Welcome to our 2019-20 cohorts
Last week, we welcomed our next set of cohorts for MDS Vancouver and Okanagan as well as the very first cohort of the MDS Computational Linguistics program.
It is exciting to see the MDS program grow year-over-year. When the program began in 2016, we started with just 22 students, which then increased to 43 for year 2 and 70 students in year 3.
We are proud to see the program welcome 97 new students as the fourth cohort of MDS-Vancouver.
Here are some facts about MDS Vancouver - Cohort 4:
- 97 new students.
- 54 domestic and 43 international students from China, India, Sudan, France, Nigeria, Colombia, Pakistan, USA, Armenia, Turkey, Ethiopia, Russian Federation, Mexico and Honduras.
- 41% identify as female.
- Academic backgrounds include civil engineering, food and nutrition, horticulture, business administration, physiology, and computer science.
- Prior to joining the MDS program, 17 of our students have completed another advanced degree (Master’s, PhD).
- Almost 70% of the class of 2020 completed their last degree in 2018 or earlier while 31% just graduated in 2019.
In addition to welcoming a new set of cohorts in MDS Vancouver, this year MDS Okanagan welcomed their second cohort. Last year, the first cohort for MDS on UBC Okanagan campus had 28 students and we are proud to welcome 35 as part of the new cohort.
Here are some facts on MDS Okanagan – Cohort 2:
- 35 new students.
- 16 domestic and 19 international students from Brazil, China, Macao, Russian Federation, India, Vietnam, USA, and Korea.
- 34% identify as female.
- a variety of academic backgrounds, from psychology, neuroscience, business, economics, political science, biology, chemistry, engineering and many more.
- 14 students have completed another advanced degree (Master’s, PhD) prior to MDS.
- Almost 40% of the class completed their Bachelor’s degree in 2018 or earlier.
The Computational Linguistics program received provincial government approval earlier this spring and we opened up for application shortly after that. We are now happy to welcome 27 students that comprise the very first cohort of the UBC MDS Computational Linguistic program.
Here are some facts about MDS Computational Linguistics – Cohort 1:
- 27 students.
- 9 domestic students and 18 international from China, India, Hong Kong, United States, Nigeria and Japan.
- 67% identify as female.
- Our first CL cohort come from a variety of academic backgrounds from computer science, arts, linguistics, sciences, math and finance.
- 6 students have completed another advanced degree (Master’s, PhD) prior to starting the MDS Computational Linguistics program.
- Almost 50% of the class completed their last degree in 2018 or earlier.
As you can see, the cohorts across all three programs showcase how diverse our students are coming into the program.
And as we welcome a new cohort every year, it also means our alumni network continues to grow. We now have over 160 alumni working in data science roles in variety of industries from government to large tech to small start-ups. Our alumni are spread across the globe with most working in the Greater Vancouver area but also in Alberta, Ontario, the US and Europe (Germany). Our alumni are working for such companies as Google, BC Stats, Microsoft, Mastercard, Urban Logiq, Unbounce, HSBC, zeroG and BCAA.
If you are interested in joining the program, the application process for the 2020-2021 cohort will open in November 2019.