• Arts & Sciences
• Data Science
• DS@WM FAQs

Data Science FAQ

What is Data Science?
Data science is an emerging discipline which explores the process of deriving insights and structure from data to address critical questions.  It's disrupting nearly every industry today as we seek to make processes more efficient with access to new sources of information such as cell phones, satellites, and electric vehicles.  

What's the difference between Computer Science and Data Science?
DS and CS are overlapping scientific fields that employ computing to solve a range of problems. The key defining difference is the emphasis on how the problems are approached: In DS, the emphasis is on developing new methods and tools to discover patterns in data, and then finding novel ways to communicate findings to stakeholders. In CS, the emphasis is on the hardware, software, and theoretical tools needed to provide solutions. The educational offerings of these two units focus on this differentiation, but faculty across the two units work together to pursue thought leadership and innovation across the broader area of computing.

What's the School of Computing, Data Sciences, and Physics (CDSP)?
The School of Computing, Data Sciences and Physics (CDSP) is being established as the new home for research and teaching for computationally-focused units at William & Mary.  It will also be the physical house for our unit once the primary building (ISC4) for CDSP is completed in the Fall of 2025.  You can learn more about the new school here.

What are the most common issues with declaring a major?
The most frequent issue is not remembering to add a course to the "Writing" and "Computation" requirements!  All majors must have at least one course that count towards these, and they must be indicated on the Registrar's form.  Our available templates have these pre-filled for you, but if you're doing your own forms you'll need to remember.  Most commonly, DATA 301 is used for the writing requirement, and nearly any of our programming-centric DATA courses can be used to fulfill the computing requirement.

The second most common issue is double-counting across the capstone and elective courses.  No, you can't do that.

What are the guidelines for transferring study abroad credits?

1. Any course that a student wishes to apply to their Data Science major must receive pre-approval from the Data Science department. Whenever possible, students should contact the foreign institution to obtain course syllabi for review before making their request. If a syllabus is not available, then a description of the course in as much detail as possible should be provided. Each department at W&M has a designated faculty approver. The current faculty approver for Data Science can be found here: https://www.wm.edu/offices/revescenter/geo/studyabroad/coursecredit/. 
   
2. The core Data Science requirements below should be taken at W&M, including DATA 201 Intro to Data Science, DATA 202 Ethics in Data Science, DATA 301 Applied Machine Learning, DATA 302 Databases, and DATA 303 Data Visualization. Exceptions may rarely apply, but require the consent of the Data Science Curriculum Committee.
3. The Capstone requirement must be satisfied at W&M.
4. For all other courses, if they are nearly equivalent to a W&M Data Science course, then they may be transferred under the corresponding W&M course number. This will be approved by the faculty approver after consulting with faculty who are familiar with teaching the course. If a course has no W&M equivalent but covers relevant Data Science topics, then it may be transferred as a DATA 340 (Special Topics). These requests will be approved by the faculty approver after consulting with the Data Science Curriculum Committee.

Who should I reach out to with questions?
The best way to ask a question is to email datascience@wm.edu, which is monitored by multiple staff and faculty and should get you the quickest response.  

How and when do I declare as a Data Science major?
Please see our guide on declaring the major.

Do you accept transfer or AP credit, and how is it applied? Can courses be exchanged for similar courses in other departments?
In some cases, it may be possible for you to receive credit from other sources (another department, transfer from another university, or AP credits) that could take the place of courses in the DATA curriculum.  To request such a consideration, please submit this form to datascience@wm.edu . It will then be assessed and, if necessary, voted on by our curriculum committee.

I would like to take DATA 490 with a faculty member in another department.  Is that possible?
Yes, but the faculty member must submit a short proposal (no more than one page) to our Data Science Curriculum Committee.  Proposals should be sent to datascience@wm.edu, and have the words "Affiliate Proposal for DATA 490" in the title.  The proposal should address the following:

1. What is the goal of the independent study?
2. A description of the data that will be used.
3. A description of the proposed methods/techniques that will be used.
4. The desired number of credits (3 or 4).

The committee will review the proposal and, if accepted, will initiate the process of creating a new section of DATA 490.

Is the Data Science major a BA or a BS?
Today, we only offer a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Data Science.  We may offer a BA at a future date.

Can I double major?
Yes - a large portion of Data Science students have a secondary major in another field.

Do students with a declared major or minor receive any advantages in course enrollments?
Yes - if you intend to graduate with a major or minor degree in Data Science, it is prudent to declare as early as possible, as some courses may become major or minor-locked under some circumstances (especially at the DATA 300+ level).  

What are the differences between the DATA tracks?
We provide a brief description of these on our guide to declaring a data science degree.

Can I change my track?
Yes - you can change your track election.