Columbia's QMSS MA Program

For the last 17 years, the Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences (QMSS) MA program has been training graduate students to use sophisticated statistical techniques to thrive in an increasingly data-rich world. QMSS counts hundreds of data scientists, senior analysts and Ph.D.s among its alumni, working at top institutions like Google, Facebook, McKinsey Consulting, American Express, the Federal Reserve Bank, the United Nations, NYU, Princeton, Berkeley and Duke.

We are looking for students of the highest caliber who may be interested in joining our program.

The application deadline for Fall 2018 admission to QMSS is February 16th. Apply HERE.

We recently hosted a Virtual Open House, where we talked about what makes QMSS so special. Visit it here. Learn even more about us at qmss.columbia.edu.

Why is QMSS such a uniquely valuable MA program? It not only offers rigorous interdisciplinary academic training, but it also provides amazing flexibility for students to pursue research across a broad range of topics. QMSS students enter with varying amounts of formal quantitative and social science training, but all of them graduate with advanced statistical methods applicable to many fields, including finance, data science, marketing analytics, social media, public policy, sociology, economics, political science or psychology.

Program Highlights:

Academic Resources: QMSS continues to be at the vanguard of the ever-changing field of data science by updating and expanding our curriculum to reflect the latest methodological innovations. Courses added just within the last two years include Data Mining, Data Visualization, Modern Data Structures, Applied Data Science, Bayesian Data Analysis and Social Network Analysis. Other popular offerings include Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Econometrics and Time Series Analysis. QMSS also offers access to renowned faculty through our unique relationships with the various departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, as well as with Columbia's many professional schools.

Programs of Study: In addition to our Traditional Track, which offers the most flexibility for course selection, QMSS has developed Data Science, Economics, and Experiments concentrations, which provide structured plans of study in specific areas of interest. We also offer the option of doing the program on a full-time or part-time basis.

Research Assistantship Program: QMSS matches many of our students with Columbia faculty as RAs. Approximately a quarter of our students are currently working with faculty as RAs to produce original, cutting-edge research.

QMSS Student/Alumni Engagement: QMSS is one of the oldest MA programs of its kind and therefore is proud to have produced hundreds of alumni who have gone on to have a large impact in a wide array of professions. Current students lead an on-campus organization that allows QMSS to actively engage current and former students in programs and academic discussions around innovative techniques for data analysis.

Thank you again for your help in reaching the best students who would be a great fit with our program. If you have any further questions, please contact us at qmss@columbia.edu, and we would be happy to answer them.

With warmest regards,
Gregory M. Eirich, Director
Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences (QMSS)
Columbia University in the City of New York