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Data analytics is becoming increasingly inherent in today’s business world. Which is why organizations are looking for professionals who can understand and use data to help their businesses grow. Northwood’s Bachelor of Science in Data Analytics will give you the skills you need to interpret business data into usable insights. This program will not only give you an edge in starting your career, but will also showcase your value to future employers.

Northwood’s Bachelor of Science in Data Analytics program is a STEM certified program for Optional Practical Training (OPT) purposes. This means that it offers the potential for international students to work in the US for a total of 3 years and the potential for a work visa (H1-B, etc.) This makes it the perfect platform to launch your career in data analytics.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

The field of data analytics is evolving and expanding at a rapid pace, allowing for numerous rewarding opportunities. Here is a glimpse into a career in data analytics:

DATA ANALYTICS CAREERS AND SALARIES

*Average base salaries in the US taken from Glassdoor, Salary.com, Zippiz.com, Payscale.com

94% of enterprises say data and analytics are important to their business growth and digital transformation.

Source: MicroStrategy 2020 Global State of Enterprise Analytics

Organizations will spend an average of $12.3 million on data initiatives in the next year.

Source: Foundry’s 2022 Data & Analytics Study

88% of IT decision-makers say the collection and analysis of data could fundamentally change how their company does business over the next 1-3 years.

Source: Foundry’s 2022 Data & Analytics Study

‘Data Scientist’ is the third-best job in a list of 50 based on earning potential (median salary), job satisfaction, and job openings.

Source: Glassdoor’s Best Jobs in 2022

“I’m extremely grateful to have learned from my current and previous professors while attending one of the top ranked private business colleges in the central region of the United States. These high caliber instructors provided simulations where we could apply our knowledge…Furthermore, the Business Analytics technical skills and innovative Lean Six-Sigma solutions I’m able to offer to every organization or company I work for were a direct result of my time at Northwood.”

Ian Simek ’20

“The Analytics program pushed my thinking outside the box when completing data mining activities. What really helped me understand analytics was the case studies that we conducted throughout the semesters. This required me to apply what we learned from each semester and complete multiple quantitative methods into one problem at hand…In my position as an Assistant Product Manager at Dorman, analysis is key to bringing products to market effectively and efficiently.”

Hailey Hartwick ’20

THE NORTHWOOD DIFFERENCE

For over 60 years, Northwood University has prepared students to launch their careers successfully in their selected field. And our holistic approach develops the future leaders of a global free-enterprise society.

At Northwood, you will start classes in your major on your first day. This means you can validate your interest in a major field of study early and be prepared for internships after your first year. During your time at Northwood, you will;

Develop critical thinking skills through problem-solving and collaboration rather than lectures and memorization.
Learn from our exceptional faculty who guide class discussions and real-world case studies with their real industry experience.
Be immersed in an environment that emphasizes qualitative personal development through purposeful programming.
Emerge as an individual who: can explain personal values; appreciate the aesthetic, creative, and spiritual elements of life; seek lifelong education; and are effective self-evaluators and action-oriented.

CURRICULUM

The Bachelor of Science in Data Analytics program is an essential undergraduate program that prepares students for a business world increasingly dependent on data. One where organizations are in search of professionals with the understanding and capabilities to apply interdisciplinary tools and techniques to extract valuable insights from data. This program will teach you how to identify and interpret data with the help of case studies, allowing you to bolster your professional profile in the field and enhance your attractiveness to prospective employers.

The program will enable you to explore and gain hands-on experience to handle several big data analytics and cloud computing tools and technologies such as;

  • FDN 1110 Student Success Seminar or FDN 2500 Strategies for Success — 1 credit hour
  • FDN 1300 Student Leadership Seminar (campus only) — 1 credit hour
  • FDN 2250 Blueprint for Success or FDN 3200 Career Advancement — 1 credit hour

General education courses are the foundation of the University’s outcomes and attributes for its graduates.

