Switching Fields to Business Analytics: How Ping Got Into UCL MSBA

Updated 2026/10/16

Today Ping, a National Chengchi University graduate who was admitted to UCL’s MSBA straight out of college, shares her experience applying across fields, along with her college internship and project work. I think it will help anyone applying to business analytics or switching fields!

In this article

📂 The difference between Data Science and Business Analytics
📂 Writing the SOP: clearly link your skills to the curriculum and highlight your coursework and internship
📂 English resume tips: connect past experience to the skills an MSBA needs, and use active or leadership verbs to show how involved you were
📂 Internship: using data analysis and business insight at an e-commerce internship, and how business analytics experience and quantified results help an application
📂 Building a programming background: focus on analytical skills. Business analytics values the ability to interpret results, and programming isn’t a strict requirement
📂 Applying across fields: try different areas, take courses, join related clubs and use online courses to strengthen your background
📂 Try projects early, play to your strengths, get clear on your career goals, build your skills and find an industry to specialize in

About UCL’s MSc Business Analytics

University College London (UCL) is one of the UK’s G5 super elite universities and, after Oxford and Cambridge, the third-oldest university in the UK. The G5 are Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London (ICL), the London School of Economics (LSE) and University College London (UCL).

Interestingly, outside study-abroad circles the names UCL and “University College London” don’t seem very well known, and people often mistake it for a “college” rather than a university. In fact, UCL has never dropped out of the top ten in the QS World University Rankings since 2012, and it placed 9th in the latest 2024 ranking.

The MSc Business Analytics (MSBA) covered here has grown more popular at business schools every year. One reason is that business students choosing a master’s want to keep up with a fast-changing job market, build hard skills and become more competitive, and employers are looking for cross-disciplinary people who can collect, analyze and visualize data, set strategy and bring business sense. As a result, applications to UCL’s MSc Business Analytics have soared year after year and competition has grown with them. The program expects applicants to have a relevant background, and its language and undergraduate grade requirements are fairly demanding.

College background and experience

When did you become interested in business analytics and data science, and why?

After taking a general-education programming course in my freshman year, I first got interested in coding. I also love digging up all kinds of information, and my major had lots of reports to write. Doing the same steps over and over, I gradually found it fun to use code to pull data together and present it in a report.

Which courses did you take in college, what did you learn, and how did they affect your master’s applications?

I think the most important course for my applications was a data analysis course taught by a professor from the statistics department. It taught the R language, and because of how the course was designed, I came away with many projects I could put on my resume when applying for master’s programs.

Applying across fields

You were admitted to several top UK data science and business analytics master’s programs. What do you see as the difference between Data Science and Business Analytics, and how do the applications differ?

Data Science puts more weight on understanding statistics and having a statistics background. The courses focus on the theory behind different statistical models and methods so you can build models yourself. Business Analytics puts relatively more weight on industry knowledge, which you need to interpret the data and the results of your analysis. So the two programs also look for different backgrounds.

From writing your SOP, can you share what helped you get into several top business schools?

I think it’s because I wrote to the skills their programs require and linked my experience clearly to their curriculum.

For example, in my SOP:

1. I spelled out the skills my college courses gave me
2. Then how I applied them in my internship
3. And even which skills I wanted to keep developing in their courses

What tips and priorities do you have for preparing an English resume?

The most important thing by far is connecting your past experience to the skills the program wants, and showing that you actually used those techniques and skills in that experience. Besides listing your key courses on your resume, the projects and reports you’ve done are one of the most direct ways to show what you can do. Also, when Jason helped me revise my resume, he pointed out that I should use more active or leadership verbs to show how involved I was in my projects.

Why did you choose UCL’s MSc Business Analytics in the end? Are there courses or resources you’re especially looking forward to?

Besides UCL being one of the G5, the main reason I chose it was the project course in the final term, done in partnership with companies. For electives, they split the courses into two modules, and you decide in the second term which direction you want to take.

Internships, projects and coursework

How did you use data analysis and business insight in your projects during your e-commerce internship? How did the internship help your career and your applications?

My department was in charge of planning marketing and seasonal promotions, so when we planned promotions I got to use the platform’s huge volume of sales data to choose products. Thanks to that experience, I could show in my applications that I had a real understanding of business analytics and could present my past experience in numbers.

You took part in many projects and activities in college. Which had the biggest impact on your business analytics and data science skills?

Both business analytics and data science are rooted in statistics, and since a UK master’s lasts only one year, I think my project experience made me stand out clearly in my applications. It proved I had enough statistical knowledge and also showed I knew how to use the relevant tools.

Other questions

Is it harder to get into business analytics without much programming background? How can applicants from other fields strengthen their experience?

I think you can focus on building your analytical skills, because business analytics cares more about how you explain the results to clients. So I don’t think a limited programming background makes business analytics harder to get into. After all, the program pages don’t explicitly say you need programming skills.

Applying across fields, I’ve always been glad that, before I had a clear goal, I kept trying all sorts of different fields. If you’re still in school, I’d say take a range of related courses and join related clubs. There’s also a huge variety of online courses now, and many sites have complete teaching material. Some schools do strictly require a background in the same field, but you can use credit counts to put yourself on the same starting line as applicants from that field.

If you could redo your four years of college, what would you change?

If I could do it again, I’d raise my grades in my freshman and sophomore years so I could double major in computer science. Business programs train soft skills, but if you also have hard skills, you’ll have a wider choice of jobs and schools you can apply to. When I first chose schools, my background kept holding me back. I worried I’d be screened out at the background review, so my list of schools ended up somewhat limited. With enough background skills from the start, I could also have gone deeper into a specific field.

A few words for younger students who also want to pursue Data Science and Business Analytics…

If you still have time before applying, try to get more related work or project experience. It will strengthen your application and help you see more clearly which industry you want to specialize in.

To compare the backgrounds and approaches of more MSBA students, see What is an MSBA? A guide to applying for business analytics master’s programs, which brings together the experiences of 9 students.