Hi all, I am trying to decide whether to pursue a Master's in Applied Statistics or something else related to "Data Science". Here's my background: I am a Finance Major/Econ Minor currently doing analytical work in government. I would like to pursue a career in the private sector. Most of the jobs I am interested in require/prefer an MS in Statistics, Mathematics, Engineering etc. They usually require knowledge of at least one of the following SAS, MATLAB, R, Hadoop, etc. Since I work full time and have a family, I am primarily looking at online programs (plus they are limited where I am located). I'm not interested in pursuing a PhD at this point. So I have two questions: 1) Should I pursue a degree in Statistics or are the "Data Science" degrees gaining traction in the professional world? 2) Here is a list of programs I am considering and a note for each program (ranked from most to least interested). Feedback appreciated. Penn State (Applied Statistics) - Curriculum, faculty, reputation and cost look good.Colorado State (Applied Statistics) - Curriculum and cost are good. Reputation and faculty - not sureIndiana University (Data Science) - Nice curriculum, decent reputation and cost. Arizona State University (Business Analytics) - Good reputation, curriculum may not be intensive enough.Northwestern (Predictive Analytics) - Interesting program but does not require GRE? - sounds suspectUniversity of Wisconsin (Data Science) - Curriculum and cost are good - no GMAT/GRE req is suspectTexas A&M (Analytics) - Rep is good. Costly. Looks like the curriculum focuses on SAS (no "R" training).UC Berkeley (MIDS) - expensive but looks like a good program. Nice rep.Texas A&M (Statistics) - I like most of the curriculum but no "R" exposure. Nice rep. Expensive? I estimated $72k for the online program?Others - Southern Methodist (Data Science), Carnegie Mellon (MISM or MSIM), Johns Hopkins (Applied Economics) if for some reason none of these other programs work for me.
