MSC Business Analytics - Smurfit

ShoulderChip

Hi,
I have just applied for this course,
is there any one on here who has experience of the course that maybe I could ask a few questions,

or can someone tell me what the rest of the application process will be like? maybe it is general for Smurfit?
cheers.

graduate

Have you seen this thread
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055426019

and the other threads linked within it.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showt...ness+analytics

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showt...tative+finance

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showt...tative+finance

send a pm to the guys that applied last summer, they are probably doing it now.

ucdperson

The MSc in Analytics people will be happy to provide more information, the programme is proving popular but is some way from being full in January.



In general for applications at this time of year, a strong candidate may be offered a place or a conditional offer for someone that has not completed all of their degree. A more marginal candidate might be asked to provide further information or might have to wait for a place until later in the Spring when the level of demand was clearer.

blucey

ucdperson wrote: »

The MSc in Analytics people will be happy to provide more information, the programme is proving popular but is some way from being full in January.


In general for applications at this time of year, a strong candidate may be offered a place or a conditional offer for someone that has not completed all of their degree. A more marginal candidate might be asked to provide further information or might have to wait for a place until later in the Spring when the level of demand was clearer.

whys it closing in January, mind me asking?

ucdperson

whys it closing in January, mind me asking?

It isn't. Does it say somewhere that it is? If so this is incorrect.
There are further Smurfit open days and promotions for this programme, it is not closed to applications.

MIN2511

I would like to start this course in September, i made enquiries on the fees etc. I am waiting for my result from college, before i apply.

I was more interested in Management Science but that was scrapped, pity as a lot of people i know are interested in it. And the only other University that does a similar syllabus is in Manchester.

ucdperson

I am waiting for my result from college, before i apply.

If it is a question of waiting for semester results then that's wise. Do not wait until June though, apply sooner with details of your results to date.

I was more interested in Management Science but that was scrapped

The MSc in Business Analytics evolved from the Master of Management Science. When the MMangtSc was founded to provide a masters in quantitative approaches in business this field was best described as Management Science, These approaches have evolved over the years and the course did too, presently this field is best described as Business Analytics.

pity as a lot of people i know are interested in it

The Master of Management Science was never overburdened with applications because people hadn't heard of it or didn't know what it was.

And the only other University that does a similar syllabus is in Manchester.

There are perhaps 12 or 15 programmes in Britain based on quantitative techniques in business. The UCD programme is similar to these to a greater or lesser extent. However the UCD programme places a greater emphasis on the implementation of quantitative techniques through computer programming than some of the UK programmes.

I note that Manchester now has "Analytics" in its programme name too.

MIN2511

While we are at this topic, the reason i haven't applied is because i was due to graduate last year but failed Concurrency Programming and i repeated the exam last week. I wonder if i should go ahead and apply or wait for that last subject to come through....

dr_funkenstein

hey

I applied to this course just before christmas and got offered a place yesterday. If you read through those old threads you can see I was asking about various courses

I've a few weeks to accept the offer, so I guess I'll think about and decide by mid feb I guess.

What is attracting you to this MSc?

I'm 26 btw and worked for 3.5yrs in science, but am looking for a bit of a change.

MIN2511

You asking me or the OP?

Congrats! Is this full time/part time?

20somethings

Can someone help me. I do not have a background in computer programming but rather have done qualitative modules related to this course in my business degree. Would I have any chance of getting accepted?

ucdperson

Can someone help me. I do not have a background in computer programming

Some limited experience of computer programming is required. This is largely to ensure that the student has some aptitude for programming and some interest in doing it. The programme tries to combine programming and maths in a business problem solving context.

If someone has no experience of programming whatsoever in their degree and wants to learn themselves or do a night course or whatever then you can do a test to be admitted to the MSc, see the contact details earlier in the thread.

but rather have done qualitative modules related to this course in my business degree.

Do you mean quantitative rather than qualitative here?

ucdperson

Anyone interested in a Smurfit course might like to attend the open evening next Wednesday
http://www.smurfitschool.ie/aboutsmurfit/eventscalendar/smurfitopenevening/

The MSc in Business Analytics presentation is at 17:30, graduates from "quantitative" disciplines might also be interested in the MSc Quant Finance presentation at 18:00.

The fee for the UCD MSc in Business Analytics will be €2000 in the 2009-2010 academic year, as it is funded by the HEA Advanced Skills Programme.

Ace2007

Have many been accepted for this course yet do you know

MIN2511

I think there's an open day on Wed. Anyone going to this?

ucdperson

Have many been accepted for this course yet do you know

There are noticeably more applications than last year, but the programme is not yet full.

