I’m considering a ED transfer to UChicago. I don’t mean for this to look like a chance me, but I wanted to show you my rationale for doing so, as well as get recommendations on what to do.
The university I’m at doesn’t offer a data science major, and only has a minor. I will be doing a bootcamp in Cape Town that covers data science in depth from Python to decision trees, Natural Language Processing, Neural Networks, deep learning and all in between. I will also be doing an internship in this program as well. Disregarding the academic breadth of a minor, I feel a minor will not be sufficient after I come back from the program, and that I will need a major to further my theoretical understanding of data science and AI.
Your train of thought is reasonable; however, you should rewrite the phrase “Disregarding the academic breadth of a minor” because it seems to convey the opposite of your rationale.
I see. I should’ve elaborated on that a little more. It would be more appropriate to say there is some academic breadth in a minor compared to the program since the program is a bootcamp. But of course the minor, in my opinion, wouldn’t best accommodate the practical skillet I’ll have afterwards.
I think you need to research more whether this minor would indeed be inferior. It might be…and it might not be.
Where are you hoping to transfer TO. It’s important for you to emphasize the strength you feel you would gain in their program as a major…over a minor elsewhere. In my opinion. Thus the need for research on this.
I’ll definitely look into researching and comparing this in-depth bootcamp to a minor. I feel as though I know what I’d like, but wanted to see if I was taking the best course of action.
In terms of where I want to transfer, likely schools in T30 that have a data science major, or even an AI major. But UChicago is my top choice.
Are you able to study some combination of mathematics and computer science at your current university? This plus a minor or even just a course or two in data science would seem to set you up well for a master’s degree, or for a couple of years of work optionally followed by a graduate degree.
It potentially is but you’ll need to articulate why UChicago is the best or at a minimum better place to pursue that area of study. Data science is not a niche major and you could study it at a variety of schools. To that point I’d recommend applying to a range of schools since transfer acceptance rates are even more unpredictable than first year rates.
Yes that would be possible. Alternatively, I found that I could do interdisciplinary engineering to create a de facto data science major. As I am only a first-year, I have not yet declared a major and can do this starting the second year after gen ed requirements.
I do have about 9 schools in consideration, all of which offer data science or statistical science with a focus on data science. I do feel that I can write a purposeful reason as to why another program would be more appropriate for my understanding of data science.
I would be very careful about advancing a rationale that downplays the value of a university’s minor because you are soon going to go to a bootcamp introducing Data Science. One course at university is 40 hours instruction plus 80 hours of homework. How many weeks full-time will this bootcamp last? I think you risk irking whoever is reviewing your application by suggesting that your not as yet experienced brief exposure will make you too advanced to take advantage of a minor. This seems very cart-before-the-horse to me.
If the bootcamp is in January then applying RD makes more sense and should increase your chances. If you write the application after the bootcamp, your argument wouldn’t be that you will soon be exposed to this field at a bootcamp and know so much about it that your current university will not be able to contribute usefully to your development. Instead it would be that you have had this amazing learning experience, are incredibly excited by what you have learned, and are keen to learn more. You can see already that a six course minor will not be enough since you want something closer to immersion to get the maximum amount of knowledge you can etc., and that after carefully reviewing university x’s courses, research opportunities in this area, internships etc …
I think thats a reasonable argument for transfer. But note that you’ll still have to do the Core at UChicago. Is there enough time? Also note the trimester system. Will your credits transfer accordingly? Worried you might get short-changed if transferring from a semester based system.
Also note that the number of transfers that UChicago takes each year is very small, I think a few dozen at most.
I believe you are a freshman: if so, your odds of transfer depend more heavily on your HS transcript.
-what school do you attend now(if not comfortable saying then maybe list your school mixed in with 4 similarly-perceived or ranked elite schools so we can have a general idea).
-what other schools were you accepted to when you first applied?
-did you apply to UChicago and what was the result?
Yes I am currently at Vanderbilt and am looking for a transfer to more schools than just UChicago that have a data science major, or perhaps schools that have an Artificial Intelligence major as well.
Have you talked to the professors at Vanderbilt who are themselves interested in AI / machine learning / data science? I was able to find a couple of them just now with a Google search.
At Vanderbilt (at least based on what I just found in a Google search) you could either major in math and minor in computer science, or major in computer science and minor in math. This plus a course or a bit of work in AI and data science would set you up very well for a master’s degree in either AI or data sciences.
You can certainly apply to other schools, make an effort to do very well in your current course work, and also talk to one or two professors at Vanderbilt. Then you will have some time to decide on your next step.
Definitely. I feel the courses will be of big help to me for now. I do think computer science courses should definitely do for now. I’ve checked out the courses too. I know of undergrads who take graduate classes as well, so maybe I can utilize that instead of a transfer later on, if that is a possibility. I haven’t talked to any professors about it yet. That would be good to do. I should be having a meeting with an advisor soon, so I’ll have time discuss the problem.