Duke MIDS 2018

[sweetchild]

Hi all!

I wanted to say hey to any admitted students to the new Duke MIDS program!  What's your background and research interest? Are you ready to accept? 

Personally, I'm 2014 cognitive science graduate from the University of Rochester. I've gotten ~3 years of work experience in nonprofit evaluation and market research. I'm excited to learn more of the hard programming and statistical skills that I've been picking up in my post-undergrad life and start applying them to the world of social sciences. Duke seems to be a program that values a diverse application of data science beyond the traditional finance and tech world, so I'm really strongly considering accepting their offer

Tbh, I'm a little concerned with the fact that this is such a new program with no track record of success yet. How's everyone else feeling?

[kir2]

Hi!

I'm very excited to have been admitted to Duke's MIDS program! I'm an Economics major (math and management information systems minors) currently finishing up my senior year at Santa Clara University. I personally really like the variety and amount of courses offered in Duke's program, and even though it is a new program, it seems like the faculty are highly knowledgeable. I have also been accepted to UW, NYU, Georgia Tech, and Georgetown, but Duke is probably my top choice at the moment. I'm going to visit the campus in a week, and I'm hoping that will help with my decision. 

[sweetchild]

22 hours ago, kir2 said:

Hi!

I'm very excited to have been admitted to Duke's MIDS program! I'm an Economics major (math and management information systems minors) currently finishing up my senior year at Santa Clara University. I personally really like the variety and amount of courses offered in Duke's program, and even though it is a new program, it seems like the faculty are highly knowledgeable. I have also been accepted to UW, NYU, Georgia Tech, and Georgetown, but Duke is probably my top choice at the moment. I'm going to visit the campus in a week, and I'm hoping that will help with my decision. 

Hi @kir2 - Happy to see someone else in this thread!  I've also been accepted to a few other programs, but am trying to decide between NYU and Duke (very different choices I know). I'm also going down to visit the campus next week, maybe we'll run into each other at the SSRI..

[zisheng]

Hey all

I'm a Computer Science major about to graduate and I'm excited as well to be accepted. While I am concerned about  this new program, Duke's track record with other graduate programs eases that concern, as well as the skilled faculty.

I have a strong research interest in convolutional neural networks - be it vision or NLP- while also desiring to learn more about 'interdisciplinary' skills in Data Science. I have a offer in the industry with a startup, and I'm currently deciding between Duke and the startup. I am debating whether I want to gain industry skills and then pursue Data Science, or take advantage of the breadth of Duke's courses to prepare me for the data science industry.

After speaking with the admissions committee they mentioned they are coming up with a info session for accepted students, and I hope with that session I can be better informed about my decision.

Thanks for starting the thread and I hope to hear more from others!

[The Prince of Uncertainty]

Has anyone received financial aid or tuition fee waiver from the Duke MIDS program? The only problem that i see is the high cost of the program. If anyone could give some insight or information with respect to the financial aid, it would be really great. Since, the acceptance deadline is April 15th, have you guys submitted your response or are you waiting for other admission results?

[sweetchild]

4 hours ago, The Prince of Uncertainty said:

Has anyone received financial aid or tuition fee waiver from the Duke MIDS program? The only problem that i see is the high cost of the program. If anyone could give some insight or information with respect to the financial aid, it would be really great. Since, the acceptance deadline is April 15th, have you guys submitted your response or are you waiting for other admissi

I spoke to Dr. Nechyba on Monday - he said he'll most likely be finishing his decisions on financial aid later this week. I'm also waiting on news for funding!

[kir2]

I just accepted my offer today

[The Prince of Uncertainty]

@kir2 Hey Congratulations. You had some great admits UW, NYU, GATECH. What made you to choose Duke over these universities? And the tuition fees of UW and GATECH is very less when compared to Duke. And also UW and GATECH, are way ahead when it comes to graduate computer science and statistics rankings. Since, I'm also pondering over my Duke decision, i wanted to understand what attracted you to Duke, the positive points?It will also help me in a way in getting more clarity.

