This looks pretty cool.
http://www.sas.com/news/preleases/071206.news1.html

7/16/2006 7:18:49 PM

I REALLY like this idea ... there were a ton of jobs I applied for which were looking somebody to import data and analyze it for a customer. ST doesn't teach databases/other concepts by itself; CSC doesn't teach the analytics by itself. A combination program would be extremely helpful, and allow other fields (Bioinformatics comes to mind) to cross-over coursework.

I wonder which department/college this will fall under?

7/17/2006 6:32:58 AM

The prof in charge is from the College of Management, so maybe it will fall under them.

7/17/2006 8:12:06 AM

The new graduate program will not be under any college. It will be part of a new institiute that will be created soon. The program starts in August 2007 and will be interdisciplinary. if you have any questions, let me know. I work for Dr. Rappa.

7/18/2006 10:41:55 AM

Interesting. I might look into it.

7/18/2006 11:11:41 AM

will you offer sponsorships/scholarships?

7/18/2006 11:56:08 AM

This is probably one of the most practical masters, ever. At least half the people on my team do data analysis now, and they all come from different engineering backgrounds.

Quote :

"CSC doesn't teach the analytics by itself"

Data mining?

[Edited on July 18, 2006 at 11:13 PM. Reason : sdfsdf]

7/18/2006 11:09:59 PM

Quote :

"The new graduate program will not be under any college. It will be part of a new institiute that will be created soon. The program starts in August 2007 and will be interdisciplinary. if you have any questions, let me know. I work for Dr. Rappa."

Correct.

I also work for Dr. Rappa and for SAS, so I'm open to questions as well. Last Friday I had lunch at SAS with Dr. Rappa, SAS CTO Keith Collins, and a couple other SAS employees to discuss the structure of the program and other details. The "ideal student" is still being developed so feedback would be great in this thread.

I know that there are 3 main "types" that we discussed: computer science people looking to apply the technical expertise to analytics tied with business (not just a technical focus), statistics people looking for business analytics education, and business people with a technical inclination that want to bridge the gap to analytics.

I fall into the last category as I'm getting my MBA now, but extremely interested in this program. 10 months in school is nothing after six years, so I am keeping a close eye on this.

I'm fairly certain that the first class will be 40 people. I have "heard" that SAS will probably hire around 20% of the graduates...granted that number should be taken with a grain of salt. As Perlith said, the need is out there for a TON of companies.

I have some other knowledge about the program and can put anyone in touch with other people to talk to as well.

Oh yeah, http://analytics.ncsu.edu and http://open.ncsu.edu are great resources if you have an interest.

[Edited on July 18, 2006 at 11:43 PM. Reason : .]

7/18/2006 11:38:53 PM

I am deffinatelly looking into this, and my manager said that we can probably get SAS to pay for it.

7/19/2006 7:46:51 PM

do you know what the cost of the program will be?

7/20/2006 10:46:32 AM

The problem with NCSU is that they start everything with a huge bang but then put the students on the backburner.

7/20/2006 11:46:11 PM

i know dr. rappa, and students will NOT be on the backburner in this program

7/20/2006 11:51:39 PM

wow, this is something I'm interested in - I'd also fall into the 3rd category of students, having a bit of hands-on experience with google analytics (formerly urchin) and overture as well - it's a very interesting field to say the least and I really enjoyed it - but i couldn't do JUST analytics, my main interest was seeing how it was applied to the other work i was doing at the time.

Still though - this program sounds like it's on the right track I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops!

7/21/2006 1:19:24 PM

bump

8/18/2011 3:46:21 PM

Anyone who did this or interested in MSA? I am looking into this and would like to know pros and cons of doing this? Also, if possible i would like to do MSA part-time/online. Are there any similar courses available part-time/online? NSCU doesnt offer it part-time/online

8/18/2011 3:58:40 PM

didn't Jrb599 do this program?

8/18/2011 4:39:55 PM

Class of '09 here. There is no part-time or online. They have their own classes, full-time for 10 months. Pros: practical business-oriented, MS degree in less than a year, staff focused on getting you skills and a good job, get experience working in groups with real data and real companies that you don't get in undergrad. Cons: Requires your full attention for those 10 months, less theoretical training than MS in Statistics, can't pick and choose your classes, no financial aid by TA'ing for undergrads.