I think there's an open day on Wed.

There is. The MSc in Business Analytics presentation is at 5:30pm.

MIN2511

Good presentation, i will be applying but i need more information on the fees etc...

I actually will be honoured to get in, seems to be 40places(20 pt and 20ft). Good number of people interested today.

Fingers crossed i suppose

ixus

MIN2511 wrote: »

Good presentation, i will be applying but i need more information on the fees etc...

I actually will be honoured to get in, seems to be 40places(20 pt and 20ft). Good number of people interested today.

Fingers crossed i suppose

Any chance of a breakdown of the presentation?

MIN2511

Am watching the United match but here ya go
FT: 2 semesters, 1st semester study 4 compulsory subjects Sept - Dec, 2nd semester 5 subjects to choose 4. Mock demo of Project in March(10%) and project due in Sept.
PT: 4 semesters, 2 subjects per semester, summer spent working on Project.
Course is techical, about 40places, half & half(FT & PT).
What else do you want to know?

graduate

Any chance of a breakdown of the presentation?

Something like this

ixus

MIN2511 wrote: »

Am watching the United match but here ya go
FT: 2 semesters, 1st semester study 4 compulsory subjects Sept - Dec, 2nd semester 5 subjects to choose 4. Mock demo of Project in March(10%) and project due in Sept.
PT: 4 semesters, 2 subjects per semester, summer spent working on Project.
Course is techical, about 40places, half & half(FT & PT).
What else do you want to know?

graduate wrote: »

Something like this

Cheers, was mainly interested in the timing of lectures and the breakdown of the semesters.

• Semester 1
– Quantitative Methods
– Numerical Analytics and Software
– Project Management and Decision Analytics
– Applied Probability and Statistics
• Semester 2
– Analytical Business Modelling
– Simulation Modelling and Analysis
– Network Software Modelling
– Decision Support and Business Intelligence
• Dissertation

If you have 20/20 full & part time students are the classes on only in the evenings given they have to work together?

What are the hours/days in the evenings/weekends?

Was there much insight given into the project? Will they assign you a company to work with or do you have to find your own (assuming you don't have a company to do this with)?

Anything else of the top of your head?

MIN2511

Hey, was watching another match -:)

Classes over lap, diff yrs are mixed together. Mostly evening classes. No weekend lectures
Project: Irish company eg combating fraud in the online gambling.
There are scholarships to apply for
Not much more, was less than half an hr.

thebang

I think this looks like a great course - just posting some job positions here to show the potential of the skills you learn (id would love to do this it seems cool) - I think its an interesting choice and I wish i had the skills to apply

http://list.informs.org/pipermail/decision-analysis-society/2005-July/000045.html


http://directemployers.jobcentral.com/pfizer/82797.html

dr_funkenstein

Reading this read is making me happy that I chose that course! Looking forward to it now.

You say its mostly evening lectures? Anyone have an idea roughly when its starts (~ mid sept?)

cheers

ShoulderChip

I think its classes 5-7 tuesday 2-7 wed and 5-7 thursday,

not sure when it starts.

dr_funkenstein

wow, not many hours really. I guess there will be alot of project work?

Damn.. was hoping to have wednesday evenings somewhat free..

ucdperson

A few points.

This programme offers half of the modules in alternate years after 5pm for part-time students. We aim to have these on Tuesday and Thursday (as last year). Full time students attend these classes also and some day time classes. So full time students in semester 2 this year had classes from 14:30-20:30 on Tuesdays, on Wed morning and from 14:30-20:30 on Thursdays. So a full time student might have a class at 2pm with 20 people and one at 5pm with up to 60 people (two years of part-time students).

• Semester 2
– Analytical Business Modelling
– Simulation Modelling and Analysis
– Network Software Modelling
– Decision Support and Business Intelligence

For 2009-2010 we've added an optional module in the second semester, Data Mining Techniques and Models. This can taken in place of one of the second semester modules. This further complicates the timetable of course, but you can't have it both ways!

Will they assign you a company to work with or do you have to find your own (assuming you don't have a company to do this with)?

The hope is that part-timers will find a project in their own organisation. Anyone is encouraged to find their own project, if not there are some projects available. Some of these involve companies, some are more academic e.g. analysing stock exchange share data without a company being directly involved.

