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Columbia DS

Program Overview​

For students whose undergrad was not in CS and who simply want to use this program to transition into CS, it is not a great fit — consider CS, CE, or even EE instead. The program leans more toward DS and ML. Overall, the DS curriculum is fairly comprehensive. There is a capstone project that can be put on your resume, but you must complete certain prerequisite courses before enrolling, so it is not very helpful for job hunting during the first summer. Course selection is relatively flexible — courses taken during undergrad can be waived, and extra electives can be freely chosen from CS and Statistics.

If your undergrad is not in CS and you want to use this program to transition into CS, please look at CS, CE, or even EE instead.

Admission Preferences & Representative Data Points​

Admits a fairly large class, but many come from prestigious schools. Typically around 200 students per cohort.

Roughly a 40/60 split between mainland Chinese undergrads and US undergrads. Mainland Chinese students mainly come from Tsinghua, Peking University, SJTU, Tongji, Fudan, etc. — all top-tier 985 universities. Among US undergrads, UCLA is well-represented, along with Rutgers, UC Berkeley, and CMU.

  1. City College of New York, Applied Mathematics undergrad, GPA 3.96
  2. UCSB Statistics + DS undergrad, GPA 3.94
  3. Boston University Math + CS undergrad, GPA 3.9
  4. UCLA Math undergrad, GPA 3.95
  5. Indian student, GPA 9.2/10, five years full-time work experience

Job Outcomes & Data Points​

Average

Overall performance is fairly average. The school does provide some career resources — for example, DSI sends DS students a weekly "DSI Opportunities" email summarizing full-time and internship positions. During the semester, there are also company Resume Drops emails where student resumes get pushed directly to HR/Hiring Managers. DSI also hosts its own career fair, with companies that have close ties to DSI. However, job hunting ultimately depends on individual ability. Classmates' career directions are diverse — some join large companies, while others go to smaller ones.

  1. UCSB Statistics + DS undergrad, landed Microsoft DS intern
  2. Boston University Math + CS undergrad, multiple internships during undergrad, landed CVS DS full-time position
  3. Top-30 liberal arts college undergrad, multiple internships during school, landed JP Morgan
  4. Indian student, two years full-time at HP, landed Tesla new grad
  5. Indian student, McKinsey internship during school, landed Stripe DS
  6. Indian student, five years full-time work experience, landed Principal at Capital One