8/18/2011 8:28:42 PM

^^I did, as well as a few others.

This program is good for getting you in the career you want, it really doesn't teach you much. If you have any questions I'll be happy to answer.

[Edited on August 21, 2011 at 5:22 PM. Reason : ]

8/21/2011 5:19:52 PM

Quote :

"i know dr. rappa, and students will NOT be on the backburner in this program."

BAHAHAHA. You don't know him very well, they definitely were.

8/21/2011 5:21:14 PM

I went through this program and really enjoyed it. The biggest thing you take away from it (other than a really good job) is learning SAS programming and general problem solving skills. You cannot become an expert in analytics in one year and they do not expect you to be. What you can do is learn about the different areas in analytics and then when you start working you can begin to focus on what you really like. Also, I found the practicum project aspect of the program to be very valuable since you get to work on a real-world type problem with real data. Going through that type of project teaches you about a lot more than analytics like working for a "client", working in teams, running meetings, etc. While the program is not perfect I cannot offer enough praise for it since it is the main reason I got the job that I did upon graduation. If you have any questions feel free to contact me and I will be happy to answer them for you.

8/22/2011 12:18:48 PM

bttt

4/1/2012 10:30:42 PM

Class of '13 here. Anyone else enrolled for this term?

4/1/2012 11:16:42 PM

I paid $6,800 to get this degree. I'm amazed at how expensive it is today. around 16k now?

[Edited on April 3, 2012 at 4:27 PM. Reason : ]

4/3/2012 4:25:55 PM

I just came across this thread yesterday... I think I may have found what I want to do with my life.

Problem is, I will have to pay $36,000 for it, but I guess if I like it and it enables me to get a good job after I finish it, that is a fair price to pay for it.

I have an MOR from NCSU, so this would be right up my alley.

^ The fuck? For NC residents, it is $21,016 now... you are telling me tuition and fees have gone up by 200+% in the last few years?


[Edited on April 4, 2012 at 6:37 AM. Reason : ]

4/4/2012 6:35:04 AM

Program is about $19,500 for class of 2013. For class of 2014, it will be around $26,000 in-state. Students also get a "scholarship" when enrolling that covers all books and SAS certification exams (Worth between $2-3k).

Still worth it when the average starting salary is $80k+ and 80% of grads have at least 2 job offers before graduation.

FWIW, they are expanding this program on to 2 additional college campuses (I think Texas and Tennessee but don't quote me on that).

4/4/2012 9:46:41 AM

I looked into this program last year but i cant commit to a full time program right now. Any recommendations on books, ecourses etc to learn similar stuff?

[Edited on April 5, 2012 at 10:36 AM. Reason : ..]

4/5/2012 10:34:57 AM

are there any CSC classes similar to the content offered in this program? I need a class to take over the summer, and I guess the AAs are restricted to program enrollees only

4/5/2012 3:33:31 PM

Since it is statistics based, I don't think it would be similar to any CSC courses...

4/5/2012 4:08:42 PM

^4

the $21,016 figure i gave in my post above yours is directly from the site. it is tuition + fees.

you are saying next year it will be 26K, and someone said it started at 7K five yrs ago. wth is that? how can they do it... aren't there rules against such ludicrously drastic changes year after year?

4/5/2012 7:08:32 PM

^^^^Most of the classes followed SAS Education books when I was there.

^I paid the same tuition per semester that other NCSU grad students did (different for in vs. out of state, of course.)

4/5/2012 7:15:16 PM

Quote :

"Since it is statistics based, I don't think it would be similar to any CSC courses..."

a large chunk of the faculty involved is CSC, so...

4/6/2012 11:33:41 AM

Class of 2010 here...when I went it was around the 7k mark, but after being in my field now for almost 2 years and making what I make, I would of gladly paid 26k for it.

4/6/2012 11:37:46 AM

^^Data Mining


^^^^I believe SAS donated around ~$3 mil to get the program started.

[Edited on April 6, 2012 at 1:16 PM. Reason : ]

4/6/2012 1:15:45 PM

The people who did the program several years ago for around $7000 took a gamble and it paid off. The program was the first of its kind with no guaranteed outcome. Now that it has proven its value, they're hiking the price. Not surprising, but probably a good sign since the jobs are there.

