How much do MS CS programs value non-CS technical backgrounds?

[actuary]

Hello everyone,

 

New to the forum here, and I have a few questions about admissions to MS CS programs. 

 

First some background. I graduated with bachelors degrees in actuarial science, economics, and statistics (3.8 GPA) 4 years ago and have been working as an actuary since, doing a variety of things, but most recently, predictive modeling (GLMs, Neural Nets, etc).  I am now looking to get into a data science-y type role for one of the tech giants.  While I have good work experience with modeling and data analysis, I have almost no background in computing apart from 2 programming classes in college. 

 

Basically, I am wondering if 1) a MS CS is the right path to help me get to where I want to be and 2) if good MS CS programs will consider my technical background (though non-CS) to be complete enough for admission, or if not 3) if I should instead take some NDO CS classes to bulk up my credentials first?

 

Sorry for the long post, but I'd appreciate any advice anyone can offer!

 

[compiler_guy]

Hello everyone,

 

New to the forum here, and I have a few questions about admissions to MS CS programs. 

 

First some background. I graduated with bachelors degrees in actuarial science, economics, and statistics (3.8 GPA) 4 years ago and have been working as an actuary since, doing a variety of things, but most recently, predictive modeling (GLMs, Neural Nets, etc).  I am now looking to get into a data science-y type role for one of the tech giants. 

An advanced degree in statistics\operations research\computer science is probably good enough for being a data scientist. Though bear in mind you should focus on machine-learning and similar fields.

 

 

Basically, I am wondering if 1) a MS CS is the right path to help me get to where I want to be and 2) if good MS CS programs will consider my technical background (though non-CS) to be complete enough for admission, or if not 3) if I should instead take some NDO CS classes to bulk up my credentials first?orry for the long post, but I'd appreciate any advice anyone can offer!

Your final degree goal for will likely be a PhD. If an MS will help you get there - go for it. But if you could get there without the MS - great!

Graduate program's admission committees look mainly for research experience. Taking some CS classes might help your SOP but will not enhance your application as much as you wish.