Fortune magazine has ranked UW-Milwaukee’s Master’s in Data Science program as one of the best in the country, landing at No. 25.
In addition, UWM’s program was ranked No. 15 among the most affordable programs nationwide. UWM is the only program from Wisconsin on either list.
“We are so proud of our students and faculty who put our programs on the prestigious Fortune ranking list within two years of launch,” said Purush Papatla, Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute Professor of Marketing. “We expect this trajectory to continue and our programs to grow even stronger as we increase experiential learning opportunities through internships and collaborations with industry.”
The magazine considered several factors in making its rankings, weighing graduation rate and one-year retention rate most heavily. Other factors were program cost, acceptance rate and the average undergrad grade point average of its students.
UWM’s data science master’s degree is a 12- to 16-month program, which can be done full- or part-time.
UWM is a partner with Northwestern Mutual and Marquette University in the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute, which aims to help make southeastern Wisconsin a national hub for technology, research, business and talent development, while creating an organic pipeline of tech talent in the area. That partnership provides students mentorship, networking, scholarships and research opportunities.
Data science graduates can expect to find a strong job market. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the data science job market to grow 36% by 2033, which is much faster than average. Those jobs carry a median salary of $108,000 per year, the bureau says.
