There has never been a better time in all of human history to be a “quant nerd.” The past decade has seen a near-universal celebration of data and analytics in business, finance, sports, entertainment, technology, and just about any other field you could name. Those who rule Wall Street, retail, athletics, politics, etc. generally rely on data analysis, modeling, and “big data” systems to guide their actions. To study data science and analytics in college, you’ll need a solid foundation of computer science and advanced math skills, but you won’t necessarily need Ivy-level credentials. Some of our Best Colleges for Data Science will open their doors to good-but-not-perfect candidates.
Finally, note that although some of the colleges featured below do not offer a formal major in data science, their undergraduate offerings in this subject area are so strong that they warrant inclusion on our list.
Methodology
Click here to read our methodology for the Best Colleges for Data Science.
Best Colleges for Data Science
Here’s a quick preview of the first ten data science institutions that made our list. Detailed profiles and stats for these and other programs can be found when you scroll below.
1) University of California-Berkeley
6) University of California, San Diego
7) University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
8) Massachusetts Institute of Technology
9) California Institute of Technology
All of the schools profiled below have a history of sending graduates to the most desirable applied data science-related jobs and grad schools in the country. For each of the best colleges for data science, College Transitions will provide you with the:
We will also include a longer write-up of each college’s:
- Academic Highlights – Includes facts like student-to-faculty ratio, average class size, number of majors offered, and most popular majors.
- Professional Outcomes – Includes info on the rate of positive outcomes, companies employing alumni, and graduate school acceptances.
After reviewing our list of best Data Science programs below, feel free to check out our rankings of other computing and tech-related programs: