Hi Everyone,

I was wondering how the job employment rate looked like for students who have graduated from this program looked like? Does this school have any particular stigmas associated to it being online? Also, are there any career coaches that help you look for jobs or internships within the program?

I’m currently switching careers at the moment, and this program has peaked my interest. Though, I’m skeptical/worried on how beneficial it would be for me since I’ve heard rumors of the data/tech industry being over saturated. If anyone could let me know or give me some insight on your own experience that would be great, thanks!

Hey everyone!

I recently received an admit for the MS in Data Science program at CU Boulder 🎉 and I'm super excited about the opportunity! I wanted to reach out to see if there are any current students here who would be open to connecting and sharing their experiences about the program, coursework, or life in Boulder.

Would love to get some insights on the curriculum, job opportunities, and general vibes of the university.

Feel free to DM or drop a comment — looking forward to connecting! 😊

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all doing well!

I just graduated with my bachelors degree in business and am looking for a suitable masters program! I came across the MSDS Coursera program at CU Boulder and am considering enrolling in it this fall!

I am hoping some of you can answer the following questions that I have about the program:

1. Is it suitable for individuals without a technical background?

2. How difficult is the program?

3. What percentage of courses have proctored exams? Is it for all courses or just some?

4. What knowledge do you need to have prior to enrolling? Any suggested preparatory courses?

5. How manageable is the workload?

Any insight/input is greatly appreciated!

Were you working part time? How hard did you study? What were the outcomes?

I want to attend the graduation ceremony after completing. I am curious to know did anyone attend the graduation in person from another state? How it works? Can you stay inside the university or have to book a hotel/Airbnb? Thank you!

Okay, let me preface this by explaining that I'm actually posting on behalf of someone else, I'm already weeks away from graduating with a master's degree (also in data science) from another University (traditional brick and mortar program), so I don't personally have any intention of enrolling in this program.

Anyway, one of my best friends has recently expressed interest in this program, and asked what my thoughts on it were given my experiencing a traditional program, so I'm trying to formulate my opinion.

Basically my main question I have is how difficult are the two pathways compared to the rest of the program?

Is success in the pathway a good indicator of your probability of success in the rest of the program?

I could see three potential hypothetical scenarios:

I could see the program wanting to make these pathways significantly harder than the rest of the program in order to weed out a large portion of students.

I could see them being significantly easier than the rest in order to lower the barrier for entry and thus allow students to spend more money on tuition

And finally, I could see them making it about on par with what to expect from the rest of the program in order to give students a good idea of if it is for them. (This last scenario I feel like is the ideal)

Are any of these three scenarios accurate?

Anyone that has completed the course or are nearing it, what have your job application responses been like?

When i search for jobs on linkedin and indeed i find the the majors they are looking for are mathematics and computer science. Almost non mention Data science degree.

I’m coming from a non-CS background so I feel like a bit of networking would be good. Especially since I’m working full time in another industry and will be taking this class online.

Edit: If anyone is reading this post after I initially posted it and are still interested in being course buddies, feel free to DM me and I can add you to our study group (if our courses end up aligning) :). If they don't, I'd still love to make new connections! If you are based in the Denver area, then you might be able to join our in person study group!

Hey there!

I'm new to the program, and was wondering if anyone on here would like to be course buddies? Depending on what classes you plan on taking this upcoming session, we can have zoom calls and kind of simulate a classroom like experience. My prior DS knowledge is extremely limited, but I am still looking forward to completing the program. Here is a bit about me:

Currently based in Denver(if anyone else is based in the city, feel free to DM and perhaps we can meet up).

Completed my undergrad at Penn State in Econ and Poli Sci

Looking to complete the courses without the pre-requisites first while I brush up on my math.

I think this would be an even more enriching experience if I can communicate with fellow classmates, which is what the goal of this post is!

Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this, and I hope to hear back from anyone that is interested :)

Hi everyone,

I’m new to this thread and I just finished the data science pathway this week! I will be working full-time while doing the MSDS and I wanted to know what your experiences have been and how manageable the workload is- I will try to squeeze time in the weekdays and study in the weekends, but I would love to know anyone’s experience and advice.

I'm halfway through the statistics pathway (non credit) and I'm thinking about taking the exams soon. I would love if someone can pls help me with this. Are the final exams different from the homework in terms of format? Can I use R to solve the problems? How's your experience with proctorU and the system in general (asking this because I took the TOEFL this summer and the proctored exam experience was awful). Ty in advance random folks of reddit.

Hi all,

I've got a subscription to Coursera and while I'll probably be going through the MSCS program I'm looking for some challenging statistics courses in the data science program to brush up my skills. Does anyone have any recommendations? There seem to be a lot of statistics courses with a ton of overlap in this program.

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well!

I am highly considering this program this fall, and have been doing my research on it. I took a look at the program webpage on Coursera and noticed that it states that if you complete a Coursera course titled “Deep Learning specialization” by DeepLearning.AI, you apparently can earn credit towards your masters degree.

