FSU MS Interdisciplinary Data Science

What is the FSU MS in Interdisciplinary Data Science?

FSU’s MS in Interdisciplinary Data Science is a 30-credit, course-based degree for graduates who already have calculus, statistics and some Python or R. At the Fall 2027 rate of USD 1,281.77 per credit, tuition is USD 38,453. With living, insurance and visa fees, plan for about INR 86.18 lakh, all self-funded, because there are no assistantships.

Everyone takes the same 18-credit core in mathematics for data science, machine learning, regression, data mining and data ethics, then 12 credits that make up one of five majors. Classes run Fall, Spring and a second Fall with a summer off in between. This page covers entry in August 2027. The programme hasn’t yet posted a deadline labelled 2027, so we use the 15 January date it has set for international applicants in each of its last two cycles.

How much does the FSU MS in Interdisciplinary Data Science cost in total?

Plan for INR 86.18 lakh, or USD 90,022, for the whole degree. The idea that a 30-credit master’s costs one year of fees is wrong here. Living costs, not tuition, are the bigger share, because the summer with no classes still needs rent and stretches the stay to 17 months.

The I-20 needs proof of USD 49,944 for the first year on FSU's 2026 table. You show that money in a bank letter and keep it, so it isn't a cost. US law sets a USD 250 visa integrity fee at issue, but on 24 September 2026 we found no official page showing it being collected, so it isn't counted. Converted at INR 95.7310 per USD, the FBIL reference rate for 23 September 2026 shown by the RBI. Flights, housing deposits and the small 2028-29 fee rise are left out.

The living line is the one that surprises families. FSU’s 2026-27 budget for a graduate student living off campus is USD 22,906 for the nine months of Fall and Spring, or USD 2,545 a month. We’ve charged that for every month from August 2027 to December 2028, including the summer of 2028 when there are no IDS classes, because rent doesn’t stop when teaching does.

Many pages still quote FSU’s 2025-26 rate of USD 1,173.86 per credit. On 30 credits that understates this degree by about USD 3,200, roughly INR 3.1 lakh, before anything else is counted. The 2026-27 rate is already USD 1,278.04, and the Board of Trustees approved the Fall 2027 figure of USD 1,281.77 on 28 August 2026.

Health insurance is not optional. From 2026-27 every F-1 student is enrolled automatically in FSU’s plan with no waiver, at USD 2,797 a year on the 2026-27 premium table. A 17-month degree starts two plan years, so both are in the total.

No assistantship means no waiver. FSU’s Graduate School reserves out-of-state tuition waivers for graduate assistants and fellows, and this programme has neither. US federal grants and loans aren’t open to international students, so the realistic mix is family savings and an Indian education loan.

Fall 2028 sits in FSU’s 2028-29 fee year, when the local fees inside the per-credit rate are set to rise by about USD 1.82 a credit. On a nine-credit term that’s roughly USD 16, too small to change the plan, and it’s outside the total.

The rupee figure moves with the exchange rate, and it moves the whole bill, not just tuition. At 30 credits and 17 months, a one rupee change in the dollar shifts the total by about INR 90,000. If your loan sanction was worked out at an older rate, ask the bank to re-run it at today’s.

Can an Indian graduate get into the FSU MS in Interdisciplinary Data Science?

Yes, if your transcript shows Calculus 2, an introductory statistics course and programming in Python or R, and your last 60 credits average 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, as the programme’s admission page sets out. The GRE isn’t required. A four-year BE or BTech is the safe degree, and a three-year degree depends on the evaluator’s report.

The prerequisites are written as FSU course codes, which is unusual. MAC 2312 is Calculus 2 and STA 2122 is FSU’s applied statistics course. An Indian engineering transcript usually covers both inside its Engineering Mathematics papers, so spell out the match in your statement rather than leaving the committee to guess.

English is where Indian applicants get no break. India isn’t on FSU’s exemption list, an English-medium degree doesn’t waive the test at university level, and the programme’s FAQ says scores are required from every international applicant whose first language isn’t English.

The FAQ says a file can be reviewed on unofficial transcripts, but the Graduate School won’t review an international file until the NACES evaluation arrives. Treat the evaluation as the first step, not the last.

Meeting the entry rules doesn’t mean you can take every elective. Several courses list their own prerequisites, such as undergraduate data structures (COP 4530) for Artificial Intelligence or operating systems (COP 4610) for most systems electives. The handbook says students may need extra coursework to satisfy them, and that coursework costs the same per credit.

The programme’s GPA line reads 3.0 on the last 60 hours, worded differently from FSU’s university rule, which counts from the term of your 60th credit. For most Indian four-year degrees that makes your third and fourth year count far more than the first two. A weak first year is less of a problem here than a weak final year.

Five rules that sink Indian data science files

1. Treat 15 January as final, not the 1 July date

   The programme lists two dates, and only one is yours.

