Data consultant education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

There are several educational requirements to become a data consultant. Data consultants usually study business, computer science, or electrical engineering. 61% of data consultants hold a bachelor's degree, and 20% hold an master's degree. We analyzed 2,666 real data consultant resumes to see exactly what data consultant education sections show.

The most common colleges for data consultants are the University of Phoenix and the University of Phoenix.

There are also many online data consultant courses to help get the education required to be a data consultant.

What education do you need to become a data consultant?

What degree do you need to be a data consultant?

The most common degree for data consultants is bachelor's degree, with 61% of data consultants earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are master's degree degree at 20% and master's degree degree at 9%.

Bachelor's, 61%

Master's, 20%

Associate, 9%

Doctorate, 3%

Other Degrees, 7%

What should I major in to become a data consultant?

You should major in business to become a data consultant. 18% of data consultants major in business. Other common majors for a data consultant include computer science and electrical engineering.

Business, 18%

Computer Science, 15%

Electrical Engineering, 6%

Nursing, 5%

Other Majors, 56%

Most common colleges for data consultants

Data consultants often get their degrees at University of Phoenix, Cornell University, and University of Maryland - College Park. Here are the most common colleges for data consultants in the US based on their resumes.

Data consultant common college	Percentages
University of Phoenix	9.32%
Cornell University	5.93%
University of Maryland - College Park	5.51%
Boston University	5.51%
University of Cincinnati	5.08%

Show more common data consultant colleges

Best majors for data consultants

Rank	Major	Percentages
1	Business	18.3%
2	Computer Science	15.0%
3	Electrical Engineering	6.0%
4	Nursing	5.3%
5	Finance	5.2%

Show more common data consultant majors

Best colleges for data consultants

The best colleges for data consultants are University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, and University of Southern California.

A data consultant with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for data consultants. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become data consultants.

1. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

2. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-state tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

3. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

4. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

5. George Washington University, The

Washington, DC • Private

In-state tuition

$55,230

Enrollment

12,161

6. Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$18,454

Enrollment

40,108

7. University of Rochester

Rochester, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$53,909

Enrollment

6,348

8. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

In-state tuition

$50,420

Enrollment

7,582

9. University of Miami

Coral Gables, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$50,226

Enrollment

10,873

10. SUNY at Buffalo

Buffalo, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$10,099

Enrollment

21,404

20 best online courses for data consultants

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Harness Excel, SQL, and Tableau to drive powerful analysis and insights. Build confidence and credibility to apply this versatile skill set to countless jobs. This course is offered in person and live online, in a remote classroom setting...

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Use Python, SQL and Statistics to advance your programming skills and refine your ability to work with messy, complex datasets...

4. Data Structures and Algorithms

Get hands-on practice with over 80 data structures and algorithm exercises and guidance from a dedicated mentor to help prepare you for interviews and on-the-job scenarios...

5. Data Warehouse ETL Testing & Data Quality Management A-Z

4.4

(2,977)

ETL Testing and Data Quality Management for beginners with practical exercises and certificate of completion...

6. Teradata SQL for Data Science and Data Analytics

4.5

(1,525)

A complete course on learning SQL using Teradata Database...

7. Intro to Data Analytics

Discover if data is a career fit for you Regardless of your industry or role, fluency in the language of data analytics will allow you to contribute to data driven decision making. In this free, two-hour livestream, you’ll learn to understand, analyze, and interpret data so you too can join the data conversation. We’ll cover how to ask the right questions of your data and basic analytic functionality. Then you’ll apply your new found data analytic skills to a real-world dataset, allowing you...

8. Data Visualization

You will start by building data visualizations and dashboards, considering your audiences to be as effective as possible. Then, you’ll move into drafting presentations using storytelling techniques, visualizations, and animations to provide data-driven recommendations...

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This course prepares participants to begin running data analysis on databases...

11. Data Engineering - ETL, Web Scraping ,Big Data,SQL,Power BI

4.2

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Hands on Data Interaction using - ETL, Web Scraping ,Big Data,SQL,Power BI...

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14. Complete Data Wrangling & Data Visualisation With Python

4.4

(853)

Learn to Preprocess, Wrangle and Visualise Data For Practical Data Science Applications in Python...

15. Statistical Data Analysis with SAS

4.4

(575)

Understanding the Data Flow in SAS: Learn SAS Programming from Data Importing, Management, Manipulation to Data Analysis...