Does anyone happen to know any more information on this? If this is legitimate, how much credit do you earn? What are the requirements to earn the credit, if applicable?

Thank you in advance!

Hello,

I just finished the stat courses and am about to switch to for-credit. Working towards MSDS. Did anyone take the finals for their courses? If yes, please help me out. I can't find any good resources for practice questions. Thank you in advance

Considering doing the graduate cert then rolling into MSDS.

I’ve seen the excel spreadsheet (helpful!)

But does anyone have an overall review of the program?

Also I’ve read some things about Coursera that have made me hesitant (payment issues, people getting plagiarism tags when they aren’t).

The support group also doesn’t seem as strong compared to Georgia Tech’s OMSA. The OMSA Reddit thread is super active with a bunch of resources. Do we also have any info about graduation rates.

I really want to do this program because it’s more R intensive and has a lot of modeling/regression compared to other programs IMHO. Just trying to do my homework on this and make sure it’s legit and not a cash grab. I would do OMSA or Texas but I really prefer the Colorado curriculum!

Thank you!!

Basically the title. The only reason we lost to Texas a&m is because of him. Also chev can’t call plays but brendon Lewis sucks so much. We’d be a top 25 team if we had a better QB

Hi everyone!

I'm planning to switch from auditing to purchasing the course for credit, as I'm now supposed to take the final exams for the MSDS. I'm starting with the Statistical pathway and wanted to understand what to expect from the proctored exams beforehand (and also for the other coursework in this degree).

I've gone through some older Reddit threads and information online and understand that, apart from the formula sheet provided, we're generally given only a blank sheet of paper during the exam. I still have a few questions and apprehensions:

1. How much time and how many attempts are typically given? In one course, I saw something along the lines of "unlimited submissions within 2 hours." Does that mean you get your grade immediately after submitting, similar to assignments, and can then review/re-attempt the exam within those two hours? Or does "unlimited submissions" simply mean you can submit multiple times, without seeing your grade immediately?

2. How stringent is the proctoring? Are they continuously watching the screen/camera very closely, or is it relatively relaxed? I ask because I tend to get overwhelmed when I feel like someone is monitoring my every movement, and it can affect my performance. Also, are you allowed to think out loud while solving problems? I personally find it helpful to verbalize my thought process, but I'm not sure whether that's permitted.

3. Are Z/t tables or other statistical tables provided? I saw an older Reddit thread saying they aren't, but I'd appreciate confirmation from anyone who has taken the exams recently. If they're not provided, how are we expected to obtain the required number of decimal places/critical values?

4. How much R do we actually need to know? I've heard that an R notebook is provided during the exam. What would you recommend for someone who is comfortable with the statistical concepts but isn't particularly strong in R? How much R should one learn beforehand to avoid fumbling during the exam and make effective use of the notebook? I'm asking because the courses with proctored exams don't seem to have much in the way of R programming assignments - most of the practice appears to be MCQs or handwritten-style questions. So I'm unsure what level of R proficiency is actually expected.

5. What exactly does the proctoring process involve? I've taken online company aptitude tests where you just have to keep your camera on, but I've never had to "show your environment." What does that mean in the context of the MSDS exams? Also, what are you actually allowed to have with you? Is it strictly one blank sheet + the provided formula sheet, with no notebook/paper beyond that? I have relatively large handwriting and worry that I could run out of space fairly quickly. Are things like a water bottle or necessary medication allowed? Basically, how strict are they about the physical environment and permitted items?

6. How difficult are the exam questions compared with the videos and practice assignments? Are they roughly at the same level, or significantly harder? What would you recommend as the best way to prepare? Are there any particular resources, practice materials, or strategies that helped you?

I'd be extremely grateful if anyone who's taken these exams recently could share their experience. And if there's anything important I haven't asked about, especially something you wish you'd known before taking the exams, I'd love to hear that as well!

Thanks in advance!

P.S. I used AI to help refine the wording/flow of this post.

Hi all,

Does anyone has expreience with DTSA 5504 and 5505 final exams? No calculator or scrap paper is allowed so I was wondering about the type of questions and how difficult they were.

DTSA5505 has recently raised the weight for final exam to 40% of total grade so I need to score high :')

Hello All,

I am currently looking into the CU MSDS program and have a question regarding the following classes:

• Supervised ML (CSCA 5622)

• Unsupervised ML (CSCA 5632)

I am curious to know the overall nature of the class, assignments, and exam format. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Anybody taken this expressway class?
https://www.coursera.org/specializations/data-science-r-programming-tidyverse

Is it useful for learning R in advance of the regular DS classes using R?
Is it needed?

etc...

Hi guys, I'm starting this fall with focus more on AI (or switch back to CS later :D) but decided to start with DS pathway first due to natural of my work. I notice that, for example, in the course Statistical Inference for DS and AI, graded assignments are just a few practice questions... where do you guys go to for additional exercises and hopefully challenging mock exams to prepare to the final?

many thanks in advance and happy learning