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Ms Data Science @ Royal Holloway

Hello There !

I am an overseas applicant for Ms Data Science

I have admit for the similar course from these universities

University of Westminster
Warwick
RHUL
[Waiting]Univesity of Surrey
[Waiting]University of Dundee

Going my the popular tables Warwick does stand off but their course fee high and not so great course content for this degree. Westminster content is good but im not hearing good stuff about the teaching.RHUL has a good course content and electives and has a year in the industry program (which is good) .

This course is focused on the industry needs .

Any thoughts on this please ? I want to know about the departments and their teaching. Not really interested on how the building looks or the taste of the beer in the pubs near by.:rolleyes:

I want to know the industry partnership that RHUL claims to have.
Their computer science department (what to expect from them?)


Is it going to be a piratical approach to data science or bookish math!


I'm going spend quiet some in pursing this and i know for the fact that this crazy decision is going to change my life.


Regards,
Phpshook
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 1
The department has pretty poor ties with industry at the undergraduate level. But then you can't expect undergrads to be anything more than lay programmers, which is why they tend to get programming placements in less well known companies. At the postgraduate level the ties are, from what I've heard, much better. There is active cooperation between our academics and industry on various projects. Many of our PhD students are sponsored by various companies to conduct targeted research for them.

Since this is the first year the MSc's will be run I cannot comment on what the industry ties will be. In all probability you will have to, with the help of the department, individually apply to placements. If you end up not getting one, the department will organise one for you. I doubt many of the placements themselves will be exclusive to RHUL students. In short, what I'm trying to say is this: as a Masters student you most probably won't be actively collaborating on targeted research with a certain company; instead, you will have to find your own placement by, for example, applying for a year in industry with Google (to which anyone can apply). All of the above holds for any other department too by the way.

The real question you should therefore be asking is how good the department is in data science. That's an easy one. We're amazing at it :biggrin: ! All boasts aside, we have some excellent professors in the field that have started, and importantly contributed to, many a topic in machine learning. We're a theory-heavy department so expect to get your fair share of bookish maths from our crazy professors :tongue: . However, the MSc you've applied to is mostly applied in nature so don't worry, it'll definitely be more applied than theoretical!

The building itself isn't exactly an architectural wonder, but the campus is very nice. The beer in the local pubs is very good too.
(edited 10 years ago)
Founders Building, Royal Holloway
Royal Holloway
Egham
Visit website
Reply 2
Original post by Laxhill
The department has pretty poor ties with industry at the undergraduate level. But then you can't expect undergrads to be anything more than lay programmers, which is why they tend to get programming placements in less well known companies. At the postgraduate level the ties are, from what I've heard, much better. There is active cooperation between our academics and industry on various projects. Many of our PhD students are sponsored by various companies to conduct targeted research for them.

Since this is the first year the MSc's will be run I cannot comment on what the industry ties will be. In all probability you will have to, with the help of the department, individually apply to placements. If you end up not getting one, the department will organise one for you. I doubt many of the placements themselves will be exclusive to RHUL students. In short, what I'm trying to say is this: as a Masters student you most probably won't be actively collaborating on targeted research with a certain company; instead, you will have to find your own placement by, for example, applying for a year in industry with Google (to which anyone can apply). All of the above holds for any other department too by the way.

The real question you should therefore be asking is how good the department is in data science. That's an easy one. We're amazing at it :biggrin: ! All boasts aside, we have some excellent professors in the field that have started, and importantly contributed to, many a topic in machine learning. We're a theory-heavy department so expect to get your fair share of bookish maths from our crazy professors :tongue: . However, the MSc you've applied to is mostly applied in nature so don't worry, it'll definitely be more applied than theoretical!

The building itself isn't exactly an architectural wonder, but the campus is very nice. The beer in the local pubs is very good too.


Thanks for the response !!

Yeap i know the fact RHUL is good in ML and related feild. That said will you be able to rate the other universities in the list ive given for this course?

i was reading http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2258261/royal-holloway-launches-big-data-masters-course and the prof seems to quote IBM and Microsoft . how do you see this ?
Reply 3
Thanks for the Response!

i was reading http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2258261/royal-holloway-launches-big-data-masters-course
and there prof says they are establishing relationships with IBM and Microsoft . how do you see this ?

I do know that RHUL has contributed to the data science field as such.

How do you rate the other universities[ the once ive mentioned ] for the same/similar course how do you think their industry partnership is ?

What matters in a Data Science course is the ability to give students raw data from the industry to play around with .
Bumping up quite an old thread:colondollar: Will folks here be able to enlighten me on how good the MSc in Data Science with an year in the industry at Royal Holloway has been in the recent years? I am an international student contemplating of firming up RHUL. My primary criterion is to get a job in the UK hence willing to prefer "with placement" programmes over non-placement ones offered by St Andrews, Sheffield or Surrey from where I have unconditional offers. Please share any thoughts and inputs, especially in -
1. Whether or not the course is more applied knowledge based instead of being theoretical?
2. What are the companies where students usually go for the industry year?
3. Do companies hire MSc Data science students from the college campus? I've heard they do at St Andrews
4. How easy or difficult is it to find a company for the placement year? What role does the academic performance play in this?

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