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MSDS Residential Student Profile: Bereket Tafesse
Bereket Tafesse
Education
M.S. in Data Science 2025, University of Virginia
Double Major: B.A. in Computer Science and B.A. in Applied Statistics 2024, University of Virginia
Hometown
Woodbridge, Virginia
Q: Why did you decide to pursue an M.S. in Data Science?
I wanted to do a major in data science as an undergrad, but it was not offered at the University of Virginia (UVA) at that time, so I chose two majors that I thought would be most similar to it.
When I got to my final year, I decided to apply to the MSDS program to round out what I learned from undergrad and to get more application of my knowledge in a data science context (especially through the capstone projects). I also felt like the program would give me more resources and knowledge to prepare me for the job market than what I got from undergrad.
Q: What made you choose UVA for your MSDS?
I did my first three years at UVA, so I really wanted to finish out a fourth here because I like the people that I have met here and I had heard good things about the School of Data Science from friends and professors.
Q: What do you hope to do with data science?
What I like about data science is that I don't have to know what exactly I want to do with it because it applies to many fields. At the moment I'm still undecided on what I want to do in the future, but I am hoping to figure that out as I get into the more specialized classes in the spring semester.
Q: What has been your favorite class and professor and why?
My favorite class is DS 6001 Practice and Application of Data Science. I liked that what we were learning about manipulating data and data analysis had real applications and we worked with some real data rather than something perfectly clean from Kaggle.
My favorite professor is Prince Afriyie because he always makes class engaging and fun and as the director of the program he always makes sure he checks in and talks with the students.
