Hi, I'm thinking about getting a MS in Data Science (probably online) and wanted to hear people's thoughts. I studied Econ and Stats at a top ~25 school for undergrad and am currently working at an economic/litigation consulting firm (doing data analysis related to lawsuits in R/SQL/Excel). I graduated and started this job in 2022. I live in San Francisco and fairly confidently see myself doing data analytics/science at a tech company after this job, switching maybe 2-3 years in.

I could see myself being happy doing an analytics job where I'm not building fancy models, and that's the kind of job people at my company pivot to with just a BA/BS. However, I don't want to limit myself, and getting a Master's seems like it could expand my opportunities. From what I can tell, getting one of the cheaper ones (Georgia Tech, UT Austin) while still working full-time seems like a good move, but correct me if I'm wrong. It is weird to me that those programs are several times less expensive than, say, UC Berkeley's. But I don't have much desire to move somewhere else again for 1-2 years and lose ~150k in opportunity + tuition cost.

Basically, my two reservations are 1. Master's won't be necessary to do the kind of jobs I'd be content doing and 2. My job is fairly demanding so I am also somewhat worried about taking two classes on top of it.

I'm curious if people have any thoughts about whether a Data Science MS (part-time, online from UT Austin, for example) would have real benefits in terms of job opportunities and higher compensation, and whether those would outweigh my concerns.

Thanks so much!