re: LSUS Online MBA Reviews

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I think it's FIN 740? As weird as it may seem that it would be under FIN (it has nothing to do with Finance), the class actually teaches the basics of the "R" programming language

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Question @baroqen. To what I was reading 740 teach us how to incorporate R for financial modeling?

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According to the requirements of the Data Analytics concentration/specialization, all students pursuing this route unfortunately have to take ISDS 710. I would’ve taken FIN 740 as an elective at least if I didn’t already complete that requirement for the specialization.

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This email came out in January:

On Behalf of the MBA Director:

We are pleased to announce the introduction of FIN 740 Financial Analytics. This course fulfills specialization and concentration requirements for Data Analytics and Finance, as well as a general elective for specializations or General Business. FIN 740 will be offered for the first time in Spring AP2 (2019). Here are three courses of action that may apply to you:

Essentially, a specialization should only require you to cover 2 out of the 3 available electives. For DA, the useful ones would be ISDS 702 and FIN 740. Getting your feet wet in "R" is going to be infinitely more useful than the "analytics" joke that is ISDS 710. ISDS 710 should have been re-labeled MKT 7XX. It's a marketing class with only a tangential relationship to analytics.

Of course, ISDS 710 should also be an easier class than FIN 740... The choice would be more related to whether you want something useful or just an easy class to "check the box" for your DA spec. However, keep in mind that if you actually want to apply for an analytics job, being able to say "I took a semester on Financial modeling in R" will make you sound a lot better than "I have absolutely zero exposure or experience in any form of real analytics".

A single R class isn't an enormous amount of experience, but it's certainly better than zero. It also tells a prospective hiring manager that you have at least some capacity for using analytics tools rather than just a fresh grad who knows how to write papers about marketing (ie. ISDS 710).

kikicub,

I'll chime in on your question regarding ISDS 705 and Lind even though I have two weeks left to go.

I signed up thinking Lind and Lin were/was the same person, yup, didn't catch the d at the end of the name.

So far? Poor class. I have learned very litte, the course work is nonsensical by form of a group project, quizzes, exams and forums.

The group project manual and grading sheets had Darban's name on it until she changed it a few weeks in so I can assume Darban requires a group project as well.

Group project is a nuissance and will depend on your 5 - 8 other team mates' effort. This requires your group to actually make contact with a company, interview them, conduct weekly VTC's with your team, and colloboration on both a written project 20 pages long AND a 15-20 min oral presentation accompanied with graphics. This eats up most of the time required for the course which or me has been roughly 3 - 4 hours a week on top of the other course work.

The quizzes are not challenging, the reading is out of date (2014) for a technical class, so thus far, I feel the class is a waste, albeit a requirement.

The professor is non-existent and the advisors who grade do not stick to the rubrics thus far. I look forward to ending this course and will avoid Prof. Lind's classes in the future.

Hope this helps.

Mohawk MBA

You should have access to Moodle now using the same credentials as Compass ( LINK ).

Logging in now will fam yourself with the GUI and some of the pre req's your are supposed to, but not required, do.

The emails from each course are dependant on the Professor for each. Some send them the day before, others a weekin advance.

Good luck, I do not have experience with the classes/instructors you mentioned.

Appreciate the response and extra information/suggestions. I do remember that email now that you mention it, but I would’ve thought they would update their course requirements on their website. It would be interesting to take FIN740 but I’ll have to change up my schedule.

My options now are to either do one of the following:

Option 1:
Summer 2019 AP1 - MKT701 w/ Imran, Khan
Summer 2019 AP2 - ISDS702 w/ Koksal, Ahmet

Fall 2019 AP1 - FIN740 w/ Kim, Sung

Option 2:
Summer 2019 AP2 - ISDS702 w/ Koksal, Ahmet

Fall 2019 AP1 - MKT701 w/ Koksal, Ahmet
Fall 2019 AP2 - ISDS710 w/ Darrat

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So bear in mind... the class sounds tough and it will probably be a rough expeience, I won't lie. FIN is probably one of the classes I enjoyed the absolute least, and learning R was also pretty tough. Combining the two sounds nightmarish... but I'd do it over ISDS 710 if I'd had the chance.

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I actually look forward to this class. I am into programming and am interested in building financial models.

Has anyone taken ISDS720 that can provide some insight into the class structure and workload? Curious if it can be paired with MADM 701 with Kungu.

AlphaBravo1979, thank you!!! I really appreciate your thoughtful response. I thought Lind and Lin were the same person as well and then realized belatedly. I just switched to Darban but it sounds like I have quite the group project to look forward to ?? thanks again!

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I'm in MKT701 with Khan. He actually took a suggestion and posted a practice exam the first week

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I found him to be one of the more enjoyable/open professors so far of my 5 classes. We shared a few emails back and forth so I felt there was a bit of a connection. The other professors are absent.

Remaining Classes/Professors:
FIN 701 - Sung Kim
MADM 751 - Meeks
MADM 701 - TBA (Kungu hopefully) Only show F. Williams as of right now, remainder are TBA. I will NOT take her class. Heard too many bad things.
ECON 705 - Shaughnessy
ISDS 705 - Gibbs (hopefully)

kikicub,

In regards to the Group Project for ISDS 705, the project is a subjective experience relative to the type of individuals in your group AND size. Mine started with 7 but ended with 5 after about 40% of the entire class of 200 dropped. Some groups stayed at 9.

My view is "glass half empty" as I was expecting a light load course so bear in mind my perspective. HAD I paired this with another course I would be agitated. Since I did not it is still doable BUT I have done a substantial amount of nonsensical busy work writing for the project.

The direct answer is: depends on your group.

The coaches do not moderate so you are completely left to your own on IF you want to correct the work of others or micro-manage other grown adults in your off time. My group experience has been positive and still has eaten a significant portion of my work week.

Good luck