Data Analytics, B.S.
The University of South Carolina's Bachelor of Science in Data Analytics is an interdisciplinary program that brings computer science, mathematics, and statistics together with a specific area of focus chosen from a variety of data generating majors and minors offered throughout campus. Based in the College of Arts and Sciences, its faculty are from the Departments of Mathematics and Statistics in that college, and from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computing, and its major elective courses are taught by data expert faculty from across campus. Its curriculum features a strong foundation in all the stages of data analysis as well as a minor or second major in the field of knowledge that generate the research question and data. In addition to preparing students for a career in data analytics, the choice of minor or second major can help prepare students for a quantitative or methodological graduate program in that area.
Other data-centered programs at USC include those in the Departments of Computer Science and Engineering, Mathematics, and Statistics, and the interdisciplinary B.S. in Data Science and Minor in Data Science. Students who are unsure which program they wish to pursue should consult with their advisor or Exploratory Advising immediately to make sure they take the correct MATH and STAT courses to allow for maximum flexibility.
Learning Outcomes
- Conduct purposeful, real-world data analysis in the student's specialty area using knowledge from core areas of data analytics
- Manage complex real-world data sets and be able to extract useful information in the student's specialty area
- Identify the ethical, policy, and security considerations and issues of working with data and how its use impacts society
- Communicate effectively to a non-technical audience what is learned from data, using oral, written reports or data visualization techniques.
Admissions
Retention
To be retained in the program, a student must obtain a grade of C or higher in at most two attempts in all mathematics, computer science, and statistics courses required for graduation.
Transfer Requirement
Any student applying to transfer to the Data Analytics major from other programs within the University, or from other accredited colleges and universities, is required to have both:
- Earned a grade of B or higher in at least one of the following courses, or their equivalent: USC’s STAT 201, STAT 205, STAT 206, STAT 301, STAT 515, STAT 516, PSYC 220, or SOCY 392 (an AP or IB exam score that provides credit for STAT 206 also satisfies this requirement)
and
Degree Requirements (120 hours)
Program of Study
| Requirements | Credit Hours |
|---|---|
| 1. Carolina Core | 34-46 |
| 2. College Requirements | 15-18 |
| 3. Program Requirements | 32-47 |
| 4. Major Requirements | 24 |
Founding Documents Requirement
All undergraduate students must take a 3-credit course or its equivalent with a passing grade in the subject areas of History, Political Science, or African American Studies that covers the founding documents including the United State Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation and one or more documents that are foundational to the African American Freedom struggle, and a minimum of five essays from the Federalist papers. This course may count as a requirement in any part of the program of study including the Carolina Core, the major, minor or cognate, or as a general elective. Courses that meet this requirement are listed here.
1. Carolina Core Requirements (32-45 hours)
CMW – Effective, Engaged, and Persuasive Communication: Written (6 hours)
must be passed with a grade of C or higher
- any CC-CMW courses
ARP – Analytical Reasoning and Problem Solving (6-7 hours)
must be passed with a grade of C or higher
SCI – Scientific Literacy (8 hours)
- Two 4-credit hour CC-SCI courses
GFL – Global Citizenship and Multicultural Understanding: Foreign Language (0-6 hours)
Demonstration of proficiency in one foreign language equivalent to the minimal passing grade on the exit examination in the 122 course is required. Students can demonstrate this proficiency by successfully completing Phase II of the Proficiency Test or by successfully completing the 122 course, including the exit exam administered as part of that course.
It is strongly recommended that students continuing the study of a foreign language begin college-level study of that language in their first semester and continue in that language until their particular foreign language requirement is completed.