  • ENG 1150 Composition I — 3 credit hours
  • ENG 1200 Composition II — 3 credit hours
  • MTH 1150 College Algebra or MTH 1100 Finite Math — 3 credit hours
  • SPC 2050 Speech — 3 credit hours
  • NSC 2100 Environmental Science or Natural Science — 3 credit hours
  • HIS 2100 Foundations of the Modern World I or History Elective — 3 credit hours
  • MTH 2310 Statistics I — 3 credit hours
  • ACC 2410 Fundamentals of Financial Accounting — 3 credit hours
  • ACC 2415 Fundamentals of Managerial Accounting — 3 credit hours
  • ECN 2210 Principles of Microeconomics — 3 credit hours
  • ECN 2220 Principles of Macroeconomics — 3 credit hours
  • LAW 3000 Business Law I — 3 credit hours
  • MGT 2300 Principles of Management — 3 credit hours
  • MIS 1500 Business Productivity Software — 3 credit hours
  • MKT 2080 Principles of Marketing — 3 credit hours
  • FIN 3010 Financial Management — 3 credit hours
  • MGT 4250 Organizational Behavior — 3 credit hours
  • MGT 4800 Strategic Planning — 3 credit hours
  • PHL 3100 Ethics — 3 credit hours
  • ECN 4010 Economics of Public Policies — 3 credit hours
  • PHL 4100 Philosophy of American Enterprise — 3 credit hours
  • MIS 1250 Foundations of Data Analytics I — 3 credit hours
  • OPS 1100 Intro to Operations Management — 3 credit hours
  • MIS 1350 Foundations of Data Analytics II — 3 credit hours
  • OPS 1200 Business Process Management — 3 credit hours
  • MIS 2140 Programming I — 3 credit hours
  • MIS 2100 Visual Analytics for Business Intelligence — 3 credit hours
  • MIS 3200 Database Design and Implementation — 3 credit hours
  • MTH 3340 Statistics II — 3 credit hours
  • CS 3140 Programming for Data Analysis — 3 credit hours
  • MTH 2870 Linear Algebra and Matrix Theory — 3 credit hours
  • MTH 3150 Data Science for Informed Decision Making — 3 credit hours
  • MTH 3450 Data Mining for Business Analytics — 3 credit hours
  • MIS 3350 Adv. Database Mgt. & Visualizations for Analytics — 3 credit hours
  • MTH 4500 Forecasting and Simulation Techniques for Business Enterprise — 3 credit hours
  • MIS 4100 Machine Learning Techniques for Applied Predictive Modeling — 3 credit hours
  • MIS 4300 Data Analytics Capstone Project — 3 credit hours
  • MIS 4200 Essentials of Big Data & Cloud Computing — 3 credit hours

DATA ANALYTICS COURSES OFFERED

This course is designed for beginner students in the practice of data visualizations. Students will learn to relate to Tableau terminology relevant to describing key insights garnered from drilling down into data. A hands-on approach to teaching the important concepts and techniques of simple and complex visualizations in Tableau will be adopted. Course topics that will be discussed include cross tabs, geographic maps, treemaps, pie charts and bar charts, dual-axis and combined charts with different mark types, highlight tables and scatter plots. Students will use this experience to build interactive dashboards. A student who completes this course will have the skill level consistent with the fundamentals of Tableau Desktop I.

This course builds on the rudimentary concepts learned in BSA 1200. Students will be provided with the skillsets of a seasoned Tableau power user. They will be exposed to the professional desk tools typical of solid working experience with Tableau. Course topics include a review of creating and connecting to data sources, developing data subsets, executing Tableau calculations, performing advanced table calculations, creating and using parameters, data extraction, comparing measures, Tableau geocoding, viewing distributions, basic statistics and forecasting, story-telling using dashboards. A student who completes this course will have the intermediate Tableau skill level consistent with the fundamentals of Tableau Desktop II.

