vermillion, 2014
Predictive Modeler at Great West Casualty Company
South Sioux City, Nebraska

About the Director

Michael Rappa is the founding director of the Institute for
Advanced Analytics and a member of the faculty in the
Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State
University. As head of the Institute, he leads the nation’s first
Master of Science in Analytics as its principal architect. Before
joining NC State as Distinguished University Professor in 1998,
for nine years he was a professor at MIT. Appointed the inaugural
Goodnight Director in 2015, his current position is endowed and
named in honor of the University’s distinguished alumnus and
prominent American business leader Dr. James Goodnight.
 THE
Institute for
Advanced Analytics
901 Main Campus Drive, Suite 230
NCSU Centennial Campus
Raleigh, NC 27606

twitter: @analyticsinst

email: analytics@ncsu.edu

analytics.ncsu.edu