So I originally started in finance with undergraduate degree in finance, and after that, I went to work for a company and I was able to work a little bit of a rotation program, between sales and marketing and finance. There was something that I realized that everybody was concerned with data. Everybody, to certain extent, was basing their strategies and their forecast, everything was was based on data. Sometimes, on the data which was not necessarily very accurate or wasn't analyzed in a lot of depth. And I felt like as someone that likes numbers and believes that there's a lot of value in numbers, I felt a little bit limited. So after that experience, when I went to Japan to serve a mission for the LDS Church and on coming back, I felt like that's really something that I wanted to do. I wanted to help people through numbers, to figure out business decisions and through figuring out what the best course of action was in systematic, quantifiable scientific framework and that's what led me to apply to the MSBA program.

I think that in the MSBA program, unlike the MSIS program, there's a little less specialization in the sense that we have very few elective classes. There's only one to be precise, but I think that serves a series of purposes. I think the reason for that is because this is MSBA program, so it has a very specific purpose, which is to allow students from different backgrounds, different levels of ability whether it be in programming or in with regards to mathematical theories, statistical theories or business experience. It allows everybody to kind of start off on the same level and then progress together to exactly what we need to be able to do, which is to understand the tools that we need to be able to analyze data in a lot of different contexts and industries and sectors in order to make business decisions. I think for that purpose there's a lot less specialization but they have to make sure that a lot of content is covered. That being said everybody has kind of, a their thing, right? I really enjoyed learning about the mathematical theories behind the models that we use and understanding why they are the way they are. Other people get a lot more benefit from understanding more about the marketing applications of business and so there is that room to add and to get interested in things that are kind of a little bit more of your niche per se. With regards to the average time per week, as an international student I'm not working full time but I know there are people that are working and so I will spend about a good, I think it depends on your level of R, on your level of mathematics coming into the program. I've had to catch up a lot of content on R whereas other people didn't had to. And so it really depends! I think you will get as much out of the program as you put into it. With regards to like hey you have to do this many hours kind of level, I would say it's safe to assume that for every credit hour of classes taken you will have to put in double that amount in readings and homeworks which is not a whole lot. To be honest, again that may change depending on how comfortable you are with the program, how comfortable you are with the content but that's what I've seen in my case and it's very doable. It's not at all impossible. Teachers do a great job by getting a lot of the work done in class. Your assignments all the time will be mostly covered in class. You'll just have to go on, spend a couple of hours to do them outside of class, but for the most part they're very understanding that a lot of people are working. People do things by themselves. And so I think that would be my answer.

So initially I was set on doing a Masters in finance. I felt like I wouldn't get much of a competitive advantage when compared to other finance graduates. I felt like the field of data analysis was growing and was imposing itself in a lot of different industries especially some of the industries that I was interested in consulting or financial services and so I felt like I could always learn more about finance on my own or on the job, but the tools that I would learn for data analytics, I had to learn through a program. What appealed to me about this program was that it was one year. It is one year and it's very comprehensive. The content is incredibly rich. I looked at other programs that also covered MSBA. Of course, it is like ASU or MIT. I feel like this one was the most balanced one and I loved being close to family and Utah. Being around a great environment, great student body, the campus itself is awesome. If you like nature, you would really like Utah and I'm really happy with my choice. I think I love the interaction with teachers, with the professors that we have. They're incredibly down to earth and they're not , you know, they really like to help out and the work will feel like it's just a big family. So I can really recommend this program.