This course explores best practices for designing visualizations that viewers can easily understand and use. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to formulate strategic steps to optimize visual analytics processes, effectively deploy pre-attentive attributes in visualizations, propose design visualizations that minimize the risk of misleading consumers in hunt for data insights, and effectively use charts to answer specific questions. They will also be able to describe the process of identifying visual best practices for dashboard and story design. A student who completes this course will be prepared to complete the certification exam to qualify as a Tableau Desktop Qualified Associate. It will also provide a solid foundation for students to aspire to complete the certification exam for Tableau Desktop Certified Professional as well.

This course will guide students in a hands-on environment that facilitates a zero to hero transition in Python programming. Content ideas will advance on the fundamentals of Python programming principles learned in MIS 2140. Specific content areas for this course are working with various data formats within python to include MS Excel Worksheets, XML, HTML and JSON files, deploying the NumPy and Pandas libraries to create, structure and manipulate data arrays, as well as the Matplotlib and Seaborn modules for data plotting and visualization. The skills, tools and best practices used to effectively manage data cleaning, preparation and wrangling will be discussed.

In this class, students will explore how to combine business domain knowledge with the fundamental principles of data science in formulating a data-driven strategy to meet set objectives. The underlying conceptual processes inherent in the industry-standard CRISP-DM model, namely the systematic progression from business understanding to data understanding, preparation, modeling and deployment are examined. Real-life scenarios that differentiate between supervised and unsupervised methods for data mining and applied predictive modeling will be considered. Key characteristics associated with deployed analytic models such as generalization and overfitting are introduced. Topics related to responsible data science and ethical practice will also be covered to include transparency, explainability and fairness.

Structured Query Language (SQL) continues to rank as one of the most-used computer languages in the world. To better position careers in the business world, students taking this course will build on the SQL skills acquired in MIS 3200 to provide database solutions. Through intensive hands-on learning sessions, best practices for defining structures that hold data so that relationships in the relevant data features can be analyzed to bear on business decisions will be learned. Key MySQL ideas will be emphasized to empower students to create, modify, explore and summarize data beyond the limits imposed by Microsoft Excel and Access.

To enhance students’ preparation for the responsibility of making strategic, tactical and operational decisions, this course examines the various techniques and methodologies for mining non-random patterns in data to create business value. Highlight content areas that are covered include an overview of the data mining process, what initial data exploration entails, dimension reduction techniques, prediction and classification methods, mining relationships among records, social network analytics and text analytics. Through the lens of business case studies, students will gain perception into making choices about algorithms for a given problem statement, while balancing this process out with an analysis of the pros/cons of each mining algorithm that can be used.

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to forecasting methods used to predict data at future times from past, collected data. Among other possible use cases, students will be provided with a strong background in how to use forecasting skills to aid retail stores predict sales, energy companies forecast reserves, demand and prices, educational institutions forecast enrollment and governments forecast tax receipts and spending. Emphasis will be laid on how to uncover patterns in past, numerical data that are expected to carry into the future data by deploying quantitative forecasting techniques like exponential smoothing, regression forecasting, hierarchical forecasting and practical forecasting issues. Other vital areas that will be covered will involve learning how to combine forecasts, handle complicated seasonality patterns, dealing with hourly, daily and weekly data, forecasting count time series and other examples. Through this experience, students will sharpen their readiness for applying analytic tools that businesses optimize for future strategic tactical and operational planning and minimization of uncertainties.

To minimize uncertainties in business decisions and planning, this course studies ways that machine learning algorithms are being deployed towards optimal extraction of truths embedded in data. Case studies will be used to introduce, explain, illustrate and contextualize the utility of machine learning algorithms. Algorithms covered will center on information, similarity, probability and error-based machine learning techniques to harness and leverage the value of predictive modeling. Students will develop a deep appreciation of the three foundational pillars of data analytics, namely descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics as it applies to the real world of data analytics-be it customer, finance, marketing, healthcare, supply chain, human resource, government and sports analytics, to name but a few.

