MSc Data Science

at London School of Economics

You will take four compulsory courses, including a Capstone Project. You will also select optional courses to the value of one and a half units from a list of options.

The Capstone Project will provide you with the opportunity to study in depth a topic of specific interest. The topic may be identified from a list supplied by the Department or may be proposed by you. The topic will normally relate to a specific data source or sources and will require the use of data science skills learnt on the programme. The topic for a Capstone Project will be similar to that for the kinds of data-based issues faced in practice by private or public sector organisations. The focus is likely to be practical and there may be the opportunity to liaise with such an organisation during the project to ensure the project has practical relevance. A Capstone Project will be more academic; it will refer to a research literature and address a research question, building on that literature and using the data source(s). 

(* denotes a half unit)

Managing and Visualising Data*
Focuses on data structures and databases, covering methods for storing and structuring data, relational and non-relational databases and query languages. The second part focuses on visualising data, including best practices for visualising univariate, bivariate, graph and other types of data as well as visualising various statistics for predictive analytics and other tasks. 

Data Analysis and Statistical Methods*
This course will provide an introduction to methods of statistics and data analysis. The statistical software R will constitute an integral part of the course, providing hands-on experience of data analysis. 

Machine Learning and Data Mining*
Begins with the classical statistical methodology of linear regression and then build on this framework to provide an introduction to machine learning and data mining methods from a statistical perspective. 

Capstone Project
An in-depth study on an approved topic of your choice. 

Minimum entry requirements for MSc Data Science
 

Upper second class honours (2:1) degree or equivalent in a relevant discipline, including a substantial amount of mathematics.

Competition for places at the School is high. This means that even if you meet the minimum entry requirement, this does not guarantee you an offer of admission.

Every graduate student is charged a fee for their programme.

The fee covers registration and examination fees payable to the School, lectures, classes and individual supervision, lectures given at other colleges under intercollegiate arrangements and, under current arrangements, membership of the Students' Union. It does not cover living costs or travel or fieldwork.

Tuition fees 2022/23 for MSc Data Science
Home students: £31,584
Overseas students: £32,208

Quick Careers Facts for the Department of Statistics
Median salary of our PG students six months after graduating: £45,500

Top 5 sectors our students work in:

• Financial service activities
• Legal and accounting activities
• Computer programming and consultancy
• Education
• Insurance and pensions

 The data was collected as part of the Graduate Outcomes survey, which is administered by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Graduates from 2017-18 were the first group to be asked to respond to Graduate Outcomes. Median salaries are calculated for respondents who are paid in UK pounds sterling.

Data scientists are much in demand across industry, including a variety of Internet online service companies, marketers, banks, investment management, and other financial companies. 

Data scientist positions involve a wide range of responsibilities; such as conducting exploratory data analysis, applying statistical methodologies, deriving business insights from data, partnering with company executives, product and engineering teams to solve problems, identify trends and opportunities, inform, influence, support, and execute product decisions and launches.