The BS in Marketing Analytics is designed for undergraduate students interested in pursuing a career in business (profit or non-profit) organizations that value data-informed marketing and are or want to be at the forefront in the current age of digital marketing by using a variety of analytics approaches to measure and predict their marketing and sales performance. The program provides background in core business disciplines as well as foundations in analytics and technologies, including AI. The program also ensures that students understand the ethical issues with such tools as well as the potential value of their appropriate use for improving society in sustainable and ethical ways. This program seeks to engage students in the uses of analytic and AI methods and tools such as data mining, data visualization, e-commerce and web analytics, digital and social media marketing analytics, customer relationship management, and marketing analytics to support marketing strategy formulation, to develop their marketing problem-solving and opportunity recognition skills, and to reinforce their new knowledge through experiential learning opportunities. The program will prepare WBS undergraduate 17 students for diverse career paths in this dynamic field that is shaping the future of global marketing and business.
The program is covered by the accreditation of WBS by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB- International.)
Program Goals and Objectives
Students will learn to:
- transform raw data into actionable insights for better marketing decisions
- handle data ethically and responsibly to ultimately improve performance, optimize processes, and drive innovation
- analyze data using various AI and Analytics tools
- recognize which tools are appropriate for various marketing decisions
- recognize which marketing decisions are amenable to various AI and Analytics tools
- develop and use predictive and prescriptive models
- interpret and communicate the results of statistical and machine learning models in marketing applications
- discover market opportunities through a data-informed approach
Mathematics and Science Requirements (8/3 Units)
Mathematics 5/3 [2/3 Calculus, 2/3 Statistics, 1/3 Linear Algebra]
Computer Science
Basic Science
- Any Course with prefix: BB, CH, GE, PH
Business Foundation (5/3 Units)
The Business Foundation provides students with a few general business courses so that they have a basic understanding of the financial and organizational aspects of business. As per AACSB, the accreditation body for the Business School, we need to include Accounting/Finance and Organizational literacy courses.
Select any 1 course from the following courses:
Technical and AI Foundation (4/3 Units)
The Technical and AI Foundation provides students with two technical courses (CS or DS plus Business Data Management) and two Applied AI courses (one providing broad coverage of ethical AI uses in business and one focused on Machine Learning).
Analytics Foundation (4/3 Units)
The Analytical core introduces students to popular data analysis tools for decision-making in the context of typical business problems in finance, marketing, and operations. The Analytical component equips students with the applied statistical and modeling techniques needed to analyze and make predictions and inferences from complex real-world business data. We plan to use MKT 4030 and MKT 4040 for assessment of AACSB’s program learning outcomes. Therefore, we expect every student to take one of these two courses. In addition, these courses tie in together all the knowledge students have gained in “strategy” and “analytics”.
Select any 3 courses from the following courses:
Marketing Analytics Electives (6/3 Units)
Select a total of six electives from the following two categories:
MQP (3/3 Units)
Each student will complete an MQP, which serves as a senior-level capstone for the degree. The MQP is a project-based requirement, typically done with an external business (profit or not-for-profit) and as a student team. The MQP must be advised by a full-time Business School marketing faculty member (currently: Professors Adrienne Hall-Phillips, Ed Gonsalves, Farnoush Reshadi, and Purvi Shah).
Additional Notes:
Each course may only count in one slot within the BS BA&AAI degree program. Students may not double major in Marketing Analytics and Business Analytics & Applied AI programs because of the curriculum overlap between the two programs.
BS/MS Rules for Graduate Business Degree
Students wishing to proceed into a WPI MS Program with similar requirements may take the graduate version of several of the above courses, not to exceed the WPI limit of number of graduate courses that can count toward an undergraduate degree. Due to AACSB accreditation requirements, undergraduate students must be accepted into a graduate business program before they can take graduate business courses. Furthermore, the undergraduate versions of a course do not count for a corresponding graduate course.
Transfer Students and Transfer Credit
WPI welcomes transfer students from other educational institutions and has transfer agreements with many schools. Upon acceptance at WPI, WPI will grant appropriate transfer credit from any accredited two-year or four-year institution. Because of the specialized project-based nature of its degree programs, once students matriculate at WPI, they are expected to take their courses at WPI. WPI students may be allowed to take specialized courses at other institutions and transfer credits to WPI, but only with prior written permission.