Graduate students in Daniels Business School’s business analytics program learn data-driven decision-making

About this series: This story is part of an ongoing Purdue Today series highlighting programs ranked in the top 10 or top 10th percentile among our peers nationally, demonstrating the university’s persistent pursuit of excellence, innovation and transformative learning.

When Lakshay Vohra makes a presentation to his clients, he does so with confidence. A 2022 graduate of the Master of Science in Business Analytics and Information Management (MSBAIM) program in the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, Vohra learned a service mindset while making class presentations in his industry practicum course.

“I had to know … what is the professor expecting?” says Vohra, now a data scientist with Boston Consulting Group in San Francisco. “That same standard is aligned with consulting. Now, what does the client expect? My experience at Purdue was great preparation for what I face in my job every day.”

That’s music to the ears of Matthew Lanham, MSBAIM’s academic director. He takes pride in the program’s No. 6 U.S. standing in QS World University Rankings for 2023 and credits a mixture of classroom learning and experiential opportunities for its success.

“We try to replicate what our students will face as they begin their careers,” Lanham says. “The program is intense, with 36 credit hours in the span of one year. We continuously update our curriculum, including new cloud computing courses and a visual analytics offering. We also provide a professional portfolio course during summer session that better prepares our students for their careers.”

Students can earn certifications (e.g., Microsoft AZ-900, AWS Cloud Practitioner, Tableau Desktop Associate), and all will graduate as associate certified analytics professionals. They compete in events such as the national Data 4 Good Case Competition, which offers $45,000 in prize money, and present research at events such as the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) Business Analytics Conference.

Purdue also encourages students in the program to compete in its Future Edelman Impact Award contest, which gives them the chance to solve challenges in a team setting and mirrors the nationally recognized Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research and Management Science, which is administered by INFORMS. Vohra was part of a finalist team in the campus competition as a student.

Lanham says the combination of teaching and learning by doing is paying off for graduates of the program. The Class of 2022, which includes Vohra, saw 99% placement with an average starting salary of more than $124,000. This year’s class numbers are still being assembled, but the salaries again will exceed $110,000 with placement of at least 97%.

Several alumni of the program are progressing in their companies. One, Deepika Jindal (MSBAIM ’19), has received a patent for work she has done as a data scientist at Amazon.

Vohra says the Daniels School experiences, including relevant coursework, equipped him with the knowledge to effectively deploy informational technologies and analytical techniques and communicate those findings concisely and professionally.

He gives particular credit to a business analytics course taught by Mohit Tawarmalani, a data mining course by Wei Sun, and Lanham’s industry practicum offering as being most helpful to him in his daily work.

“The experiences I had at Purdue gave me more than a resume,” says Vohra, who does much of his work for Boston Consulting Group in the agriculture space. “They gave me a story I could tell recruiters and something that set me apart from other applicants.”