Guide: MS Data Science application at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor

The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MS Data Science is ranked 1st by Fortune Education for 2023. My personal rating is also 5 stars (highly recommend). Here are useful points to consider when applying for UMich:

1) Curriculum:

• 50:50 CS and Stat. (Comes under CS dept but Admin dept is Statistics(LSA))so for the first semester, it is good if you have a stronghold/help on Statistics

2) Pros:

• Fortune Ranking #1 for MS Data Science 2022 & comes under CSE department #4 ranking in the US and Top 19 in the global ranking
• You can get courses waived based on your undergrad coursework. Also, you can get credits transferred if you are from UM (AA, Dearborn, or Flint). This helps to finish MS in 1.5 years instead of 2.
• You can take courses outside LSA/ CSE department, For e.g SI (School of Info) courses are more applied and makes you industry ready.
• The department and Advisors are very supportive.
• The program comes under MIDAS opens up free workshops and symposium/student job opportunities

3) Cons:

• Compared to the MSI program, Funding for GSI/TA and GSRA positions is a bit tougher. Higher chances to get full funding from LSA, UMich Medicine department, and a few in CSE (but possible).
• You can take elective courses only within the categories of the program guide. (Sometimes outside the list after discussing with the Advisor)

4) Apply if

• Good undergrad GPA (>3.7/ 4)
• Good to have research publications or work experience in ML/ DS
• GRE score~ 333 (GRE is optional)
• Leadership roles in extracurricular essays and great LORs with specific examples of your capabilities.
• Work experience in ML/ AI/ Data Science/ Data Analytics/ Engineering or Statistics

5) Scholarship

• If one belongs to a minority group with respect to ethnicity or gender, one can apply for one monthly scholarship UMich LSAMP (Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP)). You get paid a one-time scholarship fund, and in return, you conduct workshops for freshmen students from the Universities in Michigan during the summer
• The computer science, statistics, and Umich medicine departments can be explored for more scholarship options

6) Job opportunity

• Coursework/quality of education, vast network, mentorship by great scholars/Professors industry connection helps to get internships/ jobs.
• I got my first job in the US, AI industry during a tough market/ hiring freeze season due to my advisor’s reference. After I started my 1st job, I was still in contact with the relevant coursework Professor through email/twitter and they helped me overcome roadblocks in challenging projects in my job even after my graduation.
• State-of-the-art research/project exposure makes you ready for any responsibility in a Big tech company, startup, or mid-size company. I learned to implement ChatGPT in 2020 in a class project for Information retrieval (SI 650) when nobody really knew about it.

7) Application guidance:

• Please refer to my sample Statement of Purpose and Personal Statement, Essay, and Letter of Recommendation: https://lnkd.in/ejg2EPx
• Mention specific lab and professors’ names in your SOP (related to your current previous work/research). This shows you did your homework and are serious about getting into UMich as against the other colleges and you can contribute to UMich in a valuable way because your skills align with UMich works.
• For get info on research groups and faculty names to mention in SOP: check out the UMich MIDAS website (https://lnkd.in/eMb8r-Gg) it has a directory of all research/ faculty.
• Personally, I was part of the following labs and would highly recommend: the NLP-related lab: The Blablablab (https://lnkd.in/eiBNnBty). AI for good labs: SIG (https://lnkd.in/eBbQYfni), Data4Good (https://lnkd.in/erhfefQg),

Imp notes:

• Be in regular communication through email/ phone calls/ in-person meetings with the admission team even before the final submission of the application ( the program coordinator/ professors/ advisors) to increase your chances of acceptance. The Acceptance rate is very competitive for this program (5%)
• Make use of your time in UMich to be involved with research labs. They are top-notch and highly advanced. I learned to create an end-to-end ML app for a search engine and recommendation engine for a United Nations report (at scale) in a research opportunity with Data4Good. And learned about implementing the LLM models in the Google.org project in 2020 (when the term LLM was not even popular).
• To land a good research opportunity with lab groups. Enroll for the CSE job posting update in your email ( join: cseg-jobs@eecs.umich.edu). Email the job posting’s specific lab professor/person, and schedule a meeting. Or simply call them to meet them to showcase your skills and it aligns with the job posting. Even if you don't have any work experience, you can email them a work portfolio ppt or pdf /portfolio website of relevant projects.
• Make sure to meet with all department Advisors apart from the main one from CSE. An advisor from the School of Information has a really good industry connection and because of him, I got my 1st internship/job even during the hiring freeze COVID-19 season.

more Qs reach: mdsprogram@umich.edu
Good luck!