A total of 48 quarter credits are required, beyond the prerequisite requirements. You may transfer in at most four prior graduate-level courses taken as a graduate student at another university, up to a total maximum of 16 UC quarter credits, with the Program Director's approval; a minimum of 45 quarter credits in residence at UC are required so additional elective credits may be required if you can transfer in any prior coursework from outside UC. You may use an unlimited number of relevant and appropriate prior graduate-level courses taken while a graduate student in other programs at UC (excluding the Research-Project credits), toward the Program Requirements, with the Program Director's approval; students already holding or completing another master's degree at UC need to be aware that a minimum of 90 quarter credits across the two master's-degree programs are required, and no course can be counted toward more than one UC program.

As the courses are completed, the student must fill out the appropriate cells in the MS - Business Analytics Program Form and obtain the Program Director's initials.

During the first two quarters of enrollment, all students are required to attend two special non-credit orientation sessions. The first is before classes start in September and is a general orientation to the program, including placement and the Research Project. The second is on a Friday or Saturday in Autumn and introduces students to the OBA Department faculty and their research to help students start thinking about the Research Project.  There is also an optional session for international students on visa issues, announced by e-mail.

In addition to the formal coursework, all students are invited (and expected) to attend all talks in the OBA Department Seminar Series, as well as the annual Arnoff Lecture.

The UC Graduate Handbook contains complete detail on all the rules and procedures for master's degrees at UC, including the MS - Business Analytics; two particular rules warrant mention here:

• Concerning grades, p. 40 states: "A student must accumulate a grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 to obtain a master's degree at the University of Cincinnati.  At least two-thirds of the minimum graduate credits for the degree must be at a level of B or higher."
• Concerning the time limit in the program, p. 41 states "All master's requirements must be completed no later than five years from the date of matriculation into the degree program for students beginning their program Autumn 2007 or thereafter."

Required QA Courses (28 quarter credits)

All seven of the following courses (numbers in parentheses are the quarter credit hours); see Operations and Business Analytics Course Descriptions for more information on these courses:

• 22-QA-721, Methods of Statistics (4)
• 22-QA-722, Regression Analysis (4)
• 22-QA-731, Probability (4)
• 22-QA-750, Optimization Modeling (4)
• 22-QA-751, Optimization Analysis (4)
• 22-QA-760, Stochastic Modeling (4)
• 22-QA-771, Simulation Modeling (4)

Focus Area Elective Courses (16 quarter credits)

Each student must pick a Focus Area consisting of a minimum of 16 graduate-level quarter credits of coursework, leading to the topic of the Research Project. The Focus Area and these courses may be taken entirely or partially from other QA courses, other courses within the College of Business, or courses elsewhere in the University; however, the intended 'package' must be relevant to the degree and the Research Project, coherent, and in any case approved in advance by the Program Director.  Normally, at least two of the elective courses should be QA courses.

Though not intended to be exhaustive, here are some suggested areas/departments and courses:

Further graduate-level QA courses (excluding QA 701, 702, 703, 711, and 712); see Operations and Business Analytics Course Descriptions for more information on these courses:

• 22-QA-723, Sample Survey (4)
• 22-QA-724, Multivariate Methods (4)
• 22-QA-725, Forecasting and Time Series Analysis (4)
• 22-QA-726, Design of Experiments (4)
• 22-QA-727, Data Mining (4)
• 22-QA-732, Fundamentals of Statistical Inference (4)
• 22-QA-733, Statistical Decision Theory and Bayesian Analysis (4)
• 22-QA-752, Advanced Topics in Optimization (4)
• 22-QA-761, Advanced Topics in Stochastic Modeling (4)
• 22-QA-770, Risk Modeling (2)
• 22-QA-772, Simulation Analysis (4)
• 22-QA-785, Applications Development using VBA (4)
• 22-QA-786, Case Studies in Management Science (4)

Graduate-level Operations Management courses (except OM 711); see Operations and Business Analytics Course Descriptions for more information on these courses:

• 22-OM-744, International Operations Strategy (4)
• 22-OM-761, Project Management (4)
• 22-OM-762, Managing Service Operations (4)
• 22-OM-771, Managing for Quality and High Performance (4)
• 22-OM-772, Six Sigma and Process Improvement (2)
• 22-OM-783, Supply Chain Strategy and Analysis (4)
• 22-OM-784, Supply Chain Models (2)
• 22-OM-785, Enterprise Resource Planning (4)

Information Systems; see the CoB Course Catalog for more information on these courses:

• 22-IS-721, Systems Analysis & Modeling (4)
• 22-IS-732, Data Modeling and Database Design (4)
• 22-IS-740, Business Intelligence (4)

Marketing; see the CoB Course Catalog for more information on these courses:

• 22-MKTG-712, Marketing Research for Managers (4)
• 22-MKTG-723, Pricing (4)
• 22-MKTG-879, Marketing Models (3)

Finance; see the CoB Course Catalog for information on courses

Mathematics (from the Department of Mathematical Sciences)

• 15-MATH-534, SAS Programming (3)
• 15-MATH-540, Probabilistic Aspects of Financial Modeling (3)
• 15-MATH-720, Statistical Consulting (3)

Computer Science (from the School of Computing Sciences & Informatics)

Biostatistics and Epidemiology (from the Department of Environmental Health, Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics)

Research Project (4 quarter credits)

Each student must register for a total of at least four quarter credits of 22-QA-981, MS Thesis Research, in or before the final quarter of the program. Normally, these credits are taken in the quarter in which the work on the Research Project is taking place, but some of them may be taken earlier, with the approval of the Program Director.

For more information about the content and requirements, please see Research Project.