GHS – Global Citizenship and Multicultural Understanding: Historical Thinking (3 hours)
- any CC-GHS course
GSS – Global Citizenship and Multicultural Understanding: Social Sciences (3 hours)
- any CC-GSS course
AIU – Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding (3 hours)
- any CC-AIU course
CMS – Effective, Engaged, and Persuasive Communication: Spoken Component1 (0-3 hours)
- any overlay or stand-alone CC-CMS course
INF – Information Literacy1 (0-3 hours)
- any overlay or stand-alone CC-INF course
VSR – Values, Ethics, and Social Responsibility1 (0-3 hours)
- ITEC 101 or
- PHIL 325 or
- any overlay or stand-alone CC-VSR course
- 1
Carolina Core Stand Alone or Overlay Eligible Requirements — Overlay-approved courses offer students the option of meeting two Carolina Core components in a single course. A maximum of two overlays is allowed. The total Carolina Core credit hours must add up to a minimum of 31 hours. Some programs may have a higher number of minimum Carolina Core hours due to specified requirements.
2. College Requirements (15-18 hours)
Foreign Language (0-3 hours)
- only if needed to meet 122-level proficiency
Analytical Reasoning (6 hours)
must be passed with a grade of C or higher
History (3 hours)
The College of Arts and Sciences requires one additional GHS course beyond the Carolina Core GHS requirement.
- If the Carolina Core GHS requirement is fulfilled by a U.S. history course, the College of Arts and Sciences history requirement must be fulfilled by a non-U.S. history course.
- If the Carolina Core GHS requirement is fulfilled by a non-U.S. history course, the College of Arts and Sciences history requirement must be fulfilled by a U.S. history course.
Please select the College of Arts and Sciences history requirement from the approved list of U.S. and non-U.S. history courses.
Social Science and Fine Arts or Humanities (6 hours)
- Social Science (3 hours)
- The College of Arts and Science requires one 3- hour Social Science Course
- Fine Arts/Humanities (3 Hours)
- ENGL 363*, ENGL 462* or ENGL 463* must be passed with a grade of C or higher OR
- A student who has passed MGMT 250* with a grade of C or higher may use another 3-hour Fine Arts/Humanities Course to satisfy this requirement.
3. Program Requirements (33-49 hours)
Supporting Courses (3-6 hours)
must be passed with a grade of C or higher
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Select one of the following: | 3 | |
| Elementary Statistics | ||
| Elementary Statistics for the Biological and Life Sciences | ||
| Elementary Statistics for Business | ||
| Statistics for Engineers | ||
| Statistical Methods I | ||
| Psychological Statistics | ||
| Elementary Statistics for Sociologists | ||
| Ethics in Data Analysis | 0-3 | |
| If ITEC 101 or PHIL 325 were not taken to fulfill the Carolina Core VSR requirement with a grade of C or better, then one of the following must be taken: | ||
| Special Topics in Cyber Intelligence | ||
| Special Topics in Cyber Society and Ethics | ||
| Cyberethics and Information Policy | ||
| Social Issues in Information and Communications Technologies | ||
| Thriving in the Tech Age | ||
| Ethics of Science and Technology | ||
| Engineering Ethics | ||
| Total Credit Hours | 3-6 | |
Minor (18 hours)
Students in the Data Analytics B.S. must complete a minor of at least 18 hours. In lieu of a minor, an additional major may be added to a student’s program of study. A second major within the College of Arts and Sciences must include all major courses as well as any prescribed courses noted (*) in the bulletin. Regulations on an additional degree for a second major in another college can be found under Degree/Certificate Conferral and Graduation Policies in the Undergraduate Academic Regulations. Prescribed courses noted in the bulletin may be shared with Carolina Core, College requirements, and Program requirements in the primary program.
The minor or second major may not be from fields closely aligned to data science theory, and the following programs are excluded:
- Actuarial Mathematics and Statistics Minor
- Computer Engineering, B.S.E
- Computer Information Systems, B.S.
- Computer Science, B.S.C.S;
- Data Science, B.S.
- Data Science, Minor
- Mathematical Biology Minor
- Mathematics B.S.,
- Mathematics, Minor
- Statistics, B.S.
- Statistics Minor
Courses applied toward general education requirements cannot be counted toward the minor. No course may satisfy both major and minor requirements. All minor courses must be passed with a grade of C or higher. At least half of the courses in the minor must be completed in residence at the University.
A list of minor programs of study can be found at Programs A-Z.
