MS Statistics vs MS Data Analytics

[runningincircles]

I'm looking for some advice about the difference in these types of programs. I'm currently prepping for MS in stats, but I've seen a data analytics program at USF that seems interesting. The thing I like about it the most is that it has a practicum that runs for 9 months concurrently with the 1 year program.

My main query is: what's the general consensus here about the difference between these two types of programs? I see a lot of overlap between the two, and as I'm aiming for a job, my gut tells me a 9 month practicum will give me a better chance of employment than just pure academic work, or some basic stats consulting for a university. The analytics seems more applied.

I am a more mature student,have young kids, and undergrad and graduate degrees in social sciences from the U.K. I'm a perm resident in U.S. Main reason for the MS will be to get a job.

Currently taking calculus, going to take c++, probability theory, regression analysis, real analysis, linear algebra and probably more programming (esp if I head for the analytics.)

Any advice or information would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[DMX]

If MS will be to get a job, then MS in data analytics will most likely be more useful.

In MS stats you will be learning about things like Cramer-Rao lower bound, sufficiency, power of a test, BLUE, etc. These are beautiful things to learn, but not much practical use.

With an MS in Data Analytics, you will (hopefully) be learning about machine learning, big data etc., which are incredible skills (especially nowadays) for the job market. Of course, you can learn the aforementioned skills in a Stats program, but that won't be the "meat" of the program.

[runningincircles]

Thanks. That's kind of what I presumed - getting a job is #1 for me, so possibly going the data analytics route might be a better option for me.

Thanks again.