Data Science

👁 Photo by Ryan Hoffman on Unsplash

Table of content

· Action Timeline ∘ Make up your mind early ∘ Know what programs are out there for you ∘ Get GRE, TOEFL, resume and LOR done early ∘ Grind Statement of Purpose/Personal Statement ∘ Choose your target programs wisely ∘ Apply?!!! ∘ Summary Algorithm · Application Handbook ∘ Chapter 1 – SOP/PS ∘ Chapter 2 – Diversity Statement ∘ Chapter 3 – LOR ∘ Chapter 4 – Resume/CV ∘ Chapter 5 – GPA, GRE & TOEFL ∘ Chapter 6 – Interview ∘ Chapter 7 – Miscellaneous ∘ Chapter 8 – Mindset · Final Words

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I wish someone would have written a blog post like this when I was applying to Data Science Masters programs. As a Data Science undergrad, I knew I wanted to go to grad school and continue my studies in DS for a long time, but the actual application can be complicated. From last December to this February, I finally did all the work for the applications and have been admitted into my dream program!

Grad school application is an emotional soul-searching journey. It’s now March 2022, so I am writing everything down when my memory is still fresh and the struggle still feels real. I want this post to be informative, practical, but also personal.

Before we start, a little background information about me.

I am a DS undergrad. I am an international student from Shanghai. I planned to apply to 12 DS Masters programs in the US but actually applied to 10 because I received my dream offer before the deadline of the last 2. Stats: GPA 3.9+, GRE 325+, TOEFL 110+

Action Timeline

Make up your mind early

Going to grad school is a big life decision. I have contemplated this question for 4 years all through my undergrad. Should I go to grad school or should I go straight to work? Having been in the Medium DS community for a long time and read so many inspiring stories of self-taught data scientists, I know receiving formal education is not the only way to break into the DS field. But I love academia and I have met many great researchers and scholars throughout my undergrad studies. Therefore, I chose to reject some perfectly great full-time job offers and go for grad schools instead.

Making up your mind early means that you have much more time to accumulate experiences and prepare for grad school applications. Here are some practical benefits:

• Take your GRE (and TOEFL) early You cannot take these tests the day before your application deadline, so it is best to have plenty of time to prepare and give ETS enough time to send your test scores.

• Easier to maintain a high GPA I would be lying if I say GPA doesn’t matter. It matters especially if you are applying to a competitive program. And maintaining a high GPA requires years of consistent effort. It is impossible to boost your GPA to a 3.8 in one semester when you only have a 2.0 to begin with.

• Have more time to network with potential recommenders I hate to sound so utilitarian, but let’s face it, grad school applications require at least 2 letters of recommendations (LOR) and there is nothing worse than thinking back and realizing you have never bonded with a DS expert who would be willing to be your recommender. I, for example, have had amazing professors in academia and mentors in the industry who know my abilities and my career plans and discuss grad school stuff with me to help me make sure going to grad school is the right choice. I got close with them and became familiar with their work, all of which inspired me to be in academia and become a data scientist. When the time came and I needed LORs, they were very happy to help. However, it takes time and effort to maintain a genuine and reciprocal mentor-mentee relationship that helps you grow.

A rough timeline is that I knew I wanted to go to grad school in my sophomore year. Of course it’s better to prepare for things early on, but don’t freak out if you think you are running out of time.

Know what programs are out there for you

Now that you know for sure that going to a Data Science Masters program is the way to go, it’s important to keep an eye on related information. Perhaps you are looking for online programs or part-time programs, or maybe full-time programs (like me). You need to first have some idea of what options are out there. For example, my soon-to-be alma mater NYU has an exceptional DS Masters program, so I’ve known about that for years.

A rough timeline for me is that throughout my junior year, I gathered all kinds of information from upperclassmen about the programs they are applying to and got accepted into. I had a pretty good idea of which programs I should look out for. I kept a Google sheet of programs that I shared with my fellow friends who are also applying to DS Masters.

