Data Science and Analytics, M.S. Admission Requirements

Institutional Requirements

• A completed application form with a nonrefundable application fee of $50.
• Official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate coursework. An earned bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university is required.
• International applicants should refer to the International Students area within the “Admissions Information”  section of the catalog for information on providing appropriate documentation with the application.

Program Requirements

• GRE. Submission of an official Graduate Record Examination (GRE) test score. Test must be taken within five years of application. Acceptable GRE minimum score is a verbal and quantitative combination of 300 and 4.0 on the writing assessment.
• Pass an Entrance Exam. Prior to beginning their first graduate courses, all students entering this program must pass a proficiency test that demonstrates pre-requisite knowledge in the areas of fundamental programming, computer science, mathematics, and statistics. The test is administered by the program director. Computing topics covered on the proficiency test include: branching and iteration, String manipulation, guess and check, approximations, bisection, decomposition, abstractions, functions, tuples, lists, aliasing, mutability, cloning, recursion, dictionaries, testing, debugging, exceptions, assertions, object oriented programming, classes and inheritance, understanding program efficiency, searching and sorting. Statistics topics covered on the test include: random variables, distributions, quantiles, mean variance, conditional probability, Bayes’ theorem, base rate fallacy, joint distributions, covariance, correlation, independence, central limit theorem, Bayesian inference with known priors, probability intervals, conjugate priors, Bayesian inference with unknown priors, frequentist significance tests and confidence intervals, resampling methods: bootstrapping, linear regression. For more details on how to prepare for the entrance exam, contact the program director.
• Provide Statement of Purpose. A 300-500 word statement of purpose is required. Applicants should discuss their goals after obtaining the master’s degree and what the applicant believes he/she will contribute to the program.
• Provide Letters of Recommendation. Two letters of recommendation that should provide specifics on the applicant’s motivation and ability to complete the program are required.