Already ranked #1 in the country by U.S. News and World Report, UC Berkeley’s Data Science major has recently become the largest on campus. An average of 1,960 undergraduate students were declared in the major between fall 2024 and spring 2025.
When the academic major first launched in 2018, the immense student interest on the Berkeley campus was already apparent. In May 2023, when the newly approved College of Computing, Data Science, and Society was announced, the major’s reach expanded.
This latest milestone reflects the Data Science Undergraduate Studies’ (DSUS) programmatic commitment to breaking down barriers to entry. Students in data science courses have access to free textbooks, tutoring, and cloud computing resources, ensuring that anyone—regardless of financial resources or prior experience—can explore and have tools to excel in data science.
"Berkeley designed its Data Science major to prepare students for a future in which data-driven discovery, computing, inference, and machine learning are critical tools for a broad range of disciplines and occupations,” said John DeNero, DSUS faculty director. “It's wonderful to see so many bright students step up to the challenge of preparing themselves for a changing world."
The major’s growth also reflects the intentional work DSUS has put into building pathways for transfer students. Without access to equivalent foundational coursework in the community college system, cramming a STEM major into four semesters created a significant obstacle. DSUS has helped 15 California community colleges adopt equivalents to the Data 8: Foundations of Data Science course and partners with programs like Puente MaS to encourage underrepresented minority students to see themselves in data science fields.
“Instead of positioning data science as a specialization of computer science or stats, DSUS built a set of core courses that combined the latest approaches in computer science and statistics, an open source software approach to teaching, and an innovative tech platform that allowed the courses to scale,” says Eric Van Dusen, DSUS outreach and technology lead.
This approach to data science education attracts educators from across the world to visit Berkeley each summer for the National Workshop on Data Science Education to learn about adopting this approach at their own institutions.
The Data Science major’s growth has also opened opportunities for undergraduate students to play a key role in shaping the learning experience, from tutoring to leading sections. These leadership roles not only give students an edge in applying to industry or graduate school, they have imbued students with confidence and enhanced Berkeley’s data science culture through diversified perspectives in the classroom.
The major’s interdisciplinary nature continues to attract students from diverse academic interests, with 44% of data science majors pursuing a double major in areas including economics, molecular and cell biology, and linguistics. Alumni are already making impacts across industries from energy to healthcare to sports.
With an ethos centered on accessibility, innovation, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Data Science at Berkeley is preparing a generation of deep thinkers and problem solvers. And DSUS continues to grow its impact by planning a first-of-its-kind computing technology hub for the state’s public colleges and universities and introducing an alumni-focused mentorship program.
This year, DSUS will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Data 8: Foundations of Data Science course, which was introduced on the Berkeley campus in 2018. Faculty and program leaders plan to announce their vision and key initiatives for the next decade during the Data 8 anniversary celebration this fall.
This story was originally posted by Berkeley's Data Science Undergraduate Studies program as, "UC Berkeley Data Science major now largest on campus."
