[Fall 2020 Data Science/Analytics Master Applicant Thread]

On 2/23/2020 at 10:21 PM, swcb said:

Hi All, 

 

Accepted

Harvard Masters in Data Science

Stanford MS Statistics: Data Science

U Penn Masters in Data Science

Northwestern Masters in Analytics

Interviewing

MIT MBAn

Pending

CMU Masters in Computational Data Science

 

I am currently deciding between Harvard and Stanford's Masters in Data Science - if anyone has any opinions or information about either program, I am interested to know your thoughts! 

Thanks!!

First off, congratulations! That's an amazing set of schools to choose from, and no matter which one you pick, I'm sure you'll be very successful. I think it would help if you clarified what you hoped to do after your master's degree. I imagine you're going to industry (hence data science over pure statistics?), but I'd like to just quickly plug Stanford. As a disclaimer, I'm not familiar with the master's in data science as I think that was created after I graduated. Glancing at the requirements for various departments, it does seem true that Stanford's program is more rigorous than other data science programs out there. I wouldn't shy away from that though. If you're excited to be challenged academically, Stanford might be a really great fit for you! You'll also be surrounded by really strong students that can help connect you to exciting jobs and opportunities that you might have a harder time finding at schools not in the Bay Area. And for what it's worth, I think having a really great fundamental understanding of statistics can differentiate you from the larger pool of data scientists tech companies hire from. I hope that's helpful and good luck!