Who are the ambassadors and how can I contact them?
Data Science Program Ambassadors are graduates of the BSE Master's Degree in Data Science. Ambassadors have made themselves available to candidates and prospective students to answer questions about their experience in the program.
To get in touch with an ambassador, please contact the Admissions Office, who will make a personal introduction for you.
"Picking a Data Science Master’s program was a hard choice. So many different things fall under the label of “data science,” and I myself had not identified with precision what I was looking for. I must say I was very lucky, because this program happened to be perfect for me. It taught me how to program and provided me with the strongest background in statistical and ML theory and applications that can be taught in a 10-month period..."
"What I like the most about the program is that it trains the students on how to think about the problems and gives the statistical/mathematical tools to solve it. It is not some thoughtless data science course where you just reproduce code you find on the Internet. The program is also composed of elective courses from distinct fields, enabling the students to pursue the track that best suits their interests. The small cohort creates a collaborative environment and the mix between different profiles makes group projects a lot more interesting and valuables..."
"I never thought I could learn so much in such a short time. The Master's in Data Science at BSE was an exciting and fast-paced opportunity for me to acquire foundational knowledge in a broad range of subjects. I didn't become an expert in any (who can in 9 months?), but I gained the perspective to appreciate the numerous paths I could pursue as a data scientist and the necessary skills to pursue them... "
"When we think of Data Science, we would usually think of building complex models and making predictions. While it is not difficult to jump right into this building process, one would benefit from first understanding the foundations. The programme’s strong focus on introducing the mathematical tools in areas like statistics and optimization was absolutely crucial to my understanding of Data Science methods and empowered me to choose the right set of tools each time. This strong theoretical understanding of every building block in the process eventually gave me great confidence in my analyses. "
Max Mueller '20 Germany Master's Student in Physics, LMU Munich
"With a background in Physics, I chose this Master's mostly because I wanted to understand what is going on behind the Machine Learning and Data Science tools that are a big part of everyday life for many scientists. After only a few weeks I was already sure of having chosen the right place since the program not only teaches the foundations I was searching for, but also trains hands-on, a combination I was surprised to find so well-balanced. The lecturers, some of whom are at the very forefront of research and incredibly passionate about their field, motivated me to really dive deep into the material of the classes..."
Aron Pap '20 Hungary Visiting Student, The Alan Turing Institute (London)
"the program facilitated intense teamwork which truly acted as a "catalyst" for learning. I gained important knowledge through interacting with my classmates, who came from a wide range of academic backgrounds. They motivated me throughout the program and collaborating with them made the whole year a lot of fun as well. The value working together with my classmates became increasingly clear after the program had to switch to online learning in our year (due to the pandemic). I really wish the program would be longer, since I already miss the intellectual environment that the Master’s Program provides!"
"I believe that learning how to think, rather than simply acquiring how to blindly perform a series of applications, is the most valuable asset for a data scientist since we work in a constantly and rapidly developing field... I deeply appreciate the accurate selection of students in the program. I prefer to surround myself with passionate and smart people who motivate me to reach my goals and from whom I can continuously learn. Our class created exactly this inspiring environment, and many of my classmates have become an example to admire and friends to rely on..."
Felix Adam '19 Germany Junior Data Scientist, Fresenius Medical Care (Germany)
"Looking back at my year at the BSE, I wish that it didn't fly by as fast as it did. There were so many exciting things to learn and discover, be it in statistics, machine learning or in and around Barcelona, that it felt like the Masters was over before it even started. Sure, the program was truly challenging but also immensely rewarding. Most importantly, I realized that Data Science is a fluid field, for which the Masters provides an excellent foundation enabling me to continue learning and pushing my own boundaries..."
"For me, the BSE Data Science master’s was a game-changer. The program taught me the foundations of Data Science, equipping me with the necessary tools to make a thoughtful and modern empirical analysis. Importantly, the inspiring courses and faculty raised my curiosity and ambition to identify and explore novel avenues to integrate machine learning and artificial intelligence into economic research. The program also gave me the confidence to code. Having studied economics before, I had no significant exposure to programming. Now, I look for algorithms I can implement, or for some interesting internet data, I can web scrape..."
"The Master's in Data Science at BSE was a turning point in my career. It allowed me to expand my field of competencies in statistics and programming. Without a doubt, it was an intensive and demanding program but absolutely rewarding, made even more so by the fact of fostering extraordinary friendships with ambitious students from the most diverse backgrounds. After the master, I was flooded with job offers and decided to work at a leading consulting firm specialized in Machine Learning and AI solutions."
"I pursued the Data Science master at BSE in a moment when I needed to step up my level of quantitative analysis and research. It has the peculiarity of a small student cohort, which gives a great boost to the interaction with the faculty and all other classmates. With the current hindsight, I can say that the Data Science master provided me enough plug-in tools to make a direct contribution in the work environment, as well as theoretical framework to look at less trivial problems..."
"Living in Barcelona for a year was a dream. Through the program I gained confidence in applying data science to real world problems and worked with talented and thoughtful machine learning researchers. But, what made me happiest was the friendships I fostered with like-minded ambitious people from around the world..."
Matthew Keys '18 United Kingdom Statistician, CRES-UPF (Barcelona)
"The Master's Degree in Data Science is an exceptional program. World class experts and a gold standard curriculum aside, it demands creativity and encourages exploration of individual interests in both technical skills and applications. The result is an incredibly inspiring and collaborative environment where you are pushed to use and combine individual strengths to innovate, and learn not only from the lecturers but also your peers. In the end everyone graduates with unique but equally impressive skillsets and initiate their careers in a highly diverse array of fields. I really look forward to continuing to learn from the people that I shared the most rewarding year of my life with yet."
