M.S. in Data Science

To be eligible for admission, a student must have a B.S. degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale and have the following background (typically obtained through a BS in a STEM field):

• Calculus: Derivatives, integrals, applications
• Linear Algebra: Vector spaces, dot products, Euclidean norm, matrices
• Probability and Statistics: Random variables, probability distributions, basic statistics
• Programming: Basic programming constructs, writing and debugging programs, iteration, recursion, arrays, lists
• Data Structures and Algorithms: Basic data structures, search and sort, algorithm analysis

Applicants lacking this background may take the Refresher boot camp to acquire it.

Students in the Master of Science in Data Science (MSDS) program must successfully complete 30 credits based on any of the following options:

• 10 Courses (30 credits)
• 9 Courses (27 credits) + MS Project (3 credits)
• 8 Courses (24 credits) + MS Thesis (6 credits)

Independent of the chosen option, 4 out of 5 core courses are required.

If a student chooses the MS thesis option, the thesis must be related to Data Science and requires approval from a professor in the Data Science Department who will be the MS thesis advisor.

All applicants are required to submit:

• Transcripts from a prior degree
• At least one letter of recommendation

Certificates of completion of relevant online courses are taken into consideration.

All international applicants are required to submit scores for the following standardized tests:

• GRE
• TOEFL, or IELTS, or Duolingo

Score reports do not have to be submitted directly by the companies that administer the tests (e.g. ETS etc.) The scores can be reported by the applicant, by either uploading a pdf with the official score report or by sharing a link to their score report.

Test Waiver: International applicants who hold a degree from an accredited US institution can ask for a waiver of standardized tests. To request a waiver, please first submit your application and then contact the NJIT admissions office, by directly emailing our staff responsible for international recruitment.

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Students are required to take 4 core courses.

Students may choose an elective outside the list after approval from their respective advisor.

For the full list of required, electives and the recommended course sequence, see the official NJIT catalog.

After completing the program, graduates will be able to:

• Acquire, clean, and manage massive data sets.
• Play an analytical role in an organization by designing, implementing, and evaluating advanced statistical models and approaches applied to complex problems.
• Provide econometric and statistical models for a variety of problems including projections, classification, clustering, pattern analysis, sampling and simulations.
• Research new ways of predicting and modeling end-user behavior, and investigate data summarization and visualization techniques for conveying key applied analytics findings.
• Apply modern artificial intelligence and deep learning methods to complex prediction and recognition tasks.

Campus Options

• The online program is available to both U.S. residents and international students
• The online rates are available only to students fully enrolled to the online program
• U.S. residents can choose a combination of face-to-face and online courses
• The Jersey City program is not available to F-1 international students
• F-1 students can take at most one course per semester online, or at Jersey City

Tuition & Fees by Campus 

For details, see NJIT's Tuition and Fee Schedule.

For information about cost of living see Tuition and Costs at NJIT.

All applicants are automatically considered for financial support during admission, with no need for additional communication. However, guaranteed financial support for MS students is limited and typically reserved for doctoral candidates.

After enrollment, MS students can apply for campus jobs such as grading, tutoring, research assistantships, or roles in the library and academic departments to help offset expenses.

Well-performing students are often hired as graders, earning up to $9K annually.

For the most up-to-date information about tuition and fees, please click here.