Love data? Compete in the Brandeis Datathon

Student winners of the datathon pose with their plaques with the professor and judges.

Do you have a passion for business analytics? The Brandeis Datathon is a great way to put your knowledge and skills to the test.

Here’s how the competition works: Teams of students are given a data set from a participating company and are tasked with solving a real business problem. After presenting their solutions, the winning team is decided by a panel of expert judges.

This multi-day event is sponsored by the Data Analytics Club and Career Strategies and Engagement Center at Brandeis International Business School.

At a recent Datathon, students worked with Applica Solutions to boost the AI marketing company’s social media engagement on Facebook and Twitter/X.

I’m proud to share that my team won the competition. As a prize, we were awarded internship opportunities at Applica — a great resume builder!

Hands-on data experience

The most challenging aspect of the Datathon was breaking down the company’s data set to derive accurate business strategies.

My teammates (Nitishranjan Kund, MSBA’25 and Carolyn Lisboa, MSBA’25) and I spent much of our time analyzing the data using Excel and SQL. A breakthrough came when we uncovered the relationship between “likes” and “clicks” on social media.

Contrary to our initial belief, we discovered that “clicks,” which lead users to other web pages, are often as significant as “likes.” This insight formed the cornerstone of our recommendations, which earned acclaim from the judges for our data-driven approach.

The ambiguity in the data meant our team was forced to make several educated assumptions, mirroring a typical scenario in the business world. This experience not only honed my data skills but will serve as a valuable talking point during future job interviews.

From classroom to competition

I learned Python, SQL and R during my first semester at Brandeis, so the Datathon represented a great opportunity to apply these skills.

Classes like Data Analytics and Information Visualization have also been instrumental in my learning about data cleaning and wrangling. That’s why I was also eager to experience what it’s like to work with real-world data, which can often be unstructured and require intricate preprocessing and cleaning.

Beyond these hands-on data skills, the Datathon offered the invaluable opportunity to connect with industry experts and judges, broadening my professional network. These interactions provided insights into industry expectations and emerging trends — a big advantage for my upcoming internship and job search.

My Datathon experience wasn’t just about data analysis. It was a gateway to understanding the practicalities of the field and building valuable professional connections.

Student Insights features blog posts produced by current students and recent graduates of Brandeis International Business School. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author.