In a lot of cases, a higher education can mean a higher salary or even a better job. That's why we found out the best colleges for data scientists. We based this list on these metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of students working, ratio of working vs. non-working students 10 years after admission, average cost of attendance and median debt for graduates.
Best Colleges And Majors For Data Scientists
Best Colleges For Data Scientists
1. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$59,430
Enrollment
8,216
2. Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,465
Enrollment
6,483
3. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$50,420
Enrollment
7,582
4. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,695
Enrollment
6,596
5. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
6. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$50,530
Enrollment
4,571
7. New York University
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,828
Enrollment
26,339
8. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$53,948
Enrollment
17,238
9. Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA • Private
In-State Tuition
$12,424
Enrollment
15,201
10. Cornell University
Ithaca, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,188
Enrollment
15,105
Data Scientist Education Requirements
There are several education requirements to become a data scientist. Data scientists usually study computer science, statistics or mathematics. 51% of data scientists hold a bachelor's degree and 34% hold a master's degree. We found these by analyzing 3,198 data scientist resumes to investigate the topic of data scientist education more precisely.
The most common colleges for students to pursue their goal of becoming a data scientist are University of California, Santa Barbara and University of California - Davis.
For those who would rather stay in your pajamas during the day, we prepared some online courses that can help in data scientist education paths.
We prepared a list of a data scientist certifications that you should consider. The necessary certifications that data scientists must have to succeed are Associate - Data Science Version 2.0 and AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty.
What Education Do You Need To Become a Data Scientist?
What degree do you need to be a Data Scientist?
The most common degree for data scientists is bachelor's degree 51% of data scientists earn that degree. A close second is master's degree with 34% and rounding it off is doctoral degree with 13%.
- Bachelors, 51%
- Masters, 34%
- Doctorate, 13%
- Associate, 1%
- Other Degrees, 1%
What Should I Major in to Become a Data Scientist?
Most data scientists, 15% to be exact, major in computer science. Some other common majors for a data scientist include statistics and mathematics majors.
- Computer Science, 15%
- Statistics, 12%
- Mathematics, 12%
- Physics, 8%
- Other Majors, 53%
Most Common Colleges For Data Scientists
Here are the most common colleges for a data scientist career in the US based on their resumes. Advocates often get their degree in University of California, Santa Barbara, University of California - Davis, and Teachers College of Columbia University .
| Data Scientist Common College | Percentages |
|---|---|
| University of California, Santa Barbara | 8.67% |
| University of California - Davis | 7.03% |
| Teachers College of Columbia University | 6.79% |
| University of Chicago | 6.32% |
| New York University | 5.85% |
Best Majors For Data Scientists
| Rank | Major | Percentages |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Computer Science | 15.2% |
| 2 | Statistics | 12.4% |
| 3 | Mathematics | 11.7% |
| 4 | Physics | 7.7% |
| 5 | Electrical Engineering | 6.9% |
20 Best Online Courses for Data Scientists
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1. Data Science Immersive (Full-time)
Harness the power of data science to solve the world’s most challenging problems by developing your skills in predictive modeling, pattern recognition, data visualization, wrangling massive data sets, forecasting trends, and informing strategy across diverse industries like public policy, robotics, and FinTech...
2. Data Science (Part Time)
Create robust predictive models with statistics and Python programming. Build confidence and credibility to tackle complex machine learning problems on the job. This course is offered in person and live online, in a remote classroom setting...
3. Intro to Algorithms
Ever played the Kevin Bacon game? This class will show you how it works by giving you an introduction to the design and analysis of algorithms, enabling you to discover how individuals are connected...
4. Intro to Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a field that has a long history but is still constantly and actively growing and changing. In this course, you'll learn the basics of modern AI as well as some of the representative applications of AI. Along the way, we also hope to excite you about the numerous applications and huge possibilities in the field of AI, which continues to expand human capability beyond our imagination...
5. Data Science: Data Mining & Natural Language Processing in R
Harness the Power of Machine Learning in R for Data/Text Mining, & Natural Language Processing with Practical Examples...
6. The Data Science Course 2022: Complete Data Science Bootcamp
Complete Data Science Training: Mathematics, Statistics, Python, Advanced Statistics in Python, Machine & Deep Learning...
7. Python Programming (Part Time)
Gain fluency in Python — the world's fastest-growing major programming language — and start leveraging its versatile capabilities to build web and data science applications. This course is offered in person and live online, in a remote classroom setting...
8. Intro to Coding
Discover if coding is a career fit for you In this free, two-hour livestream, explore the building blocks of the web — HTML and CSS — and learn how you can apply these programming languages to develop your own simple sites. All in real time, taught by an industry professional. Come learn the basics and gain the skills you need to write your first line of code!...
9. AWS Machine Learning Foundations Course
Study machine learning techniques and algorithms, programming best practices, python coding, and Amazon AI Services and Amazon AI Devices, including Amazon SageMaker and Amazon DeepComposer. The foundations course is intended to help developers of all skill levels get started with machine learning...
10. Introduction to Python Programming
In this course, you'll learn the fundamentals of the Python programming language, along with programming best practices. You'll learn to represent and store data using Python data types and variables, and use conditionals and loops to control the flow of your programs. You'll harness the power of complex data structures like lists, sets, dictionaries, and tuples to store collections of related data. You'll define and document your own custom functions, write scripts, and handle errors. Lastly,...
11. Introduction to Machine Learning for Data Science
A primer on Machine Learning for Data Science. Revealed for everyday people, by the Backyard Data Scientist...
