Prerequisite Skills

Essential Communication Skills

Applicants must communicate ideas, examples, and evidence clearly and effectively to a generalist audience. In addition to meeting a high level of proficiency in English for non-native speakers, as noted on our International Students page, all applicants must demonstrate strong writing skills in the required admissions essays. Writing strong essays is your best way to demonstrate competency in the communication requirements of the MSDS program.

Communication Demonstration

Applicants demonstrate strong, graduate school-level communication skills through four short required essays in the application. Please refer to the Admissions Overview section “Required Materials” for the essay prompts.

Essential Computer Science Skills

MSDS students need high proficiency in the following computer science topics to successfully understand new material taught in DATA 514/515/516: 

• • Numerical representation 
  • Recursion 
  • Basic search 
  • Basic complexity 
  • Object-oriented vs. procedural programming
  • Datatypes (objects, primitives, arrays)
  • Data structures (lists, queues, stacks, trees)
  • Algorithms (search and tree traversal)

Students also need to have the practical programming skills needed to complete homework assignments:

• • API usage 
  • Commenting and documentation 
  • Variable types and scoping 
  • Methods and functions 
  • Control structures (if/else, for, while) 
  • Input-Output streams (text, images, or geo-spatial data)
  • Library usage 
  • Using a debugger 

Computer Science Demonstration

Applicants need to document proficiency in the following computer science topics to show they will succeed in MSDS coursework:

• • Basic complexity
  • Object-oriented vs. procedural programming
  • Data structures (lists, queues, stacks, trees)
  • Algorithms (search and tree traversal)

There are multiple ways to document your proficiency in these computer science skills:

1. Major/minor in computer science or computer engineering, with a minimum GPA of 2.7 across major/minor coursework. Required materials: unofficial/digital transcript from this completed or in-progress degree, uploaded in the MyGrad application in the transcripts section. Please indicate your overall major/minor GPA in the “Prerequisites: Computer Science” question in the MyGrad application. 
2. Completion of graded, for-credit coursework covering these topics, with a grade of at least C+/2.3 in each course. Required materials: single .pdf containing short course descriptions for courses you have taken. If these course descriptions do not include all the terms listed above, this .pdf should also include a brief list of topics from the course syllabus. Please do not send the full year/undergraduate program syllabus but rather just the portion that includes these skill topics. If you have questions about any of this, please reach out to us at uwmsds@uw.edu. Note: we do not accept Coursera, MOOCs, GitHub, self-study, boot camps, or ungraded/non-credit certificate programs for these.
   
3. Letter from technical professional. This letter should be written by an established professional in the field, typically a supervisor or technical colleague, and detail your use of these skills in specific projects. Please note that this letter should be distinct from a letter of recommendation. Required materials: .pdf letter documenting your skills, uploaded in the prerequisite section of the application.

If you have any questions about this, or are having trouble documenting your prerequisite skills in these ways, email us at uwmsds@uw.edu for guidance.

Essential Mathematics Skills

Successful students need to understand fundamental skills from Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra to develop theoretical understanding of statistical topics taught in DATA 556/557/558:

• • Partial differentiation 
  • Multiple integration 
  • Functions of several variables 
  • Matrix operations 
  • Linear systems of equations 
  • Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors 

Mathematics Demonstration

Applicants need to demonstrate proficiency in the mathematics topics listed above to show they will succeed in MSDS coursework. There are multiple ways to document your proficiency in these mathematical skills:

1. Major/minor in mathematics, applied mathematics, or statistics, with a minimum GPA of 2.7 across major/minor coursework. Required materials: unofficial/digital transcript from this completed or in-progress degree, uploaded in the MyGrad application in the transcripts section. Please indicate your major/minor GPA in the “Prerequisites: Mathematics” question in the MyGrad application.
2. Completion of graded coursework covering these topics with a grade of at least C+/2.3 in each class. Required materials: single .pdf containing short course descriptions for courses you have taken.  If these course descriptions do not include all the terms listed above, this .pdf should also include a brief list of topics from the course syllabus. Please do not send the full year/undergraduate program syllabus but rather just the portion that includes these skill topics. If you have questions about any of this, please reach out to us at uwmsds@uw.edu. Note: we do not accept Coursera, MOOCs, GitHub, self-study, boot camps, or ungraded/non-credit certificate programs for these.
   
3. Letter from technical professional. This letter should be written by an established professional in the field, typically a supervisor or technical colleague, and detail your use of these skills in specific projects. This should be distinct from a letter of recommendation. Required materials: .pdf letter documenting your skills, uploaded in the prerequisite section of the application.

If you have any questions about this, or are having trouble documenting your prerequisite skills in these ways, email us at uwmsds@uw.edu for guidance.