“What really surprised me is the close relationships I have with my classmates and how much we stay in touch and how they really are interested in the industry. … At SMU, it’s a different experience than my undergraduate education. … I’m still very close with a lot of my SMU classmates. We help each other out inside and outside the classroom, just staying close. It’s something unique I found at SMU.”

“You have to put in the hard effort. You have to put in sweat. And you have to go through the proper steps. That’s what SMU does. It gives you the true understanding of what’s necessary to be a data scientist and backs it up with the SMU name. Nobody can do better.”

“SMU is an important school, not only in this region, but nationally. To have graduated from that program – from the university – it means a whole lot. You don’t realize how much you’ve learned until you come out the other end of it, and you’re sitting in interviews and you’re thinking, ‘Wow. I understand this question. I’m not intimidated.’”

“Everyone is brilliant. Everyone here is kind. And I know, standing next to my classmates, I am standing next to some of the smartest people that I’ve ever met, and that really inspires me to be better as well.”

“[The Capstone experience] has given me a very strong project I can show to my potential employers.”

“Using data science to an extent in my position, I became curious as to how it could be more applicable to what I do. I wanted to learn more tools to apply data science practices to our company and better understand our customers. DataScience@SMU utilizes the most relevant tools that a data scientist would need to get the job done. SMU’s curriculum also combines statistics with programming better than other programs that seem to focus on one discipline over the other.”

“DataScience@SMU has prepared me to support some of the initiatives my company is focused on. From concepts such as NoSQL to visualization, I am able to build dashboards to visualize data for end users to make informed decisions. I am determining how my company can leverage key data science concepts such as machine learning and cloud computing to operate efficiently. Learning these tools helps position me for a more impactful role with my company.”

“With a need for in-depth analytics in my current company and a growing need for professional data scientists, I thought this would be a great investment in my career.”

“The most surprising element of SMU’s online learning environment was the high level of interactivity. Although the program was entirely online, I always felt a connection to the professors and my peers because we had the opportunity to work on plenty of group projects.”

“The program includes a good mixture of programming and theory, providing a broader view of the skills learned. I appreciate how programming reinforces theory and theory informs programming throughout the curriculum. As you might expect, there is an abundance of data to review at NASA. Recently, my group has discussed bringing me into that part of that process.”

“After spending a few months taking some short-term courses, I felt that a more thorough and systematic syllabus was required to help me understand the field. An amalgamation of subjects, tools, techniques, software and platforms are required to skillfully analyze and process data at a large scale. I believe it is important to have a strong foundation in data science to build any useful and actionable insights that benefit the end customer. Doing a master’s program was definitely the right choice to stand out in the field.”