Know what your goal is
The university means it when it says candidates don’t need to have prior programming or analytical experience before applying. UC Berkeley “intentionally keeps a mix” in the backgrounds of its admitted students profile, Hughes says.
About 5% to 10% of the class holds a Ph. D. in another discipline like computer science or economics. The remaining students in the class are professionals looking to transition into data science, undergraduate students with backgrounds in cognate fields like computer science, economics, political science, or psychology, and those looking to improve their management of data science teams.
Despite coming from various backgrounds, the cohort has one thing in common: they are all aware of their post-program career goals. A statement of purpose, which is a component of the application, is how applicants must convey their intention and vision.
Hughes explains that they look at the statement of purpose to see if the applicant has a plan for what they want to do with their education after it’s over. “We recognize that as participants move through the program, that may change, but they do have some idea of what they want to do with this,” ”.
When Mehra enrolled in the full-time data science program at UC Berkeley, she was very clear about her goals. She had a computer science undergraduate degree and worked as a software and data engineer at Goldman Sachs for the first four years of her postgraduate career. After some time, she realized she wanted more from a career in data.
Being sufficiently close to the data, she tells Fortune, “I realized there was a lot I could do with it.” “I was a data engineer by title, but I [took on] a lot of data analyst responsibility, too, because I was so familiar with the data and knew so much about what we had and what we might do with it,” ”.
She later made the decision that she wanted to pursue formal training in data science so that she could pursue a career more closely tied to machine learning and artificial intelligence, which she addressed in her statement of purpose. Mehra enrolled in the master’s program in 2020, and she will graduate this year. She still plans to work as an engineer in machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Hughes continues, “Students should be concentrating on their statement of purpose.” They need to have a clear idea of how they want to apply data science to their work, or at least the beginnings of one. ”.
Recognize your strengths and show you’re a problem solver
Mehra acknowledged that one of her advantages going into the program was that she had a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a lot of experience with coding and working with data. Though she has friends in the program who come from various academic backgrounds, such as physics and engineering, she claims that having these friends has helped her experience at UC Berkeley.
“The school has been good enough to capture different strengths, but all of those strengths can be applied to the program,” says Mehra, who also notes that working on projects with other students made her realize that each member of her team had something to offer that the others didn’t.
Students must have a strong aptitude for problem solving in order to succeed in these projects and other data science coursework.
%E2%80%9COne of the things that separates a successful data scientist from others is they%E2%80%99re willing to work the entire way through a problem%E2%80%94not just 80% of the way through the problem or not just 90% of the way through the problem%E2%80%94but to really think through every facet and every twist and turn through the entire problem,%E2%80%9D Hugh
He adds that applicants can demonstrate this by describing a prolonged issue they were deeply involved in that they were able to resolve or advance within the company. This can be demonstrated through recommendation letters, the purpose statement, and the admissions committee interview.
Have the ‘resolve to work hard’
The UC Berkeley online master’s in data science program lasts 20 months, and the majority of participants are working professionals. According to Hughes, you must prove in your application that you have the “resolve to study hard” and that you have the ability and desire to put in the work.
Mehra not only works hard in her classes but also contributes to the program as a teaching assistant (TA). She claims that while she was enrolled in the program, the professors at UC Berkeley encouraged her to assume more responsibility.
As a TA, she tries to continue that enthusiasm because she “sees a genuine excitement in them to teach and to help us learn,” she says. As a teaching assistant, Mehra spends time preparing materials for visitors to office hours who want to learn additional material outside of the classroom and responding to inquiries for projects and other assignments.
She says of the program, “The more time you put in, the more you get out of it.”
berkeley mids FAQ | my experience, application tips, etc.
FAQ
Is UC Berkeley mids worth it?
In the U. S. Data from Berkeley’s master of information and data science (MIDS) program shows that graduates in 2021 made an average annual salary of more than $155,000. The program is ranked No. 2 of the top online master’s degree programs in data science in 2022, according to Fortune
How hard is it to get into Masters program at UC Berkeley?
Admission to Berkeley’s graduate programs is intensely competitive. Only one in nine applicants, on average, enrolls in their desired program at Berkeley.
What is mids Berkeley?
The Master of Information and Data Science (MIDS) is an online, part-time professional degree program that equips students with the skills necessary to work productively with heterogeneous, real-world data and to draw insights from it using the most recent tools and analytical techniques.
What GPA do you need to get into UCB?
The minimum GPA requirement for UC Berkeley applicants is 3. 0, but students should strive for a GPA of at least 3 to be truly competitive. 89 (unweighted) or 4. 25 (weighted) for the best chances of gaining admission.