My S is considering going back to school to get a master’s degree. He’s currently working full time, so would be attending at night. He graduated a year ago with a degree in mechanical engineering, but has been working in computer science. He is debating on whether to get a masters in CS or Data Science. He thinks data science is more interesting and may be more manageable, but wants to get the best degree he can. Any advice? Thanks!
OP wrote: “but he wants to get the best degree he can.”
Best degree in what respect ?
Both fields/specialties/degrees offer strong job prospects.
Since your son will be working full time & attending school at night, he must have a particular school in mind. Ask the school placement office / career counseling office which degree attracts more employers & recruiters.
Although it can vary by school, my understanding is that “data science” requires and includes a lot of CS courses.
@ACollegeFan My nephew got an online data science masters degree from Cal Berkeley. It’s a great program, very flexible, and opened doors for him. He is now working as a senior data scientist for a health science consulting firm.
There are quite a few other online programs. The diplomas don’t say whether they were earned online or on campus.
https://datascience.berkeley.edu/
Consider this anecdotal and not authoritative, but my observation is that people that studied math, stats, and data science tend to think more effectively as data scientists, even though CS grads are more than capable and do great things with data science.
Also, UT-Austin, which already offers an online CS masters for $10k (cheap compared to others), announced yesterday that they will offer a similar program for data science.
I have no connection or preference for UT, but throw that out there as an economical option.
Also, there are many good programs out there, but in my limited research, they are all very different. Probably goes without saying, but looking into the specific classes and types of things a program teaches to find what interests your son the most is very important. As opposed to something like ME, where there are a lot of program-to-program similarities, one may just be tempted to go with the “best” school.
I’m curious to see what route your son takes, for my own reference!
By best degree I mean one where you will learn the most and be the most marketable to employers. Thanks.
Great information! He just started looking into doing this, but has considered Johns Hopkins, George Mason and UVA (where he did his undergrad). Will definitely tell him to research Berkeley and UT Austin.