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Academics

MS in Data Science

The Master’s in Data Science (MSDS) has been developed for students interested in pursuing a research career in data science with courses taught by faculty from the Departments of Statistics, Computer Science, and others across the university.

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All students enrolled in the MSDS will complete courses fully in-person at UChicago’s Hyde Park campus. Degree completion can range between 9 months or up to 2 years depending on your individualized program plan. Master’s students will be fully integrated into the academic activities of the department alongside our PhD students. In addition, the MSDS community will be able to engage in a variety of research programs and partnerships across the Data Science Institute (DSI) during your residency.

The Curriculum

Students must complete the required 5 core classes, 4 electives, and a comprehensive final project in order to be eligible for degree completion. Prior to beginning the program, the university offers 3 foundational courses designed to help prepare students for the quantitative background needed for the MSDS. Not all students will need to complete these classes. For those who do not enroll in our foundational courses, the minimum number of required classes for the MSDS is 9. For the students who take all foundational courses, you will complete up to 12 classes in total.

Foundational Courses:

Participating students will have the opportunity to test out of each of the 3 foundational courses below. These classes will be offered online and in the late summer prior to the beginning of your start term:

  • Computational Foundations for Data Science
  • Mathematical Foundations for Data Science
  • Statistical Foundations for Data Science

Core & Elective Courses:

All students in the MSDS program will complete the five required core classes below:

  • Introduction to Data Science
  • Systems for Data and Computers/Data Design
  • Data Interaction
  • Introduction to ML and AI OR Foundations of Machine Learning and AI Part I
  • Responsible Use of Data and Algorithms

In addition, students can choose from four graduate-level electives which can be selected from a wide variety of courses in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, as well as across the university.