Get GRE, TOEFL, resume and LORs done early

I never enjoyed a bit about preparing for the GRE exam, but GRE scores are sometimes required for application. I cannot always waive TOEFL as an international student, so I had to take it as well. And tests need time and energy to prepare. I took my GRE during the winter break of my junior year (prepared for 1 week) and TOEFL the summer before my senior year (prepared the day before). I only took each test once. Maybe I could have done better, but I had more exciting things in life that I wanted to spend time on, you know. I do have friends whose sheer willpower helped them through 4 GREs in a year. I am absolutely in awe. A satisfactory score in the end is worth all the trouble depending on the level of your expectation. I recommend doing GRE and TOEFL early because you don’t need to worry about these tests by the time you are applying.

I prepared a 2-page academic resume that is tailored to DS applications. It is longer than a resume used for any job application and has more details to it. I will talk more about this later.

LOR, on the other hand, is much trickier. It’s a courtesy to ask your recommenders and confirm that they are willing to write you a LOR early. Put yourself in their shoes and you would understand that they are very busy and probably have a lot of other students asking them the same thing. Do not wait until the last minute to ask your professors or supervisors!! It lowers your chances of securing the LOR. I asked all my recommenders by the end of September (senior fall semester). Of course, one exception is if you met a great recommender during your senior fall semester. After midterms, which is when you will be assessed, your professor probably has a better idea of your ability and your goal. Asking them for a LOR after the midterm is still not too late.

A rough timeline for me is that I got these 4 pretty much done by the beginning of my senior fall semester.

Grind Statement of Purpose/Personal Statement

I spent so many late nights working on my statement of purpose (POS), or personal statement (PS), because it was both trash and so beautiful at the same time. Yea, I certainly have a love-hate relationship with my SOP/PS. I don’t think there is much difference between SOP and PS. Unless the school specifically outlined requirements for their essays, I used the same 1000-word version that combined my DS experience and personal aspiration.

A rough timeline is that I started to reflect on my past experience and think about how I am going to write the SOP during the summer before my senior year. That is why I started blogging! It helped me clear my thoughts and organize my professional experience to write the first few blogs about my undergrad journey. And at the same time, I have been actively researching everything about a DS career throughout my undergrad and I constantly think about why I like DS, why DS is suitable for me as a career and triple-check that this match is truly optimal for me right now. I know so many people graduating from DS and working as software engineers. I really needed to sort out the rationale behind why DS is exactly what I want for me and put my thoughts into an essay later.

But I didn’t actually open up a new Word file and started writing until the beginning of my senior year fall semester. I wish writing SOP was as easy as writing blogs, but it is not. A SOP needs to be informative, entertaining, and concise. Informative because you need to recap 3 years of DS experience; Entertaining because you do not want your essay to be bland and soporific; concise because you need to employ formal English language to tell your story in 1000 words. It really takes a lot of revising to birth a satisfactory SOP.

Choose your target programs wisely

Remember your list of all the programs available? It’s time to narrow down and pick your target programs. It all comes down to a matching game. You are looking for the right program for you and grad schools are looking for the right candidates for them.

Know your target programsGrad schools typically have a devoted webpage that details everything about their DS programs. You can get a lot of information by reading through online information. Here, I list some aspects you might think about when choosing your programs:

• Curriculum
• Cohort size
• School location

• Length of the program Most full-time DS programs in the US are 1 to 2 years, with rare exceptions that can be extended to 3 years.

• Tuition

• Is the program research-oriented or career-oriented? A research-oriented program might be right for you if you want to pursue a Ph.D. in the future. Otherwise, career-oriented programs are great because they often provide students with internship opportunities.

• Faculty research interest

• Is it easy to obtain the visa and OPT/CPT? Access to OPT and CPT is crucial if you want to work in the US as an international student.

