Analytics Lab

A-Lab at a glance

  • Term

    Fall

  • Units

    9

  • Eligible students

    All MIT Sloan and MIT graduate students with permission of instructor

  • Prerequisites

    No

  • Bid/Application

    Application

  • Host organization profile

    Organizations of any industry or size interested in using analytics to solve a business problem or advance an innovation

  • Sample sectors

    Big data as a service, e-commerce, finance, fraud detection, global health, insurance, medical supply chains, nonprofits and philanthropy, social networks, sports analytics, workplace safety

  • Sample host organizations

    Amazon, Boston Public Schools, CMA-CGM, Dell Services, Duolingo, eBay, Gates Foundation, GE Transportation, IBM Watson, LinkedIn, MassMutual, MasterCard, Nasdaq, Sanofi, the UN, Visa, Wayfair, Workday

The class

Analytics Lab is a graduate-level, fall-only course, open by selective admission to students within Sloan and across other schools at MIT. 

All admitted students have completed relevant coursework drawing from statistics, computer science, management, and economics. Students are proficient in at least one programming language (typically Python or R) and have a strong background in machine learning and predictive analytics.

Student teams consist of three to four students. The course is not open to listeners and in-person attendance at all sessions is mandatory.

Each team is mentored by an MIT IDE-affiliated faculty member, research scientist, postdoc, or PhD student, and teams have regular check-in meetings with their project sponsor across the semester.

Application process

Application for Fall 2024 is due July 17

Students with a background in analytics, statistics, computer science, management, and economics may apply here.

After the initial deadline, applications are considered on a rolling basis and as space allows. 

Students come from a wide variety of programs, including

  • MBA
  • EMBA
  • Sloan Fellows
  • MFin
  • SDM
  • IDM
  • LGO
  • ORC
  • MSMS
  • EECS
  • Urban Studies
  • Required for MBAn

Course timeline

  • July 17

    Student application deadline.

  • Mid-September

    Pitch day. 

  • Late September

    Project-team-mentor matching finalized. 

  • Early December

    Final presentations session.