UCD starts on 7 September, with a couple of formalities the previous week.

dr_funkenstein

Hey

Thanks alot for all the information.. basically answers most of my questions in one post! I have no idea about project topics etc at the moment.. but I guess most people (starting in sept) will be in the same boat.

graduate

I think this looks like a great course - just posting some job positions here to show the potential of the skills you learn

IBM are hiring 4000 analytics bods internationally, no mention of Dublin though!
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/27357.wss

dr_funkenstein

4000 :-o

Wow.. does seem like quite a burgeoning industry at the moment. What with SAP buying Business Objects etc not so long ago too. Alot of the big multinationals all seem to be muscling in on it. I guess the days of throwing money at a problem is gone, and its more about increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of what you've got.

Mahns

Ya would be great if there was an interest in graduates for these positions. Going to be doing the M.Sc. in Information Systems Management in NUIG which is very similar to the course in smurfit. Reading that itll take a considerable amount of time to build up to the 4000 strong workforce. Interested in hearings peoples opinions on this!!

ShoulderChip

Three of my friends just applied last week,
does anyone have any educated guesses or preferably insight into how likel they are to get an offer at this point?

ucdperson

does anyone have any educated guesses or preferably insight into how likel they are to get an offer at this point?

Although filling quickly, the programme is not yet full. It takes a few weeks to process applications as people are busy with exams and the like, if they are qualified they should hear something around the end of the month or so.

ShoulderChip

What is the story with regard to attendance?
I think I might have to miss a lot of classes in the first few weeks due to an internship.

I had to take the internship due to the fact that I feel this experience may be just as important for my career as the masters itself.

I have studied acourse in college very similar to this masters and am not wooried at all about missing some lectures from a keeping up point of view
(I will be able to go to most of the evening classes, and may even be able to take each wednesday (the only day where classes start before 5 I think) off by saving up holidays)

I was just wondering from a college point of view, how strictly do they view not turning up for class?
my hope is that they are not concerned at all as it is a masters course, but I am worried that as the class is so small it may become an issue?

I have a friend doing the course so will be able to get any notes/info from classes I miss off him, if they are not available online

graduate

I was just wondering from a college point of view, how strictly do they view not turning up for class?
my hope is that they are not concerned at all as it is a masters course, but I am worried that as the class is so small it may become an issue?

Most courses are not ambivalent about people not coming along, a lot of Smurfit courses have class participation marks and the like. If you are doing something worthwhile, rather than just staying in bed, I'd be up front about this and explain the situation.

There is page about this MSc in the Irish Times innovation supplement today.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/innovation/2009/0706/1224250001304.html

ixus

I note the fees have gone up for this course to 3K per annum even though the HEA clearly state the fees are 2K for this year.

What's going on here? That's an increase of 50%. Is this legal? Has the HEA decreased the grant?

I note UCC listed their course at the end of May and confirmed they were 2K.

Mahns

Course in NUIG has remained the same also. GYC24 LINK

ucdperson

This is just a website snafu rather than any fee increase. Normal service will be resumed shortly.

I think the €3,000 amount was confused (somehow!!) with the €3,000 value of the Distinct Scholarship for people on this programme.

ShoulderChip

balls, I thought the distinct scholarship was worth 5k

blucey

graduate wrote: »

Most courses are not ambivalent about people not coming along, a lot of Smurfit courses have class participation marks and the like. If you are doing something worthwhile, rather than just staying in bed, I'd be up front about this and explain the situation.

There is page about this MSc in the Irish Times innovation supplement today.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/innovation/2009/0706/1224250001304.html

I think you'll find its an ADVERTISEMENT....

ShoulderChip

blucey wrote: »

I think you'll find its an ADVERTISEMENT....

Are we bitter blucey?

do you think they paid? or had contacts with the paper?

From my point of view, it was good to see as it shows they still want to promote it, despite people queuing up to do it.

blucey

ShoulderChip wrote: »

Are we bitter blucey?

do you think they paid? or had contacts with the paper?

From my point of view, it was good to see as it shows they still want to promote it, despite people queuing up to do it.

bitter? Moi? Not a bit(ter) of it. just want the facts to be known.
BTW - its a good course. just wonder why, if "people are queuing up" do they need to spend time/money promoting same.
BTW2 - most courses in most areas of business in most unis are well up in demand. Anticyclical it is....

ucdperson

This page was a "Commercial Profile" as it says at the top of the page. I am not quite sure how it works, I think you put in a certain number of paid ads during the year and you get this as a bonus. This resulted from the annual plan rather than any immediate need for promotion for this programme.

As BLucey said business school programmes are somewhat countercyclical in a recession, so demand has increased for the MSc in Business Analytics, especially among full time students. This results from a higher proportion of people who thought about doing the MSc actually deciding to do it, as they can't get a job or whatever.

