Applying for Data Science Masters in the UK?
Holaaa….
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
Since, it’s the application season, through this post I want to tell everyone how I applied for Data Science masters in the UK and what to expect from it?
First of all, don’t go to counsellors or anyone for filling your form. Make your application yourself and send it to the university. You know your potential, your ideas and your reasons for doing a masters at some specific university, so it is always better that you write about those rather than someone else who does not even know you.
Speaking about the process, it is simple. Open the university’s website -> Register yourself -> Fill in basic details -> Provide SoP (Statement of Purpose), Proof of English (IELTS or anything that university accepts) and References. And you’re done. The things you should include in SoP/ Personal Statement and which English test is accepted etc. are always mentioned on the university website or course page.
Now, I guess everyone is aware of these basic things so I’ll just jump to the questions that people ask me and try to give as much information as I can.
How to write an amazing SoP and its format?
There is no one way. It’s true that your SoP is really important for admission but keep in mind that decision is based on your whole application. SoP tells them what sort of person you are and will you be a good fit at their university or not? Sometimes, people get admits to top universities but are rejected or waitlisted by lower-ranking universities despite similar applications. This happened to me and now, when I look back, I can see why. Those universities were actually not a good fit for me. By good fit, I mean the culture of the university, the people and ideas etc. To be honest, you can not see if you’re a good fit or not, that can only be seen by a person who has been to that university. But, yes, if you read about the university, check the latest news, you’ll get some vibe and trust that vibe.
So now let's come to how to write SoP. The first should be to go and check the university’s website, blog etc. for any post referring to what they want in a website. Take a note of important things they’re asking and also the word limit.
For formatting, it actually doesn’t matter. Everyone has different formats. Till you’re answering all their questions and being honest, nothing else matters. The format I followed was-
First Paragraph: I started the SoP with a quote and explained why I want to do data science masters (30–50 words)
Second Paragraph: I wrote about my undergraduate degree, mentioned some modules that I studied which are pre-requisites for this masters’ and how I got into the field of data science. In this, I also wrote about my relevant internships and how they helped me. Some relevant achievements or research projects. (200 words)
Third Paragraph: In this I wrote, why I chose that specific university and course. You can write about university’s culture, academic excellence, any special tie-ups. For course, see the structure of modules. Write specific modules if you're interested in any. Find something unique about their course. Write the actual reason. There is never any problem in being honest. (100 words)
Fourth Paragraph: I always like overall development not just studies. So, here, I mentioned some specific societies of college that I liked and hoped to join in future. This showed my diverse interest and willingness to learn new things. Also, this shows you took some effort to know about university and see its societies. (50–70 words)
Now, in continuation with the above paragraph, I concluded the SoP by mentioning something like “…I’m ready for this competitive programme to scale up my career….” etc.. Just a good line for ending. (20–30 words).
And that's it. Revise SoP 4–5 times and ask other people to read it and ask them what they think of you as an individual after reading it.
Do you need a counsellor for getting the process done?
No, everything is available on websites. For admission, everything is there on university website. For visa, everything is available on gov.uk website.
Even still, if you’re not confident you can go to them. It’s your wish. But, always submit your application yourself. You should know the process.
I did my application myself and got top admits. So, its a tried and tested method. Having a consultant doesn’t increase your chances of getting admit.
How to choose universities?
Go to https://www.mastersportal.com/ , choose UK and search for your course. It will give you a list of universities. See the university, read about their course and decide. You can start with ranking but don’t just accept that, course matters a lot. Check for employer reputation in QS ranking if you’re thinking of job after masters. For checking accepatnace rate of a university , you can see this website https://www.admissionreport.com/
Make a final list with for example 6 universities. 2 of them can be dream university (low acceptance rate, good ranking, great course, good location etc..), 3 can be target university (where you think you might get admission, they would not be as good as dream uni but good altogether) and 1 can be a safe university (course is good, ranking might be okayish, high acceptance rate, here you are 80–90% sure that you’ll get an admit).
The above segreagation was my classification. But different people go for different combinations. Choose yours on your own.
How is Data Science masters in UK?
So, experience for everyone is different here. Every university has some focus that is visible from modules and department offering that course. Eg. If statistics department offers it, most probably it would be heavy on stats and may use R language in class. If its CS, then more of programming is there and Python is generally used. Though it depends so do a good research on course. Secondly, there are a lot of optional modules and electives which help you shape your own course. So, you can have a really heavy mathematical course or more practical course, depends on you.
But, yes, there is a lot of mathematics involved. It’s not like online MOOCs or bootcamps. You’ll get to know a lot more technical details. The coding assignments don’t involve direct use of libraries but actual implementation of algorithms (which is not really easy.. lol.. but its fun). Also, some subjects taught here are pretty innovating, that might change industries in future.
But everything depends on modules offered by university. So, do a good research and compare modules at universities than the rankings.
Job Scenario in Data Science at UK?
It’s almost same as India though selection process is more transparent and more focus is on skills. There are a lot of jobs available on portal for data science everyday for both freshers and experienced people. No company comes to college so no campus recruitment kind of thing like in India. Companies come in job fair, you can talk to them, know about their openings etc.. You have to find the company, submit your CV and give interviews. This is done outside university. But all universities have a career cell which can help you with figuring what you want to do, make a CV, apply for job, prepare for interviews by mock sessions along with a lot resources for your reading. So, it’s not that difficult. At UCL, they give support 2 years post your graduation for searching and applying to jobs. I don’t know about other universities but you can check on their websites.
I guess these are the questions that everyone mostly has when applying. Though if you have any more, please ask in comments. I’ll try to respond as soon as possible. You can also mail them at anjalipallsr@gmail.com but I’d request you to ask here as everyone could then see them and gain information.
I hope you liked it!
Cheers.