16. Statistics / Data Analysis: Survey Data and Likert Scales

4.6

(505)

How to Process Survey Data and Analyze Likert Scales In SPSS...

17. Data Analyst - ETL/SSIS/SQL/PowerBI

4.2

(350)

Learn to extract ,transform, and analyse data...

18. SQL Course 2023: SQL for Data Analysis and Data Science.

(894)

Master the Art of SQL Querying and Postgre SQL for Data Analysis and Data Science An using Real World SQL Database...

19. Data Warehouse Developer-SQL Server/ETL/SSIS/SSAS/SSRS/T-SQL

4.3

(1,477)

Develop and Implement a Data Warehouse Solution Step by step...

20. The Data Science Course: Complete Data Science Bootcamp 2023

4.6

(130,823)

Complete Data Science Training: Mathematics, Statistics, Python, Advanced Statistics in Python, Machine & Deep Learning...

Top 10 most affordable universities for data consultants

The most affordable schools for data consultants are Baruch College of the City University of New York, university of florida, and california state university - bakersfield.

If the best universities for data consultants are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for data consultants.

1. Baruch College of the City University of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,262

Cost of attendance

14,046

2. University of Florida

Gainesville, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,381

Cost of attendance

21,034

3. California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$7,309

Cost of attendance

16,714

4. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,798

Cost of attendance

18,306

5. Brigham Young University

Provo, UT • Private

In-state tuition

$5,620

Cost of attendance

18,136

6. SUNY Farmingdale

Farmingdale, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$8,306

Cost of attendance

16,091

7. Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$5,656

Cost of attendance

21,623

8. University of Houston - Victoria

Victoria, TX • Private

In-state tuition

$6,491

Cost of attendance

19,075

9. University of South Florida

Tampa, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,410

Cost of attendance

20,456

10. California State University - Fullerton

Fullerton, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,886

Cost of attendance

17,645

Top 10 hardest universities to get into for data consultants

The hardest universities for data consultants to get into are University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, and University of Southern California.

Some great schools for data consultants are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for data consultants based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.

1. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

Admissions rate

SAT average

1,492

2. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

Admissions rate

SAT average

1,508

3. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

Admissions rate

13%

SAT average

1,445

4. New York University

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

20%

SAT average

1,419

5. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

Admissions rate

SAT average

1,520

6. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

Admissions rate

11%

SAT average

1,513

7. Boston College

Chestnut Hill, MA • Private

Admissions rate

28%

SAT average

1,429

8. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

SAT average

1,512

9. Washington University in St Louis

Saint Louis, MO • Private

Admissions rate

15%

SAT average

1,506

10. Lehigh University

Bethlehem, PA • Private

Admissions rate

22%

SAT average

1,380

Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for data consultants

The easiest schools for data consultants to get into are Oklahoma Wesleyan University, mount saint mary's university, and wayland baptist university.

Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a data consultant without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for data consultants.

1. Oklahoma Wesleyan University

Bartlesville, OK • Private

Admissions rate

68%

SAT average

964

2. Mount Saint Mary's University

Los Angeles, CA • Private

Admissions rate

84%

SAT average

1,031

3. Wayland Baptist University

Plainview, TX • Private

Admissions rate

98%

SAT average

1,003

4. Felician University

Lodi, NJ • Private

Admissions rate

81%

SAT average

999

5. Barry University

Miami, FL • Private

Admissions rate

91%

SAT average

1,006

6. Holy Names University

Oakland, CA • Private

Admissions rate

70%

SAT average

849

7. University of the Incarnate Word

San Antonio, TX • Private

Admissions rate

88%

SAT average

1,044

8. Notre Dame de Namur University

Belmont, CA • Private

Admissions rate

82%

SAT average

983

9. Cardinal Stritch University

Milwaukee, WI • Private

Admissions rate

71%

SAT average

1,035

10. La Roche College

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

Admissions rate

99%

SAT average

1,008

Average data consultant salary by education level

Data consultants with a Doctorate degree earn more than those without, at $107,841 annually. With a Master's degree, data consultants earn a median annual income of $103,298 compared to $95,603 for data consultants with an Bachelor's degree.

Data consultant education level	Data consultant salary
Master's Degree	$103,298
Bachelor's Degree	$95,603
Doctorate Degree	$107,841

Data consultant education FAQs

What is the best college for Data Consultants?

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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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