But the main problem with a programme like Analytics is not so much persuading people who know about it to do it, as putting it on the radar for the type of non business graduate for whom it might be suitable. Everyone knows that a business school does marketing, finance, accounting and the like. Not everyone knows that a business school does Analytics or what exactly is involved or what your career prospects might be. There remain a significant number of non business graduates in Ireland who might like to consider the programme, but who haven't ever heard of it and who don't even think to look for it (even if the UCD website made it anyway easy to find it).

In general it isn't easy for people looking for postgrad programmes to track down the full set of programmes that might suit them where they are looking for something other than a straight continuation of their undergrad.

HappyWeeks

Hmm interesting - can anyone else confirm this? Seems a bit surprising as I had heard good things about the courses though some had a high workload. How much control does Smurfit have? It always seems that university lecturers have carte blanche over what/how they teach and sometimes you wonder what controls there are.

BTW the rise to €2500 isn't a UCD choice - the HEA subsidises several MSc's across Irish universities and due to Govt cuts it reduced the subsidy so students have to pay €2500 instead of €2000 :-(
The hugely reduced fee (down from 8 or 9000 a few years back) was a big attraction for this MSc so I doubt they would change it unless they had to!

MIN2511

Has anyone been accepted to this course for 10/11 academic yr?

Roro4Brit

MIN2511 wrote: »

Has anyone been accepted to this course for 10/11 academic yr?

It says online that the closing date is the 30th July so I don't think they'll be accepting people until the closing date has passed surely? Can anyone shed any light on the level of computer programming experience needed?

ucdperson

the HEA subsidises several MSc's across Irish universities and due to Govt cuts it reduced the subsidy so students have to pay €2500 instead of €2000

The fee the student pays is indeed set by the government for programmes in the Graduate Skills Conversion Programme, this is fraction of the cost of the programme, the remainder of the fee is paid by the government. I imagine the fee payable by students was increased by the HEA because the country is in some financial difficulty. The MSc in Business Analytics and the MSc in iBusiness are the only Smurfit school programmes in the scheme and so the fee payable by the student for these programmes is less than other Smurfit programmes.

It says online that the closing date is the 30th July so I don't think they'll be accepting people until the closing date has passed surely?

Suitably qualified students are being accepted as they apply. Some places remain, for those interested. The closing date may be extended but only those applications completed in July will be considered for the Distinct Scholarship

Can anyone shed any light on the level of computer programming experience needed?

You are expected to have completed a course in programming e.g. one course for one semester, and to have done well in this. The issue is not so much the amount of programming that you have done, rather whether you are good at it and would like to do more of it. If you haven't attended a formal course we will set you a test, if required.

Basically this is programme for mathematical people who are willing to do a bit of programming when required.

MIN2511

Thanks for the update, I finally applied 2weeks ago... If i want to apply for the MSc in iBusiness do i have to fill another application form?

ucdperson

If i want to apply for the MSc in iBusiness do i have to fill another application form?

If you want to be also considered for the MSc in iBusiness then contact UCD Smurfit School Admissions (01) 7168885/4302/8058.

People in Analytics may be interested in the new Analytics Institute which will have an important role in linking government, industry and academia in Ireland to advance analytics.

We are working closely with the Analytics Institute and currently have projects with them and likes of the Revenue Commissioners and the CSO.

Wonky Knees

ucdperson wrote: »

If you want to be also considered for the MSc in iBusiness then contact UCD Smurfit School Admissions (01) 7168885/4302/8058.

People in Analytics may be interested in the new Analytics Institute which will have an important role in linking government, industry and academia in Ireland to advance analytics.

We are working closely with the Analytics Institute and currently have projects with them and likes of the Revenue Commissioners and the CSO.

Looking at the website I can see that the MSc in iBusiness is an updated version of the MBS in eCommerce which later progressed into the MBS in eBusiness. The MSc in iBusiness attempts to bring together all the important strands concerning ICT and Innovation taking into consideration the developments of the previous years. Both the MSc in Business Analytics and the MSc in iBusiness are organised through the MIS department (Management Information Systems) at UCD. As UCD person has pointed out, the Business Analytics people have a thing called the Analytics Institute which appears very interesting and the other half of the MIS department who deliver the iBusiness programme have a research centre called CITO (see: http://mis.ucd.ie) which gives a 'limited' indication of the kind of things they are interested in. On the site are email addresses which you can contact for more information.

Red Alert

I have deleted a post above. The reason for this is that the poster's name suggests information that may be not be legally OK. I am going to consult with the admins and if the post was OK I will have it reinstated.