The capstone experience for the Data Analytics program is designed as a practitioner’s domain for synthesizing concepts learned in the program to extract actionable insights from real-life. Real-life data will be sourced from reputable data repositories. To analyze the sourced data sets, students will combine analytical methods learned during the program with stimulating ideas gleaned from completed public domains like Kaggle, GitHub and BitBucket on best practices for effectively managing an analytics project from its inception to a successful closure. Guided by the CRISP-DM model, students will synthesize database management, data visualization, machine learning, project management, consultative communication and interpersonal skills to see a data analytics project through its life cycle. Completed capstone projects will be documented in GitHub or Bitbucket as reference projects to demonstrate student’s preparedness for the corporate world.

ADMISSION

APPLICATION PROCESS

The program follows a simple 3-step application process. The step-by-step process is outlined below.

STEP 1: SUBMIT APPLICATION

Candidates can apply to the program online and attach all required materials as outlined in the requirements below.

STEP 2: ROLLING ADMISSION

The admissions team will assess your application as soon as it is received.

STEP 3: INTERVIEW

Candidates might be required to give an interview before being accepted into the program. Once all the requirements are completed, the admissions team will notify you with a decision.

For admissions support, we offer online office hours, an admissions checklist, and email and phone support to answer your questions.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

Applicants for the undergraduate program are required to have:

  • Passport ID page (must be valid for at least 6 months beyond the entry date to Northwood University)
  • Secondary school transcripts
  • Secondary school completion certificate or diploma
  • College or university transcripts (if you have completed any university credits)
  • English proficiency

KEY DATES

Deadline:
Application Fees: USD 100
  • Please Note: Application fee is refunded only in the case an applicant is not offered admission to the program.

OPTIONAL PRACTICAL TRAINING – US OPT

After you have completed at least one year of your studies in the U.S. you will be eligible to participate in the US OPT (Optional Practical Training) program for F-1 students upon the completion of your undergraduate degree, allowing you to stay in the US while you start your career in data analytics.

Optional Practical Training (OPT) is temporary employment in the US that is directly related to an F-1 student’s major area of study. Eligible students can apply to receive up to 12 months of OPT employment authorization before completing their academic studies (pre-completion) and/or after completing their academic studies (post-completion). Please click here to know more about OPT.

Northwood’s Bachelor of Science in Data Analytics program is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) certified program for Optional Practical Training (OPT) purposes. This allows the graduates of the program to apply for an additional 24 months of extension of OPT. Ultimately, it offers the potential for international students to work in the US for a total of 3 years and the potential for a work visa (H1-B, etc.)

TUITION & SCHOLARSHIPS

TUITION AND FEES

The following figures are fixed 2024-2025 costs for 12-17 credit hours per semester.

Expense Description 1st Semester (Fall) 2nd Semester (Spring) Total Per Year
Tuition* 1st Semester (Fall): $16,400 2nd Semester (Spring): $16,400 Total Per Year:
Student and Technology Fee 1st Semester (Fall): $800 2nd Semester (Spring): $800 Total Per Year: $1600

*The fee does not include transport expenses, health insurance, any associated visa fees etc. and accommodation. It also does not cover any other expenses that are not expressly mentioned above. Students are required to live on campus for the first two years of attendance at Northwood University.

Healthcare plan is mandatory and is available for approximately USD $1,500*/year (*Subject to change per academic year).

SCHOLARSHIPS

The aim of the scholarships is to provide outstanding candidates with an opportunity to study irrespective of their financial circumstances. The program offers significant scholarship funding to the most talented applicants.

All applicants for the Bachelor of Science in Data Analytics program are automatically considered for Northwood University scholarships. Scholarship amounts will be noted in your letter of acceptance.

