The business administration degree presents students with a well rounded understanding of business and business management, but students can take this education a step further by specializing in other aspects of business including business analytics. The purpose behind business analytics schools is to provide students with a specialization in accounting, finance, business analytics and problem solving. Problem solving is an important part of running a business, and so many companies hire consultants with outstanding problem solving skills that they learned while obtaining their business analytics or business analysis education. This course of study prepares students for a variety of lucrative career paths once they graduate from college.

The list of courses presented by analytics schools can vary significantly, but the same basic core courses are always in place because they teach the foundational knowledge necessary for this degree program. Courses offered by this area of study include business foundations, requirements discovery, ethical considerations in IT, managing technology, managing people, solutions analysis, current trends in IT, enterprise application architecture, business solutions validation and assessment, systems modeling, strategic business analysis, legal considerations in IT, business modeling, technical communications, system development in theory and practice, business analysis capstone, requirements documentation and more. Statistical data interpretation plays an important role in this type of career path.

Students that graduate from analytics schools can expect to experience a lot of positive growth in the business analysis industry. You will be able to find the position of business analysis under financial management. As of May 2004 the U.S. Dept. of Labor listed the position of business analysis as making a median annual income of $81,880. Larger companies usually have better incentives, including larger than median salaries, stock options and possibly even bonuses. This career may mean working by yourself or in a supervisor role. The outlook for this position is good and you can expect growth. The growth for this industry is going to continue to trend upward, making it a lucrative specialization for business students.

Students that want to expand their capabilities beyond basic business administration are going to benefit significantly from the business analysis industry. Analytics schools teach a wide and extensive curriculum including eliciting business needs, analyzing business needs, developing and determining IT project requirements, communicating IT projects, implementing and monitoring those IT solutions and otherwise meeting the needs of a business. Many students that graduate from analytics programs are going to become consultants that businesses can hire on a short term basis to find problems and solve them, improving the capabilities of the business accordingly.

Majoring in business analysis and business analytics is going to prepare students to fill specialized roles in finance or accounting. The job entails many different specialized tasks that stretch problem solving and risk assessment to their limits. The specialized skills that a business analyst uses are only obtainable through analytics schools and analytics programs, including issues management, business planning, risk assessment, problem solving, economics, accounting, finance and reporting. A student with this skill set can perform well in a temporary or permanent business analyst position.