12. Machine Learning A-Z: Hands-On Python & R In Data Science
Learn to create Machine Learning Algorithms in Python and R from two Data Science experts. Code templates included...
13. Intro to Data Science
Discover if coding is a career fit for you In this two hour live workshop you will walk through the typical data science workflow and see how the pros identify powerful business predictions. You’ll get first-hand experience to explore the key tools and processes that data scientists use to analyze, visualize, and model data. ...
14. Intro to Machine Learning
This is a class that will teach you the end-to-end process of investigating data through a machine learning lens. It will teach you how to extract and identify useful features that best represent your data, a few of the most important machine learning algorithms, and how to evaluate the performance of your machine learning algorithms...
15. Intro to Deep Learning with PyTorch by Facebook Artificial Intelligence
In this course, you'll learn the basics of deep learning, and build your own deep neural networks using PyTorch. You'll get practical experience with PyTorch through coding exercises and projects implementing state-of-the-art AI applications such as style transfer and text generation...
16. Data Science and Machine Learning Bootcamp with R
Learn how to use the R programming language for data science and machine learning and data visualization!...
17. From 0 to 1: Spark for Data Science with Python
Get your data to fly using Spark for analytics, machine learning and data science...
18. Data Structures & Algorithms in Python by Google
Technical interviews follow a pattern. If you know the pattern, you'll be a step ahead of the competition. This course will introduce you to common data structures and algorithms in Python. You'll review frequently-asked technical interview questions and learn how to structure your responses.You will answer practice problems and quizzes to test your abilities. Then you'll practice mock interviews to get specific recommendations for improvement. Be ready for anything the technical interviewer...
19. R Programming: Advanced Analytics In R For Data Science
Take Your R & R Studio Skills To The Next Level. Data Analytics, Data Science, Statistical Analysis in Business, GGPlot2...
20. Data Engineer/Data Scientist - Power BI/ Python/ ETL/SSIS
Hands-on Data Interaction and Manipulation...
Top 10 Affordable Universities For Data Scientists
If those top 10 were a bit out of your price range, you might want to check these schools instead. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price and mean earnings after 6 years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for data scientists.
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. Hunter College of the City University of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$7,182
Cost of Attendance
13,998
3. California State University - Fullerton
Fullerton, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$6,886
Cost of Attendance
17,645
4. Brigham Young University
Provo, UT • Private
In-State Tuition
$5,620
Cost of Attendance
18,136
5. University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez
Mayaguez, PR • Private
In-State Tuition
$4,094
Cost of Attendance
14,302
6. Brooklyn College of the City University of New York
Brooklyn, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$7,240
Cost of Attendance
13,991
7. University of Florida
Gainesville, FL • Private
In-State Tuition
$6,381
Cost of Attendance
21,034
8. University of South Florida
Tampa, FL • Private
In-State Tuition
$6,410
Cost of Attendance
20,456
9. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$6,798
Cost of Attendance
18,306
10. Queens College of the City University of New York
Queens, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$7,338
Cost of Attendance
14,281
Top 10 Hardest Universities To Get Into For Data Scientists
Some people like a challenge. Well, we challenge you to get into one of these schools. It's not going to be easy. We know this based on these institutions' admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted and mean earnings of students 6 years after admission.
1. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
Admissions Rate
6%
SAT Average
1,512
2. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
Admissions Rate
8%
SAT Average
1,508
3. Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA • Private
Admissions Rate
17%
SAT Average
1,507
4. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
Admissions Rate
5%
SAT Average
1,520
5. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
Admissions Rate
9%
SAT Average
1,516
6. Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD • Private
Admissions Rate
11%
SAT Average
1,513
7. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
Admissions Rate
8%
SAT Average
1,492
8. Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO • Private
Admissions Rate
15%
SAT Average
1,506
9. Brown University
Providence, RI • Private
Admissions Rate
8%
SAT Average
1,492
10. University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN • Private
Admissions Rate
18%
SAT Average
1,502
Top 10 Easier To Apply Universities For Data Scientists
Why make getting a job harder on yourself than it has to be? With these colleges, you're sure to be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores and average salary of students 6 years after graduation in order to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into.
1. Barry University
Miami, FL • Private
Admissions Rate
91%
SAT Average
1,006
2. Texas A&M University - Kingsville
Kingsville, TX • Private
Admissions Rate
89%
SAT Average
1,035
3. University of the Incarnate Word
San Antonio, TX • Private
Admissions Rate
88%
SAT Average
1,044
4. La Roche College
Pittsburgh, PA • Private
Admissions Rate
99%
SAT Average
1,008
5. Kean University
Union, NJ • Private
Admissions Rate
86%
SAT Average
991
6. Notre Dame de Namur University
Belmont, CA • Private
Admissions Rate
82%
SAT Average
983
7. San Francisco State University
San Francisco, CA • Private
Admissions Rate
72%
SAT Average
1,054
8. The University of Texas at El Paso
El Paso, TX • Private
Admissions Rate
100%
SAT Average
1,035
9. University of Houston - Downtown
Houston, TX • Private
Admissions Rate
83%
SAT Average
1,012
10. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - Camden
Camden, NJ • Private
Admissions Rate
71%
SAT Average
1,086
Average Data Scientist Salary by Education Level
Data scientists with a Masters degree earn more than those without, at $109,454 annually. With a Bachelors degree, data scientists earn a median annual income of $101,455.
| Data Scientist Education Level | Data Scientist Salary |
|---|---|
| Master's Degree | $109,454 |
| Bachelor's Degree | $101,455 |