"For me the time at BSE was truly amazing. Besides receiving excellent academic training in Data Science I gained much from working with such talented, motivated and passionate professors and students on a daily basis. I never thought that learning this much in just 9 months was actually possible – experiencing that it motivates me every day now to push myself a little more. Moreover, it was often fun (despite being exhausting), I made some really good friends and fell in love with beautiful Barcelona."
"The BSE Data Science masters was without a doubt the most academically rigorous and intense period I've experienced. It provided me with a very solid foundation to approach and solve problems in a statistically sound way. Personally, I feel like I've gained lifelong friends in my fellow coursemates and professors, who helped me and supported me emotionally and academically throughout what was a very challenging year. Professionally, it equipped me with the skills I needed to make a switch and pursue a career in Data Science. In addition, the practicum programme provided good networking opportunities..."
"The master taught me first and foremost how to conquer knowledge myself and a way-of-thinking. The field of Machine Learning is extremely dynamic, therefore, the skill to teach yourself is much more valuable that actual knowledge. In the end, working under constant pressure without losing enthusiasm, still enjoying life, and building up amazing friendships was the mixture for a fantastic year..."
"...Not only our faculty was inspiring, but my classmates were all original, extremely clever and diverse people. I have never been in such a great group of people, and I truly believe that one of the most unique attribute of the program is the people (both faculty and students) that it brings together. The program was designed in a way that it always encouraged cooperation among us, and it never turned into a competition... "
"...The program completely opened up a new area of employment that I hadn't previously even considered. I now feel confident and excited by the direction of my career path which started at the BSE. There is also an incredible careers service within BSE, who are always available to give useful advice and guidance..."
"As someone with an IT background who already took some machine learning courses in my bachelor degree at the University of Edinburgh, the BSE data science program mainly attracted me because of its well-balanced mix of statistics, applied IT, and economics - something I didn’t find in any other program at that time..."
Robert Lange '17 Germany Researcher, Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin
"The BSE Data Science Master’s program enabled me to follow my dream and to transition from Economics to Computational Neurosciences. The program provides the perfect structure to acquire deep theoretical insights as well as fundamental skills required to execute a complete data-driven project..."
"The Master's in Data Science was a great learning experience for me. The classes had a rigorous mix of in-depth theory behind machine learning and statistical models as well their practical applications and how to deal with real world datasets. The well-rounded course structure encompassed the breadth of modern data science from basic statistics all the way to NLP and deep learning which makes this program unique... "
David Rosenfeld '17 United Kingdom Economist, UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
"The Master's in Data Science provided me with tools to conduct economic analysis with cutting-edge data analysis techniques. I really appreciated the possibility in the BSE Master's to explore the topics that we found most interesting, and work on collaborative projects which made clear the practical implications of what we learned..."
"The Master's in Data Science at BSE had a positive impact from an academic and personal perspective and it gave me a strong competitive advantage as a PhD student in Economics. As a social scientist, I gained a set of incredibly useful tools for research in applied fields. As a statistician, I acquired knowledge and the language useful for more theoretical-oriented research..."
Sarah Inman '16 United Kingdom PhD Student, Columbia University
"The BSE Master's in Data Science gave me solid practical skills in statistics and computing that have proved enormously helpful in pretty much every project I have worked on since then...In my current research I am hoping to combine the data science I learned on the Master's with the social science that I learned during my undergrad to come up with some innovative solutions to problems in the field of sustainability..."
"...The Barcelona days have helped me in understanding more about myself, my ambitions and future plans. Academically, I am very happy to have chosen this course, because I am convinced that it completed my formation in a quite unique way. I really enjoy studying per se, so I value the Master even at a purely cultural level..."
Thomas Vicente '16 France Machine Learning Engineer, Vintra Inc. (Barcelona)
"The Data Science program was a great occasion to meet people who are also passionate about finding the proper answer to complex problems. I am still often in touch with some of them. I believe the one year program gave us strong theoretical foundations, and allowed us to be autonomous in research or engineering environments. In particular, I was involved in many hands-on projects and research problems such as my master thesis. These works played a big role for many job interviews after the master."
Gaston Besanson '15 Argentina Data Science Manager, Accenture Applied Intelligence (Barcelona)
"I was part of the first cohort from the Master's in Data Science (2014-2015). It allowed three things: 1) Time for the Data Science market and how it will evolve in the next 3 years, thanks to its holistic approach, merging methodologies, techniques and technologies 2) Go beyond just implementing (coding) ML solutions for problems, by allowing me to push at the same time for theoretical and methodological soundness. 3) Provided new friends (fellow alumni from that first cohort) that I have the pleasure to enjoy in my everyday life at my current job."
"The reason I applied to the Data Science program is because I wanted to make a career shift. I felt that with all the hype around data science I needed a structured way to gain real knowledge in the field. I believe that the program was a perfect fit for me. Both the theoretical knowledge and practical skills I gained were exactly what I aimed for..."
"...The basics of ML/Stats are essential but the optimization and economics behind data science is what really distinguishes the BSE Data Science Master, offering a profound background on how to develop the models, but also how to use them to take the most meaningful decisions in the optimal way depending on the context, and for this reason, the BSE Data Science master is a category on its own..."
Tim Stumpf '15 Germany PhD Student, University of Warwick
"With hindsight, I think that more than anything the program encouraged us to move to the edge of our comfort zone. I came in as a generic economics graduate, and four years later, I'm doing research in applied probability. In the meantime, I've worked with statistics professors, computer scientists, software engineers and product managers, each time taking a step away from what I was already confident in doing..."
