Business Analytics Major
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About the Major
The business analytics major prepares students for professional careers by teaching them how to work with data and analyze it in a way that can inform and improve business decisions. Elon’s program is not targeted to any one industry; rather, it provides a flexible, practical skillset that can be applied widely.
Jobs in Business Analytics
- Data analyst
- Data scientist
- Marketing researcher
- Financial analyst
- Business analyst
Past Elon Business Analytics Internships
- KPMG
- Ally
- Credit Suisse
- FactSet
- JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Related Majors
Grad merges her academic interest in business analytics with her passion for social responsibility
When Savannah Josey interned at Fidelity Investments for a summer, she saw in its CEO the kind of business leader she wanted to be.
“It was abundantly evident that the culture of inclusion, ethical decision-making, and forward-thinking innovation permeated through the company due to Abby Johnson,” said Josey, who graduated from Elon University in 2023 with a double major in business analytics and Spanish. “I felt inspired to see a strong woman at the head of a major investment company and was impressed by the way that employees felt listened to and supported in furthering the company’s mission.”
Those qualities of a leader — being an inclusive, ethical decision-maker and forward-thinking innovator — could also be applied to Josey, who sought out opportunities at Elon that would integrate her academic interest in business with her love of sustainability.
Elon’s classes regularly had big projects that resembled the work I was doing in my internships.
Josey “led numerous business school initiatives that integrate community engagement and social responsibility into conversations, activities and programs,” said Professor Matt Valle in March 2023, shortly before Josey graduated. “These initiatives have pushed her peers and staff advisers to think more profoundly about how to engage others across these two areas.”
While she knew from a young age that she wanted a career where she could help people, Josey had no idea that would lead her to the business industry. Instead, she had her eye on teaching and, later, occupational therapy. But while taking an economics class in high school, she realized how influential and transformative business was in shaping the world.
“While I studied something very different than what I once thought I’d pursue, my career has opportunities for me to teach and train people, along with helping to make the world a better place, which still feels aligned with my childhood aspirations,” said Josey, who now works at EY (Ernst & Young) as a people advisory services consultant.
She was drawn to business analytics because of its influential power to tell stories in a compelling way. By learning new programming languages and translating millions of data points, she could come up with clear and succinct recommendations for whatever problem a company may be facing.
“People listen to numbers, so learning how to understand large volumes of data and communicate with them was very exciting,” she said.
Josey chose Elon to study business because of how the school prioritizes service learning as well as giving students professional experience and opportunities to study abroad. The university, she said, provided endless opportunities to ask questions and deepen learning through one-on-one conversations with professors and alumni.
Through the Love School of Business’s executive-in-residence program, “I was able to ask industry leaders questions as I considered my professional path and considered different industries that are available to pursue with a business degree, starting as early as my first year of college,” she said. “I really appreciated how Elon wanted students to engage in networking with alumni and build a professional presence starting from Day 1.”
Elon also emphasized the importance of seeking feedback and being a continuous learner in the workplace, so when Josey interned at companies during her summers, she wasn’t timid about asking questions and expressing what she hoped to learn. And the university set her up to be successful because it exposed her to the kinds of projects she’d encounter on the job.
“Elon’s classes regularly had big projects that resembled the work I was doing in my internships,” she said. “I was used to presenting in front of big groups, putting together slide decks, and organizing my work in a way that anyone could understand, even if they had no background on the topic or programs being utilized.”
During her time on campus, Josey worked with Elon’s Kernodle Center for Civic Life, which encourages students and the campus to partner with diverse communities to address local and global challenges. She was also a Business Fellow and a member of the Business Honor Roll for Social Responsibility and was awarded the North Carolina Campus Compact Community Impact Student Award.
Josey said one of her long-term career goals is to lead a team that uses business as a vehicle for social betterment.
She advises students who are looking to major in a business-related field to think big and get curious about the different opportunities available.
“Having a business degree can translate into a variety of careers, so the more open-minded you are going into new experiences, the better,” she said, adding that each class — business or otherwise — will contribute to a successful career.
“I have taken a variety of classes related to finance, accounting, management, analytics and other disciplines,” Josey said. “I haven’t always known how to connect these experiences with my desired outcomes … Yet, in every job I’ve held, I’ve pulled in information, key terms and concepts that I learned from the vast array of business disciplines I took classes in.”
Did You Know?
- Elon’s Accelerated 3+1 program gives business analytics majors the opportunity to earn a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration as well as a Master of Science in Business Analytics in just four years. The majority of undergraduate coursework is completed in the first three years, with graduate coursework in the fourth year.
- Business analytics positions are available in most industries where data can be used to inform and improve business decisions. Opportunities for business analysts have exploded, and the growth of the field is expected to continue. According to CIO, 39 percent of IT leaders planned to spend more on business analytics in 2021 than in the previous year, the highest of any category surveyed.
- Students learn how actual real-world analytics implementations create business impact through presentations by industry analytics professionals and participation in analytics projects through the Center for Organizational Analytics.