Merrimack College offers 100% Online Data Science, Business Analytics, and Computer Science programs that are built with you in mind. Our approach is industry-aligned so you will be ready to advance your career or confidently seek a new professional direction. We have consulted industry leaders in the design of our advanced degrees and courses are taught by professionals in their field who bring a unique mix of real-world experience into the classroom.
Our master’s degrees are offered 100% online and are designed for working professionals. The rigorous, competency-based curriculum allows you to progress faster through concepts that you already know through your previous experience and spend more time learning to master the skills that you need. The competencies in our programs are built around current industry needs and trends so that you can be sure you are acquiring the skills and knowledge that go beyond today’s job requirements and future-proof your career.
Business and Science & Engineering
Comparison of Analytics, Data Science & Computer Science Programs
| MS Management Business Analytics | MS Business Analytics | MS Data Science | MS Computer Science | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Description | Provides advanced general management knowledge, including entrepreneurship and leadership. No coding required | Use available data to answer business questions and derive new insights. No coding required | Analyze large data sets using statistics and coding to discover relationships, trends, and actionable insights. Requires coding | Provides programming proficiency for software development. Requires coding |
| Skills | • Leadership skills • Business strategy • Managerial communication • Analytics view of business decision-making • Critical thinking and analysis | • Basic data manipulation • Data exploration • Prescriptive and predictive analysis • Data visualization and storytelling • Translation of data analytic outcomes into actionable steps | • Statistical analysis • Programming/coding • Machine learning and artificial intelligence • Predictive modeling • Data exploration, visualization, and storytelling • Protect privacy of data | • Algorithm development • Data Structures • Programming languages • Software Development • Database development • Web programming • Mobile programming • Machine learning |
| Application | • Build mastery of productivity tools commonly used by managers • Extract decision-guiding insights out of complex data | Business analytics is focused on more than just analyses of raw data – it aims to bring together and synthesize diverse sources of decision-aiding evidence | • Explore data, create hypotheses, and build statistical models. • Identify why and how statistical models of the data work. • Employ supervised and unsupervised learning to discover relationships between variables in the data. | • Understand the problem, the data involved with the problem, and figure out the proper algorithm to solve the problem • Solve problems by developing algorithms and implementing them into software • All sorts of software development in the industry |
| Language/ Software | N/A | SPSS Statistics, Excel, Tableau | R, Python, Tableau | Python, Java, R, Javascript, SQL, C++, Go, Swift |
| Jobs/ Salary Averages | Director of strategy: $126,000Business Analytics Manager: $100,000 | Sr. Business Analyst: $110,000Business System Analyst: $101,000Management Analyst: $93,000 | Data Scientist: $120,000 | Software Engineer: $105,000Python Developer: $95,000Java Developer: $95,000Mobile Engineer: $103,000 |
| Credits | 32 Credits | Under $22k | 32 Credits | Under $22k | 32 Credits | Under $22k | 32 Credits | Under $22k |
| Courses | View Curriculum | View Curriculum | View Curriculum | View Curriculum |