Northwestern University Rankings by Salary Score

I recently completed my Online Master of Science in Data Science at Northwestern University's School of Professional Studies, and I want to list out things I wish I knew before applying to this program. First, there are other Data Science Master Programs at a significantly lower price. My final price at NW was about $60,000 while other schools offer the same program for about $10,000. In my opinion, Northwestern University's Online Master of Science in Data Science program is about the same quality of other... Read More schools. For example, I did my undergraduate studies at BYU-Idaho which is a small 4 year university in Rexburg Idaho, and my online courses there felt about the same quality as Northwestern University's. However, it was at a fraction of the price. You are paying for the name at Northwestern, not the quality. Second, You have to take at least 2 courses to qualify for financial aid. I did this program full time while most others do it while working full time. So, if something comes up, and you need to drop to 1 course, you have to pay out of pocket. Just something to keep in mind. Third, there is not much professor student interaction. However, I think that is true for all online programs. Just something to keep in mind. A lot of the professors have other jobs or projects they are working on, so they don't have much time for one on one's. Fourth, there career services are only geared towards on campus students. They don't have career services geared towards online students. For example, the virtual job fair only has 1 or 2 data science opportunities, and they are for onsite positions. 90% of the students in the Online Master of Science in Data Science program already have a career, so they didn't create a career services geared towards just online students.

I graduated a long time ago so my perspective is that of someone who is now mid-career as a physician/med school faculty member (at another Big 10 medical school). I loved my time at Northwestern University. I felt the university was a good balance between a large enough school where there were enough different types of people on campus to find my "community," but small enough that once you got into the upper level undergrad classes, you didn't feel like a nameless student. It was expensive to attend for sure.... Read More If you are purely breaking things down from a financial standpoint, I believe most private universities are not "cost-effective." However, I did feel being a graduate of Northwestern University provided automatic name recognition. Students were generally kind and supportive, without the "cut throat" competitiveness my friends encountered at the Ivy Leagues or other big name universities. I will provide the advice that my success in my career largely stemmed from being a nice, collegial person, not because of where I graduated from, per se. I do think that because I was happy with my Northwestern experience (financial burden aside), it helped to get me through the stress of medical school (where I was miserable because it was a cut-throat top 5 institution). I did feel the rigorous classes at NU also provided strong writing skills and ability to handle challenging courses. I also liked a lot of my professors, who were approachable even if they seemed intimidating during lecture and exams.