Master's in business analytics program prepares Gayatri Chavda to be data-informed decision maker

Gayatri Chavda (MS-BA '26) discovered her love of data and working with numbers during her undergraduate studies in India. Learning about the marketing analytics track persuaded Chavda to pursue the Master of Science in Business Analytics (MS-BA) at W. P. Carey.

Gayatri Chavda (MS-BA '26) discovered her love of data and working with numbers during her undergraduate studies in India, where she graduated with a bachelor's in business administration, specializing in business analytics.

This passion initially led her to decide to pursue a graduate degree in data science. But after she applied to ASU, she learned about the Master of Science in Business Analytics (MS-BA) at the W. P. Carey School of Business, and she found a particular aspect of the program intriguing.

"What caught my eye was the third-semester track option," she says. "I realized in my undergrad that another thing I loved about business administration was marketing."

The MS-BA offers four optional tracks — including one in marketing analytics — which add a third semester to the program and allow students to gain a deeper understanding in a particular area. Discovering the marketing analytics track is what persuaded Chavda to switch from data science to the MS-BA, and as she tells W. P. Carey News, she hasn't regretted it since.

Why W. P. Carey?

Although she wasn't initially planning on pursuing a graduate business degree, when Chavda learned more about the MS-BA at W. P. Carey, she found it to be a great fit for her interests and career goals. She also received some encouragement from her mentors.

"I talked to a few mentors I had back in India, and they told me that W. P. Carey is one of the best B-schools in the U.S., and if you're getting into it, it's going to be a great opportunity," she says.

One benefit of studying at W. P. Carey that Chavda experienced was the diverse backgrounds her classmates came from, even being able to share classes with MBA students. It exposed her to a variety of perspectives and ways of thinking that she hadn't experienced before.

"When I was sitting in class with all of these different students and different faculty, I was just fascinated to see how one problem can be thought of in 10 different ways by everyone else," says Chavda. "I think I learned even more from that than just doing some case studies or solving some problems or building models."

She adds, "That kind of conversation, and being in an environment with such a diverse class, has really been eye-opening."

Why business analytics?

Being in the MS-BA program has only reinforced Chavda's passion for working with data and analysis, particularly once she started taking courses related to marketing analytics.

"I was fascinated to know what kind of data is being stored on the internet when you're surfing through these websites and how people are making use of all that data," she says. "It was one of my favorite courses, learning about SEO, advertising, and just how much of a digital footprint we leave on the internet and never really think about."

Chavda has also been able to apply what she's learned and expand upon it through work opportunities at W. P. Carey. During her time in the MS-BA program, she has worked as a market research surveyor at the Seidman Research Institute and as a business development intern for W. P. Carey Executive Education.

These positions have given Chavda a fuller understanding of how data is collected, processed, and how decisions are made based on that data. Of her experience as a surveyor at the Seidman Research Institute, she says, "It really helped me understand how the data is coming to us, what processes it goes through before, what the human elements are, what kind of problems you see in data, and why they occur."

What's next?

As a business development intern at W. P. Carey, Chavda now gets to experience the end result of data analysis, learning from executive leaders who make critical business decisions based on that data.

This experience has been highly influential on Chavda, whose long-term career goal is to combine the data analysis work that she loves with the executive decision-making skills she's been developing.

"I want to be someone who can look at the data, translate it to the right stakeholders, and also assist them in the decision-making," she says. "I want to think like a leader."

Looking ahead to after graduation, Chavda has been taking advantage of the resources available for W. P. Carey graduate students, particularly those through the W. P. Carey Career Services Center. She's attended workshops for resume and interview assistance, and she plans to attend networking events and conferences during the upcoming year.

Chavda encourages any other current or future students to follow the same path and utilize the resources available to enrich their experience. "Don't just come here to study and sit in class," she says. "Make use of all these resources you have, be it career services, networking events, and especially do projects with faculty."

She adds, "Go to events and meet people from diverse backgrounds, different schools, different programs. It really helps you grow in your thinking."