Hi, I am having a lot of trouble trying to decide what graduate program to enroll in. I have been accepted to the Master in QMSS program at Columbia University and the Master in Applied Economics programs at Boston College and Northeastern. Attending Columbia will put me in about $87,000 in debt. Northeastern will put me in $30,000-$40,000 in debt. I received a scholarship at Northeastern where I would only have to pay for fees and living expenses (housing, food, textbooks). Boston College will put me at about $63,000 in debt. Since Northeastern and Boston College are pretty close in prestige, I would choose Northeastern because of the scholarship. I am stuck between Columbia and Northeastern. The Columbia QMSS program is really interesting and will allow me to study data science, which is a career I would like to go into after graduating. The Columbia program would be my #1 choice if it wasn’t for the $60,000 difference from attending Northeastern. A career in data science would pay significantly higher than a career in economics but I am not sure if Columbia is worth the extra costs. I do not plan on attending any Ph.D programs in the future. Any input will be helpful!
Update: BC is a 15 month program and would cost about $75-85k. Northeastern is a 3 semester program and Columbia is a 2 semester program.
Definitely Northeastern, especially if you have any undergrad debt but even if you don’t.
You can study data science at Northeastern, too. Northeastern has an MS in data science and I am sure you can take classes in that department as part of your program. Data scientists have all kinds of academic backgrounds and many come from economics, so you can still be a data scientist if you want.
It’s also not necessarily true that a career in data science would pay significantly more; economists make an average of $100K a year. The BLS doesn’t yet have a profile on data scientists, but other data suggests that average salaries for data scientists range from $100K to $115K. It’s not a huge difference.
Having an MS with only $40K of debt (tops!) from an excellent university is a great deal. Take it!
@dmanmeds - You might also consider Cal Berkeley’s new on-line Masters in Data Science. https://datascience.berkeley.edu/about/ My nephew just finished this and loved it! You will earn a prestigious Cal Berkeley degree, with no indication that it was earned on-line. The current cost is about $63,000 for a two-year program, which is pretty darn reasonable. There are currently 26 students enrolled from New York, 10 from New Jersey, and 12 from Massachusetts.
Thank you for the replies! @Beaudreau- I am definite on enrolling in graduate school starting fall of 2017 but I appreciate the advise. @juillet- I was definitely leaning towards Columbia but I am starting to lean towards Northeastern and your comment has helped in swaying the decision. I have to make my decision in the next two days and I still have not fully decided on one.