However you haven't said the field and some people mislead themselves.
I haven't said a specific field because there
isn't a specific field. The degree, at both the undergrad and graduate level, teaches data analysis and synthesis. The graduate level simply goes into more advanced techniques.
It can be applied to virtually any data-heavy field. Some graduates that I know personally have gone into:
Business Consulting (Deloitte, Ernst and Young, Accenture, McKinsey)
Consumer Research (Hanes, Kroger, dunnhumby, Amazon)
Intelligence Analyst (FBI, NSA)
Supply Chain Analyst (Caterpillar Logistics, Ernst & Young)
Operations Analyst (dunno which company)
Financial Analyst (Capital One, various banks)
Forecast and Modeling Analyst (Capital One, Chase Bank)
Basically, if it's an Analyst, research, or consulting gig, it fits (no matter the domain).
Those are from the graduate program. I'm in the first graduating class of the undergraduate program, so I don't have any benchmarks for prospects. I know I have shots at internships with many of these companies, as they're all quite interested in the possibilities of undergraduates (they're cheaper, so can they do the same work?). But long term job prospects with either are uncertain, just because the degree programs themselves are new, and the term "Business Analytics" or "Business Analyst" seems to have a different internal meaning for any company that uses it, so getting a degree in "Business Analytics" doesn't necessarily qualify me for a job posting of the same title.
What is the hiring market like in your field, with and without the advanced degree? If you are confident that you will find a position that puts the advanced degree to use, it probably makes sense to soldier on with the education. If not, you might want to go with the bird in the hand.
The hiring market is great.
- How does Google rank webpages?
- How does Netflix recommend movies?
- How does Amazon know which items to suggest together to facilitate impulse purchases?
- How can Amazon so easily offer 2-day shipping for only $80/yr (along with the other Prime perks), when most companies charge outrageously for 5-7 day delivery?
- How does Facebook know which "Friends" to recommend you?
- How does Capital One know whether to approve you or not, and for how much?
- Why do so many companies use Loyalty cards now?
All of these questions relate to statistical modeling. And that's about 60% of what the degree focuses on. Businesses are collecting monumental amounts of information, and they want to get something back out of it. Especially Target. I will never shop there again after learning about exactly what they do. They collect more detailed information on customers than Uncle Sam, or even LexusNexus.
The degree has massive potential, particularly in areas of logistics and marketing, as marketers try to get their fangs in you as lightly as a butterfly and supply chain managers try to streamline as much as possible.
Going into it at the undergraduate level, I'm likely to begin by doing a bunch of grunt work and slowly moving up. Going in with an advanced degree, I'm likely to skip the lowest few rungs and start a bit higher up, but in the same progression.
Finally, don't ever underestimate the importance of minimizing student debt. I know an awful lot of people who went to Law School to obtain a law degree in exchange for six figure debt. Many of them cannot find jobs as lawyers. Those that have found jobs are sadly wed to them because they have to pay off those loans. I can't imagine anything financially worse than knowing you have the equivalent of a mortgage hanging over you, but with no home to show for it.
Trust me, this is why I wanted to mull my thoughts here at MMM. I've gone through undergrad debt free, and am particularly proud of that fact. However, it's not possible if I continue for grad school, and I'll have to succumb to the evils of student loans (at an amount that's less than average, but still significant). The people I've talked to look at me like I'm crazy when I factor in student loans into my grad school decision, as they just see them as a fact-of-life kind of thing, and that I shouldn't worry about them. Hell, that mentality is so ingrained in the US that student loan debt doesn't even get figured into debt load when applying for a mortgage, unless it's within 2 years of coming due.
