Business Data Analytics, Bachelor of Science

Overview

Why complete a degree in Business Data Analytics?

As businesses generate more data than ever, the demand for graduates who can turn that data into insight keeps growing. The Business Data Analytics major gives students a solid business foundation combined with focused training in data acquisition, management, analysis, and visualization — preparing them to serve as the bridge between an organization’s technology and its decision-makers, in fields ranging from corporate analytics to healthcare to government.

What is your path to a degree in Business Data Analytics at WKU?

The Business Data Analytics program requires 66 hours of professional and elective coursework, within the 120 hours required for a baccalaureate degree. Rather than a course-by-course list, the path is intentionally structured so each stage builds the skills students need for both certification and career.

Business Core (27 hours)

Before diving into specialized major coursework, students build fluency across the core functions of business — accounting, economics, finance, marketing, management, statistics, and analytics. This shared foundation, completed by every Gordon Ford College of Business major, ensures graduates don’t just understand their discipline in isolation; they understand how that work connects to strategy, operations, and decision-making across an organization. A culminating strategy course ties these functions together, asking students to think like leaders rather than specialists.

Career Preparation Curriculum (6 hours)

Technical skill alone doesn’t land a job or carry a career — employers consistently rank communication and professionalism alongside technical knowledge. This curriculum is designed to ensure students enter the workforce ready on day one: developing polished written and verbal communication, building a professional identity early in their academic career, and culminating in a senior-level assessment that confirms readiness for the profession.

Core Business Data Analytics Coursework (24 hours)

This sequence is deliberately layered, moving students from basic data modeling and management into increasingly sophisticated predictive modeling and visualization — mirroring the way analytics responsibilities deepen over the course of a real career in the field.

Electives (9 hours)

Because data analytics skills apply across virtually every industry, this flexible elective block lets students aim their training toward a specific sector — healthcare, criminal justice, geographic information systems, or another field — turning a general analytics degree into a specialized one.

Program Concentrations

The Business Data Analytics major does not offer formal concentrations. Instead, its 9 hours of open electives let students customize the degree toward a specific industry or technical interest.