   “2026 Application Deadline: January 15 for International Students, July 1 for U.S. Citizens”FSU Interdisciplinary Data Science, Admission Requirements

   The FAQ still refers to the fall 2025 intake and no 2027 date is up. Plan on 15 January 2027, which is also FSU’s international priority date, and remember fall is the only entry point. A file that misses it waits a full year, because the programme doesn’t take spring or summer entrants.

2. Don't budget for an assistantship, there isn't one

   The rule sits in the student handbook, a Word file linked from the resources page rather than the admission page.

   “Please note that there are no teaching or research assistantships available in IDS.”IDS Masters Student Handbook 2025-2026

   FSU gives out-of-state tuition waivers only to assistants and fellows, so there’s no back door to a lower fee after you arrive. Other FSU departments do fund some master’s students, which is why advice that FSU is easy to fund doesn’t carry over to this degree.

3. Ignore the GRE 146 and 155 figures you'll see online

   An older FSU bulletin page that’s still live says

   “Have a minimum expected GRE score of 146 Verbal and 155 Quantitative”FSU Registrar, 2024-2025 Graduate Bulletin

   The current programme page says a GRE score is not required. The computer science department adds that a submitted score can strengthen a borderline file, so it’s worth sending only if your GPA sits near 3.0. The same old page asks for two letters, and the current rule is three.

4. Your last 60 credits set the GPA, and FSU gives no percentage conversion

   FSU doesn’t publish what 60% or a CGPA of 7 becomes on its 4.0 scale. The NACES evaluator converts your marks, and FSU’s partner evaluator calculates the GPA it wants. The programme counts the last 60 hours of undergraduate credit, which on a four-year Indian degree usually means the final two years. If you hold a three-year degree, get the evaluation back before paying the USD 30 application fee, because FSU has published no rule on three-year degrees.

5. Pick your major before you land, because it locks after one term

   “Students are not permitted to change to a different major after the first term.”IDS Masters Student Handbook 2025-2026

   The mathematics major needs Calculus 1 to 3 at entry, and several computer science electives assume undergraduate data structures and operating systems. Computational linguistics is on the programme site and FSU’s STEM list but not in FSU’s July 2026 degree inventory, so confirm it will appear on your I-20 before choosing it.

How do you apply to the FSU MS in Interdisciplinary Data Science for Fall 2027?

Five hand-overs sit outside FSU, your college registrar, the NACES evaluator, the English test body, three referees and your bank, and the first four have to land before the 15 January international date. The plan below counts back from that date.

You apply once through FSU's graduate admissions portal and name the data science major you want. The programme reviews the file after the evaluator's report and your English scores reach FSU, and the Center for Global Engagement issues the I-20 once you're admitted and have shown funds.

The allowances are Nbyula planning estimates, not processing times published by Florida State University.

There’s one intake a year, in August. FSU’s graduate portal is open for Fall 2027, but the programme hasn’t posted a Fall 2027 date. It used 15 January for international applicants in both of its last two cycles, and FSU’s Graduate School sets 15 January as its priority date for international files, so that’s the working deadline until the programme says otherwise.

Admission is tied to one term. If a visa delay stops you joining in August 2027, FSU asks you to reapply rather than defer, and with fall-only entry that pushes you to August 2028.

The funds step starts only after admission, but the money has to exist before it. The Center for Global Engagement wants bank letters in English, on letterhead, signed by a manager and dated within six months, and a student who uses family money for the I-20 has to stay on family money for the period it covers. If a loan is part of the plan, have the sanction letter ready when the offer arrives.

Choose referees with the prerequisites in mind. Three letters are required, each on your aptitude for graduate study, and in a degree built on calculus, statistics and code, a teacher who marked your probability paper or supervised a coding project will help more than a head of department who only knows your name.

What jobs and pay can you expect after the FSU MS in Interdisciplinary Data Science?

FSU publishes no placement rate or salary for this degree. What exists is national pay data for data scientists, a short list of employers FSU names for internships, and US work rights of up to three years, because every major is on the STEM list.

BLS figures describe all US data scientists, not FSU graduates. The employer names come from FSU's internship page and cover its graduate programmes in general.

The programme’s internship page names three Tallahassee firms, NewSci, Datamaxx and Ruvos, as having hired FSU students and promised summer internships. Its longer national list, with Google, Microsoft, Bloomberg and Wells Fargo on it, describes interns from FSU’s graduate programmes generally, so read it as the university’s reach rather than this degree’s record.

Internships don’t earn credit here. You record one through IDS 5945, a zero-credit course, and the handbook tells international students to get Curricular Practical Training approval from the Center for Global Engagement before a summer role. The programme also says internships may be paid or unpaid.

FSU’s STEM majors list gives the computer science major a different code from the other four, 30.3001 against 30.7001. Both are on the DHS list, so the 24-month extension is open whichever major you pick. FSU’s own home page still quotes an older BLS growth figure of 34% for 2024 to 2034.

The USD 100,000 H-1B payment doesn’t apply when an employer changes your status inside the US and USCIS grants it, and a June 2026 court order has stopped its collection for now. A separate DHS proposal for a USD 103,265 fee on every cap-subject petition was open for comment until 24 September 2026. It isn’t law, but if it’s finalised as written it would reach graduates moving from OPT to H-1B.

