my first year in berkeley MIDS – all the tea
(2) Two Short Answer Essays
Short Answer Essay 1 should answer the question: Discuss a time when you used data to make a decision or to solve a problem; explain your decision-making process from beginning to end. Make sure to choose an example and to describe it in such a way that clearly illustrates your analytical and problem-solving abilities. Limit your response to 300 words.
Short Answer Essay 2 should answer the question: To provide the admissions committee with a complete and comprehensive understanding of your background, please use this statement to expand on any personal, professional, and/or academic challenges or hardships you have faced that could provide us with additional insight into the context of the accomplishments and struggles you share in your application. Limit your response to 300 words.
This is the advanced course of Fundamentals of Data Engineering. The course teaches basic concepts of running deep learning packages (e.g. OpenCV) on GPU using IBM Cloud and NVIDIA Jetson device. There is definitely a bit of some steep learning curve for those who don’t have a software engineering background. Since the course focuses more on trying different tools rather than explaining the concepts behind the deep learning, it will not turn you into a Deep Learning expert. Rather, it gives you a chance to peek into the computer vision world.
Overall I think MIDS is for those who are certain about becoming a data scientist (it is not a cheap program after all), who are ready to get their hands dirty (LOTS of programming involved), and who have a day job that they want to keep.
Every week you are asked to watch a series of pre-recorded videos and complete some readings, this is a standard “flipped-classroom” approach. Then there will be a weekly 1.5 hours online live instructor session with max 15 students per session. Homework typically occurs for every 2 ~ 3 weeks with TA office hours scheduled from time to time. Most courses require a final project where you can collaborate with other classmates.
This is a pure Python programming class. To me it sounds a little crazy to spend $7,719 just to learn a language that you can get familiar with through other free resources, but since 27 units are needed to graduate anyways, it is still valuable for those who want structured guidance to learn Python. If you already know what the Object-Oriented Programming is and are familiar with concepts like dynamic typing, mutable/immutable (just to name a few), and understand how to write function, class, decorator, list comprehension, etc, you can safely skip this course. Otherwise, this is a great course to build a solid programming foundation (which is super important for the rest of the classes).
One thing that’s not shown in the above list is a 3-day immersion program. This is a required meet-up but students can freely choose which semester they want to attend. During the immersion, there will be different talks and working sessions built around data and leadership related topics. Students can also attend two company visits from a list but the companies are typically medium-sized. By the way, you are responsible to pay for the air ticket and the hotel fees to attend the immersion.
Accelerated Path
The first path is the ‘Accelerated’ path where you will get to take up three different courses every semester and you will be able to complete the course within 12 months.
FAQ
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