Data Science

Data science at the London School of Economics approaches the discipline with a rigour and social scientific orientation that distinguishes it from many purely technical programmes. The BSc brings together data science, machine learning, statistics, and mathematics, but keeps its emphasis firmly on real-world applications and the impact of data-driven methods on economics, society, and public life. This is data science in the fullest sense: not just how to build models, but how to think carefully about what those models mean, how to use them responsibly, and how they relate to the economic and social questions that matter.

You will study statistical theory, mathematical methods, machine learning, and computational techniques alongside their applications to economic, social, and policy questions. The programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study at an international institution and encounter data science in a different academic and applied context. LSE's location in the heart of London, and its connections to finance, government, international organisations, and the professional services sector, provide an exceptionally rich environment for this kind of education.

Graduates from this programme are exceptionally well placed for careers in which quantitative analysis and an understanding of economic and social systems are both important. Financial services, economic consultancy, government analytics, technology companies, international organisations, and research institutions are among the most common employers. Roles in data science, quantitative research, policy analysis, and statistical modelling are all natural destinations.

Many graduates also continue to postgraduate study in economics, statistics, data science, or a specific application domain. The combination of technical rigour and social scientific grounding that LSE provides is a genuinely distinctive preparation for careers at the intersection of data and society.