Unlock Your Career Potential
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See Courses & Program Info
View a complete list of courses, program-specific requirements, and more.
This program requires a total of 120 credits.
- 39 Required Major Credits: Review the required major courses outlined below or view the recommended course sequence to progress through this program.
- 41 General Education Credits: Review the options available to fulfill the 41 credits of general education coursework requirements for bachelor's degrees.
- 40 Minor & Elective Credits: Review a list of available academic minors or see the course catalog or Schedule of Classes to help you select elective courses.
Required Major Courses
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Not ready to major in data science? You can pair a 15-credit minor in data science with another major at UMGC. The data science minor allows you to complete coursework chosen from the major, giving you valuable experience and insights into the program should you decide to pursue the bachelor’s degree.
This program is designed to help prepare you for the following certification exams:
Acquire Career-Relevant Skills in Data Science
As cloud technology, artificial intelligence, and other areas of data collection and retention continue to expand, today's employers are realizing that they’ll need to employ entire teams of data science professionals if they hope to compete in the modern marketplace. The knowledge and skills that you cultivate in UMGC’s data science program are highly valued by employers and translatable to almost any modern industry. This program is designed to help graduates develop key skills in analytics, data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, business intelligence, data ethics, reinforcement learning, and cybersecurity and data security leadership and decision-making.
Our program directors refresh and update the curriculum regularly, with a focus on helping students achieve the following:
36%
Job Growth
Data scientist job openings are projected to increase 36 percent by 2033, one of the fastest-growing and most in-demand occupations in the United States.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | "Occupational Outlook Handbook" | Last Reviewed: September 9, 2024
$15T+
Economic Boost
AI can boost the world economy by up to $15.7 trillion by 2030, according to Bank of America.
Source: Business Insider | "Artificial Intelligence is on the Brink of an iPhone Moment" | March 1, 2023
70%+
Non-Tech Interest
More than 70 percent of job seekers' interest in data science roles on Glassdoor has been in fields other than tech.
Source: Glassdoor | “Data Scientists Are Still the Talk of the Town” | May 16, 2023
Practice Real-World Skills in Your Data Science Courses
Throughout your curriculum, your instructors will assign coursework that will help you prioritize real-world skills and experience. In past courses, students have been able to complete the following course projects:
- Build a dashboard for a pharmaceutical management team to understand employee attrition and turnover trends.
- Analyze the ethical and copyright issues involved in image generation by General Adversarial Networks (GANs).
- Build a “data lake” for home credit and lending data, and then create an accurate, explainable classification machine learning model for a financial institution focused on equitable lending.
- Conduct facial analysis and recognition using a deep learning-based visual analysis service.
Explore UMGC Data Insights
Gain insight from our faculty and staff and delve deeper into a range of topics, including a general overview of key data terminology, as well as an explanation of how to use data science insights for your fantasy sports teams.
FAQs
Get answers to questions that current and prospective students are asking about program admission, credibility, cost, and more.
An online bachelor's degree in data science is a college degree that students can earn online that can help them prepare for a career in data. The online bachelor's in data science at University of Maryland Global Campus is designed to meet the growing need for highly skilled professionals who can transform data into actionable insights. The student taking this 120-credit undergrad program can gain hands-on experience with frequently used analytical tools and methods, manage and manipulate data, create data visualizations, build predictive models using different machine learning techniques, apply artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing techniques to gain insights from free text, images, and videos, and make strategic data-driven recommendations that directly impact business outcomes.
UMGC's online bachelor's degree in data science is a 120-credit program with courses offered year-round. The time it will take you to complete your degree will depend on several factors, including your goals, how many transfer credits you have, your course load each semester, and whether you are able to benefit from one or more of our fast paths to credit, including credit for prior learning and credit for military education and training.
Tuition rates for the online bachelor’s degree in data science from UMGC are very competitive and appear at the top of this page. We offer a low in-state rate for Maryland residents and a reduced tuition rate for military service members and their spouses and dependent children. We also offer scholarships for those who qualify, an interest-free monthly payment plan, and no-cost digital materials in place of most textbooks to help make online bachelor's degrees even more affordable.
You do not need any background or experience in data science to apply for and graduate with an online bachelor’s degree in data science. As long as you meet our undergraduate admission requirements, you can enroll in this program.
You do not need any prior certifications to enroll in or complete this program.