Applying for PhD/Masters in Statistics

[R Deckard]

Here are some recent sports-related mathematics dissertation topics:

http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=51126

http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=130507

http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=60670

http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=126217

I'm not sure if any of them would actually qualify as "statistics" though...

[ANDS!]

The first and second likely are. The fourth sounds like something rooted more in social science than anything else.

If the OP wants to work in sports, I would say do some research on which areas of Theoretical Stats lend themselves well to sport-statistics and frame the application in that way, letting a graduate committee know that much of your interest in studying statistics is informed by an intense interest in sports. No you aren't curing cancer, but neither are the three Phd's holding their little Algebraic Topology seminar every Friday at 2pm in our hall.

And lest we forget, the Students t-distribution arose from someone exploring which barely gave the best yield of beer.

Edited May 2, 2012 by ANDS!