Electives (9-28 hours)
120 (or 128) degree applicable credits are required to complete any degree at USC. After the cognate, minor or second major is complete, any additional credits needed to reach 120 (or 128) total credits can be fulfilled by electives. No courses of a remedial, developmental, skill-acquiring, or vocational nature may apply as credit toward degrees in the College of Arts and Sciences. The College of Arts and Sciences allows the use of the Pass-Fail option on elective courses. Further clarification on inapplicable courses can be obtained from the College of Arts and Sciences.
4. Major Requirements (24 hours)
a minimum grade of C is required in all major courses
Major Courses (12 hours)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| STAT 301 | Statistical Methods for Data Analytics | 3 |
| or STAT 516 | Statistical Methods II | |
| STAT 530 | Applied Multivariate Statistics and Data Mining | 3 |
| or STAT 587 | Big Data Analytics | |
| or CSCE 587 | Big Data Analytics | |
| STAT 542 | Computing for Data Science | 3 |
| CSCE 567 | Visualization Tools | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours | 12 | |
Major Electives (12 hours)
- Select four courses from the list below, or from STAT 530, or CSCE 587/STAT 587 that was not taken as a major course.
- Some of these courses have prerequisites not required in the program but may be taken as electives, as part of some minors, or to satisfy other requirements.
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ANTH 323 | Field School in Ethnography 2 | 3 |
| BIOL 588 | Genomic Data Science | 3 |
| STAT 588 | Genomic Data Science | 3 |
| CRJU 512 | Information-Based Management in Criminal Justice | 3 |
| CRJU 582 | Computer Applications in Criminal Justice | 3 |
| CSCE 556 | Data Analysis in Python: Application to Neuroscience | 3 |
| CSCE 585 | Machine Learning Systems | 3 |
| EPID 410 | Principles of Epidemiology | 3 |
| GEOG 345 | Introduction to Remote Sensing | 3 |
| GEOG 263 | Geographic Information Systems | 3 |
| GEOG 551 | Remote Sensing of the Environment | 3 |
| GEOG 563 | Advanced Geographic Information Systems | 3 |
| GEOG 564 | GIS-Based Modeling | 3 |
| ISCI 310 | Information Science Data Analysis and Evaluation | 3 |
| ISCI 560 | Data Visualization | 3 |
| MATH 529 | Introduction to Deep Neural Networks | 3 |
| MATH 572 | Mathematical Foundation of Network Science | 3 |
| POLI 475 | Survey Research | 3 |
| SOCY 391 | Sociological Research Methods | 3 |
| SOCY 562 | Advanced Sociological Research Methods | 3 |
| STAT 506 | Introduction to Experimental Design | 3 |
| STAT 540 | Computing in Statistics | 3 |
| STAT 541 | Advanced SAS Programming | 3 |
| Courses that require prerequisite courses in that subject area: | ||
| ANTH 550 | Archaeological Laboratory Methods 3 | 3 |
| ECON 336 | Introduction to Data Science for Economists | 3 |
| ECON 436 | Introductory Econometrics | 3 |
| ECON 594 | Advanced Econometrics | 3 |
| ISCI 301 | Text Mining in Big Data Analytics | 3 |
| ITEC 370 | Database Systems in Information Technology | 3 |
| SOCY 561 | Real World Research Experience | 3 |
| Courses that may require a Minor in Business Administration and/or MGSC 291: | ||
| MGMT 425 | Analytics for the Human Resources Professional | 3 |
| MGSC 390 | Business Information Systems | 3 |
| MGSC 391 | Applied Statistical Modeling | 3 |
| MGSC 394 | Data Analytics for Business | 3 |
| MKTG 448 | Data Science for Business Decision-Making | 3 |
| MKTG 470 | Digital Marketing & Social Media Analytics | 3 |
- 2
This course may only be taken for 3 applicable credit hours.
- 3
This course may only be taken once.
Major Map
A major map is a layout of required courses in a given program of study, including critical courses and suggested course sequences to ensure a clear path to graduation.
Major maps are only a suggested or recommended sequence of courses required in a program of study. Please contact your academic advisor for assistance in the application of specific coursework to a program of study and course selection and planning for upcoming semesters.