Nate W

The difficulty of the course can vary a lot based on where you take it. It's somewhat abstract when taught at the intro level as you just learn a bunch of rules without necessarily understanding the proofs behind them. I took an online version through Northern Virginia CC and it was quite easy—the homework was much harder than the tests.

I have a friend who is a Math PhD at UW and have met a couple of his friends who are Stats PhDs. Obviously a lot depends on who your advisor is. From what I can tell, it seems to be fairly laid back and I haven't heard them complaining about anything. The Stats PhD friend was placed in a PostDoc in UCLA and is doing some cool research. The math facilities I've seen are kinda icky 70s modernist buildings but probably par for the course -- similar to Berkeley. And you probably know better than I about the focus on the program - I've heard it's more theory-focused than some others. My Math PhD friend is astonished by how little math the stats students have done, however Seattle is a world-class city with a ton to do. The weather is actually great for being a student - drizzly during the school year and fantastic in the summer. I wish I could stay here!

Hi all! As an applicant with a strong liberal arts and minimal math background (=not a super strong profile), I've been miraculously admitted to the MS Stats programs at Ohio State and Iowa State so far. Iowa State is offering a teaching associateship and Ohio State is trying to (I should know by next week). I am working to get more info on these schools and will try to reach out to some students directly, but would greatly appreciate any additional information or thoughts you might have about the relative merits of these institutions. I am also waiting to hear back from UC Irvine, but they apparently cannot give any updates via email or phone and their website says that they send decisions into May/June... I am lifelong West Coast resident (Northern CA, Southern CA, and Seattle) although I did put in one year of undergrad in Minnesota. It was cold and undiverse in a small town but I am probably much better equipped to deal with the Midwest this time around. I'm frankly pretty excited that both these school want to offer me a TA position. My objective is to return to industry on the west coast, so the more applied coursework, the better in my book. They are both MS programs. My career objective is to be deeply knowledgeable in statistics but not necessarily be pushing the bleeding edge of methods. I'm interested in liberal-artsy applications of statistics like sabermetrics, fivethirtyeight, etc. My priorities for grad school are to find a program with quality professors, contemporary coursework (e.g., a machine learning course or two), a maximum of electives, and fellow graduate students who are interesting people (and not just interested in statistics). The quality of nearby rock and ice climbing is also a factor. Other little considerations are accessibility (how easy is it to fly into/out of), diversity, and things to do in town. Ohio State, being in Columbus, has the edge location-wise, but I'm willing to go to Ames if it's a stronger program with a friendly and close-knit stats community. Ohio State - Pros Explicitly says they have students from various academic backgrounds In decently large city (Columbus) Large program overall Better football team Maybe more accessible Iowa State - Pros Have a written TA offer Affordable and well-run school Historically strong program Iowans are supposed to be super nice Similar/close to Minnesota So cold there must be good ice climbing Structure seems slightly more flexible -- cool "creative component" to MS Ohio State - Cons Waiting on TA offer Maybe too large of a program? Ohioans less nice? Placement list doesn't have any sexy tech firms Lower ranked than Iowa State Never have liked the Buckeyes Iowa State - Cons Ames is a small town in not-as-friendly part of the state Really cold in winter Can't find a list of placements --> anyone have intel? Still has professors specializing in agricultural statistics; may be on the decline Irvine, should I get in, has the appeal of being in Southern California. It's a new program, housed within their computer science program (so presumably has good machine learning courses). I have friends and family in the area and J-Tree and Yosemite are weekend options. Thank you! This website has been tremendously helpful throughout the process.

Some other possibly relevant things: - I have been one of the only people in the country to do analysis of some interesting building energy datasets (likely could continue some of that research in grad school). - Fairly accomplished mountaineer and alpine climber: Mont Blanc, Rainier (2x), a bunch of other climbs in the Alps and Cascades. 5.11c/V6/M4.

Hi all, I am quite possibly the most liberal arts-y person alive applying to Stats and Data Science Masters for Fall 2016. I took almost no math in undergrad but have four+ years of applied stats research experience as a (now "senior") consultant in the energy sector. I'm taking my math prereqs now but am missing calculus-based probability, which I will try to take beginning this January. It's a bit of a left turn but in line with what I have been doing professionally. I am interested in building a base of theoretical knowledge in statistics and also learning about machine learning and hip new data science techniques. My priority is a program that provides flexibility in coursework so that I can explore the subject areas that interest me. Career-wise, I'd like to have the option of working across the private sector—but especially tech. Citizenship: USA, SE Asian ethnicity Undergrad: Top 4 Liberal Arts College Major: Environmental Policy, minor in Biology GPA: 3.77 GRE: 167Q/164V Math Coursework: Mathematical Modeling, Calc II, Calc III (Community College), Linear Algebra (online), Intro Stats (online). Other Pseudo-Quant Coursework: Environmental Economics, Natural Resource Economics, Energy Economics, Gen Chem, all the intro bio classes, Advanced Animal Ecology, Advanced Plant Bio and Ecology Programming Languages: R, SPSS, SQL Research Experience: Four years - tons and tons of primary data collection and analysis with basic applied stats (OLS, t-tests, ANOVAs, etc.), exploratory data analysis, presented at three industry conferences. Undergrad ecology research. Other Skills and Software: Jedi Knight in Tableau, Mathematica, Jedi Master in "information design" (Illustrator and InDesign, Tableau dashboards), generally very familiar with data and research Letters of Recommendation: One from my Environmental Economics prof/thesis advisor, two from work colleagues (both have PhDs) I'm looking at Stats programs with the lowest entry requirements (which includes some reaches): Stanford, Harvard, NYU Data Science, UCLA, Michigan, Iowa State, UC Davis. I looked a bit at "applied stats" programs but they seem to be social science-focused, which is what I'm trying to get away from. My questions are as follows: (1) Will I be able to get into ANY of these programs? It has become quickly apparent that the liberal arts charm of "I've studied everything and love learning!" does not apply. (2) Does the liberal arts college brand help at all? It is great for law school and med school, but seems less relevant for this. (3) Are there any programs that would be more disposed towards admitting someone with a liberal arts background? (4) Any other programs I should be considering given my profile? (5) Beyond probability, is there other coursework I should try to make up? One possibility would be Intro CS. I have not found an option to take Real Analysis online or at a community college. Thank you for your help! This forum has been a breath of fresh air as there is a general dearth of info on these programs elsewhere on the internet.