Pre-Skills

View Recording of June 27, 2025 MSMA Academic Pre-skills Student Chat with Academic Director

Students join the Smith School with a variety of technical skills and educational and professional backgrounds. The resources below have been compiled to assist incoming students with preparing for their master's coursework.

UMD students have unlimited access to LinkedIn Learning, an online library of instructional videos covering the latest software, creative, and business skills.

In the MS in Marketing Analytics program, students will use SAS, R, Tableau, and Excel in their first semester. Incoming students do not need to be proficient with these tools prior to the start of classes, however, having some prior experience will be helpful. 

  

Required Summer Pre-Skills Assignment for BUMK726: Statistical Programming for Customer Analytics  

MS in Marketing Analytics students enrolled in BUMK726 should complete the asynchronous "Data Analysis for Decision Making" course by Sunday, August 17, then submit their course certificate via the BUMK726 Canvas page. To earn a certificate, students must complete the final exam with a score of 80% or higher. The exam is designed to be a learning opportunity, so students can retake the exam as many times as needed. 

Course: Data Analysis For Decision Making
Cost: $50 per student
Registration: https://umd-smith-execed.catalog.instructure.com/courses/msma-dadm

Questions about accessing the course can be directed to Kathleen McAleese (mcaleese@umd.edu). 

Questions about the BUMK 726 pre-skills assignment as it relates to course content can be directed to Professor Jason Choi (wjchoi@umd.edu). 

 

Optional Asynchronous Assignments and Reading

Incoming students do not need to be proficient with all of these tools prior to the start of classes, however, having some prior experience could help them learn more effectively.