• Does the program require GRE?
• Institution reputation

• Do you vibe with the university and the program? I think this question is the most important one. Studying offline and spending more than a year on a university campus shape new perspectives and transform a person. Do you agree with the values and initiatives this university is working on?

Examining program websites is already plenty of work, but if you are really interested in a particular program, you can go to their zoom info session or talk to their program student ambassador if possible.

Know yourselfThis part is much trickier because knowing ourselves is a lifelong endeavor, but at least you know the basics. You have the metrics, namely GPA, GRE, etc, that schools impose on you. Some universities would tell you their mean and medium GPA and GRE on their website. You can quickly check if you seem like a competitive candidate.

Now that you have done some research, you can make another list of your safety, match, and reach schools. I migrated to Notion to keep track of everything. There are 20 more marked "not applying" that did not make it on to the screenshot.

👁 Image by Author

This is my list of target schools, among which 2 are my absolute favorites. I picked each and every one of them after careful consideration. Since I care a lot about whether I vibe with the school or not, I have some sort of personal connection to all these schools or the cities they are in. I have friends from 10 out of the 12 universities listed here and many professors I am close to graduated from these schools. I’ve only personally been to 3 of these schools, but I have a pretty good idea of what their vibes are like and I know I want to be like the friends and professors I look up to.

Apply?!!!

Not so fast. As you start applying, this list is bound to undergo so many updates so quickly that you might as well call it your dynamic array. And when you are writing your SOP, you will find yourself going back to the program websites again and again to double-check all the little details.

But you can start with the application process by first creating an account and filling out basic information such as name and education background. My suggestion would be to quickly skim everything in every section on every application page. If in some cases, you cannot go to the next page before filling out the current page, just type something in the input box or upload a blank PDF file to force the system to move on. You can typically change this information later, but be sure to double-check.

A holistic view of what is required of you enables you to:

• get to the recommendation page and send emails to your recommenders sooner
• get to your test score page and check if the school has received your official scores from ETS or not
• identify the trickier pages such as SOP, diversity, faculty interests, etc that you cannot fill out right away and write down instructions.

Now that you have some ideas of what is happening, you can go back to doing research on the program and polishing your SOP. I will talk about this more in the next section of this blog.

Summary Algorithm

Here is an algorithm to sum up everything till now because I have been reading so many papers for my capstone research lately. All I can think about is algorithms.

👁 Image by Author

Application Handbook

Chapter 1 – SOP/PS

I said in the very beginning that the application is a soul-searching journey, and the SOP should be where you pour your heart and soul into.

• SOP vs PS I personally don’t think SOP and PS are any different in my applications because I have never been asked to submit them both. But from the Googling I’ve done, they should be different. SOP, or statement of (academic) purpose, is purely about facts like academic background, technical abilities, research interest, and career plan. PS, personal statement, is the one to tell your life story, identify hardship, and explain weaknesses (eg. why there’s a C on the transcript). However, since no program asked me to submit both an SOP and a PS, I just wrote a 2-page essay of about 1000 words and essentially merged the two into one.

• Requirement of SOP/PS1. describe your past and present work related to this program

  2. what makes you qualified for this program
  3. why are you interested in applying to this program
  4. career/research plans
  5. why and how will this program help you achieve your goal
• Read others’ SOP for referenceYou can easily find other people’s DS SOP online if you are unsure about how to start writing yours. I think it’s okay to read some before you start writing, but eventually, your SOP needs to be yours and tailored to you alone.
• IntroductionFor the reasons I have explained above, SOP is not merely listing your DS experience. Instead, it is telling a story of who you are, what you are capable of, and who you want to be. You need a strong first paragraph as a gripping introduction that highlights a key moment in life that you need to somehow connect to DS. It could be a turning point in your studies that you realize your old major is not sufficient anymore and you want to pursue DS instead. It could be the biggest accomplishment in your DS journey that reinforced your determination. It can also be extremely personal. Maybe the reason you want to study DS is because of your family or certain life experience. The first paragraph is like the beginning of a good film. It introduces the main character, you, and leaves a deep impression on the audience.

