BSIS Program Review 

BSIS Program Review 

I am part of the Data Science track in the BSIS program. I transferred to USF in Summer 2024 with all my prior coursework done at the State College of Florida. I was able to take a majority of my coursework online or at the Sarasota campus. Since I live in South Venice, these options enabled me to finish my degree in just about two years. As this is my final semester, this essay is a reflection of all I’ve learned at my time at USF.  

My courses at USF tended to focus on one of the two categories. Math and Statistics, and programming. My math and statistics courses were all about learning how to get, read, and use the data I was given. Without a solid foundation from these, understanding how to read the outputs of the programs I write would be nearly impossible. My Advanced Stats & Analytics class was the cornerstone of most of my understanding in this major. This was my first major exposure to the R language and converting all the math I had learned on paper into a new format. This knowledge was furthered in each of my coding classes from my Intro to Data Science course all the way to the two courses I am doing concurrently R programming and Predictive Analytics. Being able to confidently apply my knowledge gained to information I come across, from the lessons I was taught in these courses, has been a boon in my life.  

The most important assignments I did during my study at USF were done through a special internship offered by the school. It was split into two sections; one was all about mastering Microsoft Excel to a high degree, and the other was all about learning how to make visual databases and portfolios using Tableau. These skills were later reinforced in my Visual Analytics class and my Data/Text mining classes. During the internship I was given real life databases from various companies and asked to work with and manipulate them like I would in their employ. The excel worksheets I was provided were able to be used as datasets after performing cleaning and applying functions to the information. I was able to then convert these databases with Tableau into something that could easily be understood at a glance. The final part of this course was what I considered my most impressive project. My task was to make a multipage Tableau worksheet dialing down into a myriad of different data points and graphs and then making a dashboard with interactable tables and graphs that update live based on the information provided. The goal of my final project was to use the location. Energy costs, and the distribution of different types of energy databases to help a company decide where to open another office. I had to use the dashboard I made to prepare a proposal and record a video presenting my findings as if to an executive board. This task is something I could be asked to do in the workforce and was a good test of the skills I was taught.  

In all my experiences with this school have led to the knowledge and confidence I needed to step out into the world and apply what I learned to a new career. The structure provided with each course reinforcing the knowledge meant I was never lost or out of my depth. I was able to do work that can easily be translated into the workforce while also being useful for my research needs at home. With my graduation in a mere month, I will be promptly applying to as many businesses as I can with the goal of starting my new career.