Mathematics majors get one extra route to industry. The mathematics department is a sponsoring member of the Erdős Institute, which runs data science boot camps, one-to-one career coaching and interview preparation for its graduate students. The programme as a whole also runs an annual AI and machine learning expo, AIMLx, where students meet recruiters.

The H-1B lottery now weights entries by the wage level of the offer, so a higher-paid first job improves the odds. On a Fall 2027 start you’d graduate in December 2028, which puts your first realistic lottery in March 2029, on OPT or waiting for it, with the STEM extension giving room for two more tries.

How is FSU ranked, and does it matter for data science?

No ranking body ranks this degree on its own, so the figures below describe FSU as a whole. QS puts FSU 549th in the world for 2026 and Times Higher Education places it in the 301 to 350 band. Use them as context for a shortlist, not as a sign of your admission chances or job prospects.

Who is the FSU MS in Interdisciplinary Data Science right for?

It suits a graduate with calculus, statistics and code on the transcript who wants a broad data science degree with one specialism and can pay the whole bill. It’s the wrong choice for anyone counting on an assistantship, a January start or a 12-month finish.

Five majors inside one degree

A small cohort cuts both ways. With 34 graduate students on the books in Fall 2025, advising is likely to be personal, but you’ll have fewer classmates to trade job leads with than in the computer science department, which had 134 graduate students that term.

The choice of major matters more than the degree title suggests. The degree name is the same for everyone, but the 12 elective credits decide whether you leave with systems and machine learning depth, statistical modelling, mathematical theory, scientific computing or language technology. Pick the one your first job would use, not the one that sounds broadest.

If the budget is the sticking point, compare this with a one-year programme before committing. The summer gap is what pushes living costs to 17 months. Five fewer months at FSU’s own monthly rate would be about USD 12,700, or INR 12.2 lakh.

What will you study in the FSU MS in Interdisciplinary Data Science?

Every student takes the same seven core courses, 18 credits, and then 12 credits of electives that define the major. The table lists the core and every elective the programme names for each major, with FSU’s credit hours. Some electives appear under more than one major, and each is listed once under the first major that names it.

Core courses and major electives as the programme lists them

• 30 credit hours in total, 18 in the core and at least 12 in the major
• Three semesters, Fall, Spring and Fall, with no IDS courses normally taught in summer
• An optional thesis or project track can add up to 6 credit hours
• The major can't be changed after the first term
• Internships are recorded through IDS 5945 and earn no credit

The handbook’s sample plan puts Mathematics for Data Science, Introduction to Data Science, Data Mining and the professional development seminar in the first Fall, machine learning, regression, data ethics and one elective in Spring, and three major electives in the second Fall. The maths course comes first on purpose. It covers singular value decomposition, convex minimisation and gradient descent, which the later machine learning courses assume.

FSU’s own documents don’t agree on every code. The programme’s coursework page lists MAP 5196 and CAP 5768, the 2026-27 Graduate Bulletin lists MAD 5196 and COP 5768, and the handbook gives Data Ethics 2 credits in its core list and 3 in its course descriptions. The table follows the coursework page, and the registration system has the final word.

The handbook’s computer science list is shorter than the website’s. It asks for two of CAP 5769, CAP 5778 and a projects course, while the website lets you pick two from five including Artificial Intelligence and Deep and Reinforcement Learning. Check with the computer science faculty advisor in your first term.

Most students finish without a thesis. The computer science department says a thesis or project track exists for those who complete a qualified research project, and it can add up to 6 credit hours. Six more credits at the out-of-state rate is about USD 7,700, so take it only if you’re aiming for a PhD.

Should you shortlist the FSU MS in Interdisciplinary Data Science?

Shortlist it if you can pay about INR 86.18 lakh yourself and your transcript already shows Calculus 2, a statistics course and programming, and only then. The programme is fully self-paid, and admission turns on those three named prerequisites plus a 3.0 GPA on your last 60 credits.

What you get is one degree with five possible majors, from computer science to computational linguistics, on a shared core that includes a compulsory data ethics course. What it costs you is time. There are no IDS classes in summer, so a degree FSU describes as 16 months keeps you paying Tallahassee rent from August 2027 to December 2028.

Two things are hard here. First, there is no funding route at all. The FAQ and the student handbook both rule out assistantships, and FSU keeps tuition waivers for assistants and fellows, so you pay the out-of-state rate on every credit. And second, the programme shrank from 94 graduate students in Fall 2024 to 34 in Fall 2025 by FSU's own Fact Book, while its FAQ still talks about the fall 2025 intake. Email the programme office and get a reply before you pay the evaluation fee.

Decision checksfull cost · prerequisites and GPA · the 15 January date · jobs evidence

Sources

These sources support the programme, admission, cost and immigration information used on this page.

Sources checked on September 24, 2026. The next intake covered here is Fall 2027.