4/7/2012 12:45:45 AM

Quote :

"Class of 2010 here...when I went it was around the 7k mark, but after being in my field now for almost 2 years and making what I make, I would of gladly paid 26k for it."

x10000

Class of 2011 and in one year after graduating I have already paid off the one year of not working and have earned more than I would have it I stayed at my old job. Kind of a no brainer, the degree is still a bargain.

4/8/2012 2:08:27 PM

I found some answers on the tuition:

http://analytics.ncsu.edu/?page_id=4202

Quote :

"Tuition and fees are set each year with the approval of the North Carolina Legislature. The rates are typically posted in late spring and should provide incoming students with a close estimate of what the cost will be for the coming year. Legal residents of North Carolina are partially subsidized by the State of North Carolina and therefore pay a reduced rate. When the MSA was launched in 2007, its 10-month format had the effect of reducing tuition by about half the cost relative to conventional 2-year, 30-credit hour master of science degrees at NC State (because tuition charges are tiered by semester, and not simply by credit hours taken). In 2010, the university approved a tuition premium to normalize the cost of the MSA with other 30-credit degrees on campus. In 2011 and 2012, the tuition premium was further extended to help cover the cost of leasing the Institute’s facilities. Today, the premium makes MSA tuition slightly higher than conventional 2-year M.S. degrees on campus."

4/8/2012 9:17:19 PM

Oh yeah they're expanding to 80 students (blah). They pay a premium rate for their space.

4/9/2012 11:19:28 AM

guy at work went through that, he does no analytics work

4/11/2012 7:14:31 PM

bump for any fellow class of 2013 twwers

6/28/2012 7:15:49 PM

Checking in. What team you on? Blue or Orange?

6/28/2012 9:39:12 PM

So what sort of work do you guys do after completing this program? Do they offer any full scholarships?

7/1/2012 3:55:12 PM

The jobs vary a decent amount. Most go to SAS, work in consulting, work for banks or other financial services companies, some work for insurance companies. You can go to the jobs placement page and see a pretty comprehensive list. No scholarships though. There seems to be a pretty high demand to get in the program with its growing popularity so I doubt they feel the need to offer scholarships.

7/1/2012 5:33:53 PM

There are a few scholarships. Monsanto offers a full scholarship for the Ag related majors entering the program. Also, every student that gets into the program gets a mini scholarship. It covers the cost of all the books and certification exams. All you have to pay is tuition.

7/2/2012 12:47:51 PM

^Yeah that's not really a scholarship. SAS donates the books and they don't really help much. They pay for up to $270 of certification exams.

7/2/2012 7:25:38 PM

^^^yea i saw the list, I guess what I'm asking is what do you actually do? Like what do you personally do on a day to day basis, if you don't mind sharing...just sort of curious really.

7/3/2012 12:14:42 PM

For me it really depends on the project I am working on. Right now I am doing a lot of SAS and SQL coding for a company who is still working on getting their reporting capabilities sorted out. There is no way they can work on higher level analytics with the way their data is so along with helping sort out their reporting I am trying to put together some strategies for how they can begin working towards implementing various analytic techniques. Other than that I am doing some side work with tableau which is a pretty awesome data visualization tool (free download available).

7/4/2012 11:02:20 AM

I'm looking to apply to this program for the 2013-2014 school year. I have an Industrial Engineering background with about 2 years of industry experience. My GPA is not super high by above 3.0 I'm wrapping up everything to submit my app by august. Any tips on having a higher chance to get in? How was the interview process that you went through?

7/31/2012 10:47:30 PM

Make sure you have the prereq stat classes they have listed on their website

8/15/2012 10:23:15 PM

They seem to like engineers. There are several people currently enrolled with engineering backgrounds. Any previous programming or team work experience will help. I would emphasize it on your cover letter. Make sure you take the time to craft that, too. Get multiple people to read over and revise it.

Interview process wasn't too bad. It was short, like 30 minutes. They ask you basic questions but then ask several technical statistics questions. If you flub them, don't sweat it. Most people did.

8/20/2012 9:16:04 AM

ttt?

[Edited on March 19, 2013 at 11:42 PM. Reason : And set em up, apparently.]

3/19/2013 11:41:39 PM