PROGRAM EXPERIENCE

With a large international presence both at our U.S. locations and abroad, the Northwood student body is very diverse. Our alumni are at ease in complex, multi-cultural business environments with a professional network around the world. Learning at Northwood takes place in more than just the classroom. With a multitude of activities to choose from, students realize significant personal and professional growth which, after graduation, will set them apart as they launch their careers.

CAMPUS LIFE

Be it academic-based organizations like the Entrepreneurship Society, Collegiate DECA or Business Professionals of America (BPA) to Greek Life to service-based organizations like Circle K, Rotaract, the Student Athletic Advisory Council or Student Government Association, Northwood University has ways for students to be engaged and involved on campus and in the local community. These experiences help students learn first-hand, how businesses and people connect through shared experiences.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Northwood students graduate with a superior business education that gives them a foundation of understanding free markets, entrepreneurial endeavors, personal responsibility, and ethical behavior. And, NU students also graduate with the ability to effectively communicate their ideas, beliefs, and experiences in an effort to promote success in their own lives and in the lives of others. Through workshops and campus-life programming, students hone networking, interviewing and résumé writing skills putting them one more step ahead in a competitive job market.

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

One hallmark of the Northwood education is hands-on, experiential learning. Many of our academic programs enhance classroom learning with large-scale, active learning student-run projects. These events allow our students to apply what they learn in the classroom to real situations.

ENTERPRISE/ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION

Many Northwood alumni earn their livelihoods in enterprises they own in whole or in part. While we offer a program in entrepreneurship, our entire curriculum is focused on enterprise models and entrepreneurial achievements. Enterprise is a key tenet of our Mission, and we believe entrepreneurship is the essential element of our free market economy.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

While our student-athletes are competing on the athletic fields as part of the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC); many of our students also compete in academic arenas. Our national champion Mock Trial team has bested teams from Harvard, Georgetown, and Stanford while our Competitive Speech team, American Marketing Association, BPA, DECA, and American Advertising Federation student chapters regularly place in regional and national competitions.

ABOUT NORTHWOOD

On March 23, 1959, two young men with an idea, a goal, and a pragmatic philosophy to encompass it all, broke away from their careers in a traditional college structure to create a new concept in education.

Their visionary idea became a reality when Dr. Arthur E. Turner and Dr. R. Gary Stauffer enrolled 100 students at Northwood Institute. They envisioned a new type of university – one where the teaching of management led the way. While the frontiers of space were revealing their mysteries, Stauffer and Turner understood all endeavors – technical, manufacturing, marketing, retail, every type of business – needed state-of-the-art, ethics-driven management.

Time has validated the success of what these two young educators called "The Northwood Idea" – incorporating the lessons of the American free-enterprise society into the college classroom.

The University grew and matured; Northwood went from being an Institute to an accredited University, the DeVos Graduate School of Management was created and then expanded; the Adult Degree Program and its program centers expanded to over 20 locations in eight states; international program centers were formed in Malaysia, People's Republic of China, Sri Lanka, and Switzerland; and significant construction like the campus Student Life Centers added value to the Northwood students' experience. New endeavors such as Aftermarket Studies, entertainment and sports management and fashion merchandising, along with a campus partnership in Montreux, Switzerland, demonstrate an enriched experience for all our students.

Northwood University educates managers and entrepreneurs – highly skilled and ethical leaders. With more than 65,000 alumni and a vibrant future ahead, The Northwood Idea is thriving.

NORTHWOOD FACTS

18+

athletic teams

31%

of Northwood graduates own some or all of their business

$13m

in scholarships available

40+

clubs, fraternities and sororities

82%

of graduates employed full-time or accepted to graduate programs (as per our most recent graduate survey)

18+

athletic teams

31%

of Northwood graduates own some or all of their business

$13m

in scholarships available

40+

clubs, fraternities and sororities

82%

of graduates employed full-time or accepted to graduate programs (as of our most recent graduate survey)

ACCREDITATIONS, APPROVALS, AND MEMBERSHIPS

Northwood University believes it has a responsibility to its students and the industries and communities it serves to provide the highest standard of educational excellence possible. One measure of how well an educational institution meets this responsibility is in its accreditations and approvals by outside education associations and governmental interests. Because each Northwood location is served, at least partially, by different governmental agencies and academic accrediting bodies, and because all have been in existence for varying lengths of time, the accreditations and approvals may vary from one location to another.

