Graduate Program

Learn the critical skills you need to make evidence-based, data informed decisions and enact positive change.

The number of jobs requiring employees to make good decisions has risen by 460% since 1960*. As the nature of the workforce continues to shift along with today’s complex global challenges, the world needs adaptive leaders who can deconstruct problems, interpret complex data, analyze social systems, and devise effective solutions, in order to drive meaningful improvements in any sector.

The Master of Science in Decision Analysis (MDA) is a unique program designed for rising professionals in diverse fields around the world. As a Minerva graduate student, you will acquire key transferable leadership and analytical skills, through the practical application of frameworks and concepts across multiple contexts.

^{*Harvard University and NBER, “The Growing Importance of Decision-Making on the Job”, 2021}

Key Program Feature

Synchronous, interactive online degree

Part-time program for working professionals

21 months to completion,

Gain advanced leadership and analysis skills that span disciplines for effective decision-making

Engage with a diverse set of expert faculty and peers from around the world in small seminar classes

Attend active learning classes from anywhere in the world on Forum™, Minerva’s advanced online educational platform

Advance your career with long term coaching and talent development support

Accelerate your ability to make profound organizational and societal change

Contact us at masters@minerva.edu.

Interdisciplinary Academics

The MDA curriculum focuses on how to utilize available information to make decisions of consequence. With courses covering complex systems analysis, problem solving techniques, research methods, and information-based decision-making, you will gain the interdisciplinary knowledge and practical skills to help you advance your career in today’s complex world.

The final thesis project enables you to apply your learning to a substantive topic of your choosing, including one derived from your employment if desired.

Interdisciplinary Academics

Active Learning in Small Seminars

All classes are conducted synchronously and virtually in a small seminar format using Minerva’s online, fully active learning methodology, which enables you to be prepared to contribute in every class session, helping you hone your critical thinking, debate, and presentation skills, and ensures long-term information retention. Classes are held on Forum™, an advanced virtual learning environment, enabling flexibility for working professionals from around the world.

Small Seminars

Curated Career Resources

To help you advance your career, Minerva will help you identify your goals, explore possible paths, and develop a realistic plan to achieve them. In addition to select career resources like resume services and networking, you gain access to personalized 1:1 and group life coaching and talent development support.

Career Development

Week Long In-Person Immersion Experiences

As part of our MDA program, you will have the option to attend two week-long, in-person cultural and professional immersion experiences. Immersion experiences are offered in March for first year students and in October for second year students. These programs are designed to provide an intensive international experience in a global city. You will visit with leaders in key business sectors and government organizations, go on tours, and discuss key challenges in multiple domains. Minerva faculty will lead discussions that connect these professional experiences with the skills you have developed in your MDA classes. The immersion weeks also offer the opportunity to connect in person with your cohort by living together, attending planned professional and cultural events, and exploring the city during the free time in the program schedule.

This is an optional experience and the costs are in addition to tuition.

“At its core, the Master’s in Decision Analysis gave me the tools to navigate complexity. Whatever I do throughout my life, I will never again be overwhelmed by the vast unknown, nor will I just set sail and hope for the best. I have the mindset, and the skillset, to steer through the sea of data and information coming at me — and chart the course to a worthwhile destination.”

Zach Goldfine, MDA Class of 2017
Deputy CTO - Benefits at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Certificate in Decision Analysis

We offer an online Certificate in Decision Analysis derived from the first 24 credits of our MDA program. The certificate can be completed in 12 months (three semesters, including summer) or spread out over two years and will equip you with important decision making skills with a shorter time commitment than the full MDA program.

Masters Insights

Graduate’s Reflections

Zach Goldfine
Class of 2017

Upon graduating from the MDA program, Zach secured the Presidential Innovation Fellowship. He shares his experience in the Master’s program on Medium.

A Conversation with Minerva Graduate Student Saori

Saori Kimura
Class of 2022

Saori chose the MDA program instead of traditional offerings for its skills-based curriculum and practical focus on understanding data.

Admissions

Minerva’s unique admissions process gives talented students from around the world better access to quality education. By reducing biases stemming from standardized tests and admissions fees, our merit-based approach focuses on who you are, how you think, and what you have achieved.

Admissions

Accessible Education

Offered at a fraction of the cost of other competitive graduate programs, the MDA is intentionally designed to be affordable, with no compromise in quality. If admitted, you will also be eligible for a low-interest student loan.

Tuition & Financing

Practical Applied Projects

To allow you to begin applying your learning while still in the program, all assessment in the MDA is conducted through project-based assignments rather than exams, with several opportunities to customize projects by choosing topics you are passionate about.

Academic Program

Nominate a Candidate

Ideal MDA candidates are purpose-driven individuals who are seeking to advance their careers while making a positive global impact. To recommend an individual with potential, please complete the nomination form.

Nominate