• Body Then, you can present your experience in a logical way. By logical, I mean the body paragraphs do not need to be chronological. They just need to make sense and showcase your progression over time. But it wouldn’t make you stand out among thousands of applicants if all you have is the academic abilities to thrive in future studies. You need to dig deep into your core, be it your characteristics or your belief. Why is DS the one area you want to study? Perhaps it’s because of your curious nature. There must be something deeper that drives you toward DS. And given this connection, it is most likely that you are going to stick to DS in the future as well.

• Career/research planI think only a few of us know exactly what we want to do in the future, but in the SOP, your career or research plan is better to be detailed. Therefore, writing this SOP is a good time to think about what you want to accomplish in life. You can write down your answer in the second to last paragraph, but it needs to have some connection to your previous experience. Otherwise, it would feel strange and made up. The harsh truth is that the world tends to reward those who have a clear idea of what they want to do with their life.
• Why and how will this program help you achieve your goalIn the last paragraph, you can identify specific courses that fit your research interest, professors you want to work with, clubs you want to join, and anything else you deem suitable. Since I was applying to multiple programs, I kept everything else the same except the last paragraph to talk specifically about each program.
• The spine of the SOPI’d like to think that writing an SOP is like creating a script for a protagonist in a film, so I am going to use the lingo "spine" to refer to the core of a hero’s story (I am very interested in filmmaking as well). Similarly, a strong SOP showcases one or two key desirable characteristics of an applicant. Ambitious, curious, determined, proactive, organized, hardworking, passionate, etc, are all positive characteristics, but you cannot say it out loud in the SOP. You need to show the "spine" by describing your actions in the past which corresponds to these adjectives. Otherwise, your "film" might not be engaging enough and the "lines" might sound didactic.
• ProofreadYou can ask the writing services at your university or simply your friends to help proofread your SOP. I think it’s important to have a proofreader whose major is completely non-technical. They might be able to spot things that are otherwise undetectable. For example, they might find your writing too technical that they cannot understand at all. If so, it’s probably a good idea to tone it down a little. There definitely are ways to describe a project with fewer technical terms. Although everyone on the admissions committee probably comes from a STEM background, ensuring the readability of your SOP is still important.

Chapter 2 – Diversity Statement

A diversity statement is usually optional, but I have seen schools requiring a personal statement, while in fact, it was asking for a diversity statement.

Typically, you talk about how you can contribute to the diversity of the university as a diverse individual. Diversity lies in gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socioeconomic status, life experience, family condition, and so on. There is a lot of flexibility in what you can write about. For example, I thought it would be nice to link my diverse background to my major, so I wrote about how diversity is important to eliminating AI biases.

Chapter 3 – LOR

LORs are from either your professors or internship/job supervisors. The more related their field of expertise is to DS the better because they can better attest to your technical abilities. I’ve heard people saying that one probably prefers someone with a bigger title to write your LOR, but I don’t think the title is something one should be too concerned about. Instead, I believe you should find the recommenders who really know you and understand your career or research goals. Their familiarity with you can be naturally presented in LORs and the admission committee will feel it.

• LOR ContentA LOR needs to show that the candidate has strong quantitative skills, solid soft skills, and anything that stands out to your recommender.
• What makes a strong LOR?Your recommenders probably have written so many LORs before that they already have a template. However, a template is bad for us students because templates do not make you more competitive than others. Therefore, this is why finding recommenders who are familiar with you helps. People who really know you will probably write a tailored LOR instead of using a template.
• Should I waive my right to access LORs?Generally speaking, waiving your right makes the LOR more credible. I have professors who specifically asked me to waive my rights, so I waived them all.

Chapter 4 – Resume/CV

While a resume for job interviews is typically 1-page-long, an academic CV can have 2 pages or more. But the third page onward probably won’t get as much attention. So a rule of thumb is to write the important things first and preferably within the first 2 pages.