ALL NORTHWOOD UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES/LOCATIONS HAVE THE FOLLOWING ACCREDITATIONS AND APPROVALS:

  • Northwood University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (www.hlcommission.org). For more information, please click here.
  • Northwood University business degree programs have business specialty accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), (www.acbsp.org).
  • The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) certified school for nonimmigrant foreign students (Fvisa); Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)/ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); and Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) as a higher education institution for international students.
  • Respective state offices for Veterans Administration programs as a higher education institution for degree-seeking qualified veterans and dependents.
  • The U.S. Bureau of Internal Revenue as a tax-exempt institution as provided for in Section 501 (c) (3) and other applicable parts of the Internal Revenue Code for higher education organizations.

NORTHWOOD UNIVERSITY MEMBERSHIPS ARE REPRESENTED IN SUCH EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AS:

  • American Accounting Association
  • American Advertising Federation
  • American Association of Collegiate and Admissions Officers Registrars
  • American Certified Fraud Examiners
  • American College Health Association
  • American College Personnel Association
  • American Hotel and Lodging Association
  • American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
  • American Library Association
  • American Management Association
  • American Marketing Association
  • American Marketing League Association
  • American Payroll Association
  • American Taxation Association
  • Association for Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education
  • Association for Higher Education and Disability
  • Association for Leadership Educators
  • Association for the Tutoring Profession
  • Association of College and Research Libraries
  • Association of College and University Housing Officers International
  • Association of College and University Telecommunications Administrators
  • Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement
  • Association of University Programs in Health Administration
  • Association of Veterans Educators Certifying Officials
  • Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association
  • College and University Personnel Association for Human Resources
  • Council for the Advancement of Experiential Learning
  • Council for Higher Education Accreditation
  • Council for Hotel and Restaurant and Institutional Education
  • Data Processing Management Association
  • Educause
  • Family Enterprise Research Scholars
  • Family Firm Institute
  • Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers
  • Intercollegiate Press Association
  • International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education
  • International Council on Hotel, Restaurant & Institutional Education
  • International Leadership Association
  • Mathematical Association of America
  • Motor and Equipment Manufacturing Association
  • National Academic Advising Association
  • National Advertising Federation
  • National Association for Campus Activities
  • National Association for College Admission Counseling
  • National Association for Developmental Education
  • National Association of College Admissions Counselors
  • National Association of College Auxiliary Services
  • National Association of College Stores (through its bookstore provider)
  • National Association of College and University Business Officers
  • National Association of Colleges and Employers
  • National Association of Educational Buyers
  • National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
  • National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
  • National Association of International Educators
  • National Association of Graduate Admissions Professionals
  • National Association of College and University Mail Services
  • National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
  • National Association of Student Personnel Administrators
  • National Association of Veterans Programs Administrators
  • National Automobile Dealers Association
  • National Collegiate Athletic Association
  • National Collegiate Honors Council
  • National College Learning Center Association
  • National Cooperative Education Association
  • National Council of Teachers of English
  • National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
  • National Council of Women of the United States
  • National Association of Educational Buyers
  • National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
  • National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
  • National Association of International Educators
  • National Home Fashions League
  • National Restaurant Association
  • Newspaper Association of America
  • Organization of American Historians
  • Photographers’ Association of America
  • Society for College and University Planning
  • Society for Human Resources
  • Specialty Equipment Market Association
  • The Fashion Group
  • University Risk Management and Insurance Association

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