[The Prince of Uncertainty]

@sweetchild Hey, as per today's date you have a 100% success rate with respect to the admits :-) And you have some great admits. So, as of now, how likely are you about to join Duke? Since, the acceptance deadlines for universities are approaching, what is your stance with respect to the Duke MIDS program? I think it will be Duke vs NYU vs Columbia for you. All the best :-)

[kir2]

@The Prince of Uncertainty Even though the MIDS program is new, I really like that the program allows you to take classes across multiple departments. Since I am an Economics person, I like having the option to take classes in Economics and related fields. Duke is also stronger in Economics and business than most of the other schools, such as UW and GaTech. Duke is also strong in statistics, and many places have it ranked above GaTech for statistics. Being from the San Francisco Bay Area, Duke as a whole seems to be much more highly regarded in my area than NYU, GaTech, and UW as well. The UW and NYU programs were structured to only have classes at night, which I don't like since I will not be working while taking classes. I especially did not like the idea of commuting in NYC at night, so that was a big downside for me. Full time at UW was 2 courses per quarter, and there didn't appear to be any electives, so I crossed that off my list pretty quickly. I visited both Duke and GaTech, and I like Duke way better. All of the people at Duke seemed very friendly, and the program directors want to help everyone find their individual path, unlike some of the larger programs and ones with PhD programs, where the PhD students are more important. I really like the small class size at Duke since they were very clear they will only have 30-35 people in the program. Tuition was less of a concern for me, especially since I had a full scholarship for undergrad as a Division 1 athlete, so I never had to pay for any of my undergraduate education. The cost of living in Durham is so much less than any of the other places (especially NYC), so that somewhat offsets the high tuition. 

[sweetchild]

@The Prince of Uncertainty I actually just received my financial aid package today, and unfortunately there was no scholarship which I was very disappointed to see given the high tuition. But that said, @kir2 is right, the high tuition is offset by the low cost of Durham. When calculating the overall cost (including fees, room, board, etc.) of NYU vs. Duke, the two programs come out within a couple thousand USD of each other. So apparently cost will not be deciding factor here.

I also really like the amount of personal attention that Duke plans to give each masters student and the amount of flexibility in the curriculum. From what I can tell, NYU yields graduates in tech (~50% of graduates), finance (~30%), marketing (~15%) and not a lot anywhere else (https://cds.nyu.edu/academics/careers-in-data-science/). But that could also just be a reflection of the current job market. Nevertheless, as someone who's not too interested in applying data science to those sectors and more interested in policy evaluation/healthcare, the Duke program seems more tailored to my interests. Although I am much more drawn to NYC, I think the program at Duke seems like the better fit for me. That said, I feel like I change my mind everyday so there's clearly merits to both programs. 

I haven't received a decision from Columbia yet, but from what I've heard the Columbia program is more tailored to consultant work/working with out-of-the-box solutions where NYU's program is focused on more "scrappy" innovations. I haven't given it as much thought as the Duke and NYU programs because I don't want to invest if I just end up getting rejected. 

[Azucena MV]

Hi everyone!,

Congratulations to all of you. I am also glad to be accepted to the MIDS program. I am an actuarial science graduate, which means a fairly good background of maths, statistics, finance and insurance. I have two years of experience as an analyst in a central bank. I have also been admitted at Georgia Tech Analytics program, which I believe has a great curriculum. I am still deciding which of these two programs is the best fit for me. As an international student, one of my biggest concerns was the financial aid. Duke and Georgia already gave me a partial tuition scholarship, which makes both programs affordable. The things I like about MIDS is that the class is really small so it will be more personalized than Georgia, it includes an internship and one year capstone project and the fact that I can take advantage of the statistics department which I believe is the strength of Duke. In the other hand, Georgia program looks more attractive to me because it seems more intensive and challenging than other programs. 

I really hope the info session would help me to decide! I would appreciate any advice too. I might go to visit Duke and Georgia, it seems like it helped @sweetchild to decide.

Hope to hear more from others!

 

 

 

[The Prince of Uncertainty]

@Azucena MV Congrats on the admission at Duke and GaTech :-) I'm also an international student, and one of my biggest concerns is the high tuition at Duke. Whatever advantage Durham offered with respect to the living cost has been nullified by the high tuition cost of the program. So, when did Duke notify you about the financial aid? And how much financial aid did the Duke MIDS program give you,  if you could mention a ballpark or approximate figure (in USD$), it would be very helpful. I haven't heard anything with respect to the financial aid yet. At this moment you and @sweetchild are the only ones who have received the financial aid notification. I like the Duke's program very much but the high tuition price is my only concern.

[czjs]

@Azucena MV, I also have the same situation as you. Gatech Analytics and Duke MIDS. Have you made your decision? I find Duke MIDS is super expensive. If there is no funding, I don't think I can afford.

[Azucena MV]

Sorry for not answering sooner @The Prince of Uncertainty, I hope you had already receive some information. If not, just in case you haven't, you should contact Thomas about this. I could tell you more about the numbers ($) but only to you, please send me a message if you are still interested. 

I think we should talk about our situation @czjs, I am still waiting for another university to make my final decision.

[The Prince of Uncertainty]

@Azucena MV Messaged you, please kindly check your inbox. Thanks :-)