Eastern University MS in Data Analytics, $10K

Eastern split their MS in Data Science into two programs, the pre-existing Data Science program and a new MS in Data Analytics: https://www.eastern.edu/academics/graduate-programs/ms-data-analytics

The same 7 week terms, $9900 tuition price and all other elements are the same. The curriculum is a bit different:

Required Courses are these 4:

• DTSC 560 Data Science for Business (this is the course I taught for a year)
• DTSC 600 Information Visualization
• DTSC 650 Data Analytics in R
• DTSC 690 Philosophical and Ethical Issues in Data Science

Electives include 6 courses from these options:

• DTSC 550 Introduction to Statistical Modeling
• DTSC 520 Fundamentals of Data Science
• DTSC 575 Principles of Python Programming
• DTSC 580 Data Manipulation
• DTSC 670 Foundations of Machine Learning Models
• DTSC 660 Data and Database Management with SQL
• DTSC 691 Applied Data Science
• HMGT 526 Healthcare Finance and Economics
• BUSA 505 The Business Environment
• BUSA 585 Financial Accounting

Technically you could complete this degree with the same 10 courses that I completed my MS in Data Science with (and having an oddly named degree), but instead you have the option of taking a course in business, healthcare finance and accounting. Also interesting that you still need to take DTSC 690 instead of a Business Analytics-specific Capstone.

I'm a little surprised, I'd have expected that the courses lean more heavily into the analytics part by including more Business Intelligence content.

 

Only thing I do not like about the Georgia Tech program is the attrition. In 2020, OMSA had 4,252 students enrolled and 1,473 (34.6%) dropped out. In my opinion, Georgia Tech has taken this MOOC type degree program too far. They need to focus on individual support of student to maximize their graduation…at least that is my 2 cents.

On the topic of this Eastern program, it looks pretty similar to the Data Science curriculum. What was the purpose of the new degree program? Could not they have just added a “track” to the MSDS?

 

I suspect yes. I specifically sought out the program because the title was Data Science and I did not want an Analytics program, so I could see others choosing in the opposite direction.

 

I would say it is dependent on the program. If a program properly vets applicants, it can increase the likelihood of program completion. If you have 4,000+ students, it is probably normal. However, the smaller programs have a much higher graduation rate.

 

I think people often look at Data Science and Data Analytics/Business Analytics/Analytics as the same.

I am of the opinion that Data Science is predictive whereas the other (3) or so are descriptive. DS is more geared towards building models to “predict” the future and the others rely on historical data to inform future decisions. They sound similar but are vastly different.

 

I agree 100%.

The Analytics programs I've looked at had little or no machine learning but were a lot more focused on business intelligence platforms (Tableau, PowerBI, etc) and also domain knowledge like healthcare, economics or supply chain management, so that you knew what the data you wanted to display meant and then how to do so.

 

And it might well admit a smaller percentage of applicants.

 

Absolutely it would cost more and I agree about options. However, I do believe there is a ceiling you hit in which the number of students enrolled need to be quality with the possibility of finishing. In 2021, the OMSCS had over 11,000 students enrolled…that is an insane amount of OMSCS students.

 

I just hate seeing folks spend a few thousand dollars and then dropping out because they realize the curriculum is too difficult.

 

My question is… will any of these be helpful for me in my current job? I work with data all day long. I maintain probably dozens of Excel and Google sheets. I do a lot of IMPORTRANGE and VLOOKUPs. I also use Ablebits to merge in data and Powerquery in Excel to add tabs from other sheets that I then merge. I have three primary Excel sheets that I maintain for three different schools. But different people need the same data presented in different ways. So most of my google sheets are the imports and lookups to give them the views they need.
I am self taught on all of this and I feel like there has to be better ways to crunch this data. I also keep stats tabs with COUNTIFS

 

Real OG data analysts use VisiCalc.

 

If you haven't used a BI tool like PowerBI, Tableau or Qlik you could get value from courses in those areas but they don't need to be university-level. You could pay $20 to Udemy or Humble Bundle and get hundreds of hours of content. The value of a Master's degree could come in the deliberately large or complex datasets you get the opportunity to work with (versus the more smaller or contrived ones that are common in training courses) and the opportunity to specialize in a specific area like healthcare.

 

I have not used any of those. I have access to PowerBI, but no idea how to use it. I tried to test it out on my own, but didn’t get very far. I am working with a ton of data. I’d estimate for about 5,000 students across three schools. I have to nitpick through it all in order to maintain compliance. So some elements I have to be able to see when they change (that’s where ablebits is helpful because I can choose a color when I merge). The data changes a lot on a daily basis. It’s insane. About three years ago when I was hired, there were about 500 students. But it continued to grow. This year, I became “regional”, but there’s still a lot of room for growth. I’ve got to keep up with doing this all efficiently.

 

Sounds like important and tiring! I think that a course on PowerBI would be very helpful. It can do all sorts of counting, slicing, etc. It uses a lot of the same formulas as Excel but with added power for visualization. It's something you could learn on the side while you continue to use Excel to manage your existing data. When I was preparing for the Salesforce Admin exam I used a 6-hour Simplilearn video to give me the bird's eye overview I needed to get started. Here's one on PowerBI that might be similarly useful:



Even just watching it in pieces over a few weeks might be helpful to know what the system can do.

 

I still have a floppy with Visicalc. 1986 I think. I have a laptop that runs it, too. A Sharp PC-4600 from 1988. Perfect shape. I bought it for $200 in 1993. Sometimes, all you need - is all you need. It runs in DOSbox, too, Everybody's got that... haven't they?