• SectionsMy CV had 7 sections: education, work experience, research & publication, scholarships & honors, activities, Data Science competitions & projects, and skills. You can certainly add more sections or get rid of some according to your need. I arranged these sections to be exactly 2 pages.
• Add links to your projectsThe only thing I want to emphasize is adding links to your GitHub or website or paper next to each of your projects and research. This shows evidence that you indeed contributed a lot to the projects and it also gives the admission committee a way to further evaluate your technical skills. It’s best if you have websites that visualize project outcomes.

Chapter 5 – GPA, GRE & TOEFL

These stats are important but not that important. Don’t be too frustrated if some of them are not as high as you wanted. As long as you have learned the skills necessary for DS, GPA and GRE are merely numbers. They won’t put a damper on your dream of becoming a data scientist in the long run. However, getting a decent score does take plenty of time and energy, so again, it’s better to do everything early before the actual application.

Chapter 6 – Interview

I personally did not apply to any programs that require an interview. But from the information I learned from my friends, an admission interview is more of a behavioral interview than a technical one. You need to be prepared to talk about some project details on your resume and answer some general questions about, for example, how you overcame a challenge in group work or what’s your biggest weakness. Getting an interview is a positive sign that shows you are one step closer to admission, so just be confident and be ready to chat. Admissions and professors are humans too.

Chapter 7 – Miscellaneous

• Portfolio websiteIf there is anything else to make an application even stronger, it would be having a DS portfolio website. It’s also a good way to demonstrate some software engineering skills if you can build your own website. An easy and budget-friendly way is hosting your portfolio website on GitHub.

• Clean up GitHub pageIf you are running out of time or simply don’t want to code a portfolio website, you can always use your GitHub page. But I bet most people who are applying to DS programs have a GitHub page, so you can stand out by cleaning up your GitHub page:

  1. Add a profile page/about me page
  2. Add a proper README.md to each of your projects
• Helpful Reddit Q&A with Grad Admissions DirectorMost I’ve written so far is from the perspective of an applicant (hope you can relate), so it’s very helpful to see from what the admissions are looking for. In this Reddit Q&A, a grad admissions director was very generous with their time and answered many good questions that students have. The director’s advice applies to STEM in general but also DS as well.

Chapter 8 – Mindset

Waiting for application outcomes is the worst. Each program seemed like a hundred-dollar lottery ticket. I wondered if I am qualified for these programs all the time and kept thinking about maybe applying to more programs just to be sure. I think it’s perfectly normal to have anxiety, but please make sure to talk to someone and process these feelings in a healthy way. And then one day, you will get your first offer and everything will be different, but in a good way.

Final Words

As much as I want to show you some (hopefully helpful) advice on DS Masters application, the application is still your own journey of self-reflection and self-discovery. The application process is the perfect chance in your undergrad to pause and think about your future. I want to use this blog to encourage applicants to really think more. Please don’t do something you don’t enjoy just because the field seems hot.

For me, work, aka what I do, is extremely important to my identity and my happiness. I take pride in my work and enjoy the pleasure from a simple task well done. Therefore, I enjoyed thinking about the whole application process and anything relating to DS. Well, you should know that from the fact that I write Medium blogs. So, my main challenge was what not to include in my SOP, because I have a million things to write about.

Latest update on my applications:

I have heard back from 6 schools as of today. I got 5 ADs and 1 rejection (hey, no one is perfect). I am very excited to go to my dream school, but really, I would have been very happy to get any offer to continue my DS journey. I am going to leave the university name out of this blog because what’s important is finding the right fit for what you love. (Thanks for your curiosity if you actually read to this part, but I’m sure you can find out if you really want to. After all, we are all researchers:) )

If there’s anything I failed to cover in this blog, please leave a comment or reach out to me directly. I want to help however I can.

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Thank you for reading! I hope this has been helpful to you.

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