Confused about the Statistics Masters course that is not an MA/MS program!!

[wheelz]

Hi Everyone,

 

I intend to apply for Masters in Statistics at some good places in USA..

 

I realized that many universities offer 1 year programs viz.

 

1. Masters in Professional studies- Cornell University

2. Master of Statistical Practice program-CMU

3. MSE (MA is also mentioned but not sure )- JHU

4. MS in Advanced Methods and Data Analysis (by dept of statistics)- University of Washington

 

As per my understanding, the mentioned colleges have good statistics programs. However, the names of the degree sounds strange to me!!

What is taught in these programs? How different are they from the MA/MS programs?

 

Request you to share some of your insights for these courses.

 

Regards

Edited October 3, 2014 by wheelz

[wheelz]

Guys...can you share your insights about these programs? I believe your answers might help many students with this concern. 

[juilletmercredi]

Don't worry so much about the names of degrees.  What's really important are the courses you have to take and the skills you acquire in the program, as well as how the program looks to people who might hire you.  An MPS, MA and MS might teach all the same things and be regarded equally by people in your field.

 

The MPS, in particular, was begun by a few statistics programs who were concerned that regular MS and MA programs were too theoretical and not preparing students enough for professional practice of statistics in the corporate world.  The goal is to equip students with the tools to go and become professional master's-level statisticians in businesses, nonprofits, etc. - as opposed to researchers who go on to develop statistical models in research settings and/or get a PhD.  I think the MSP at Carnegie Mellon is similar in that regard.

 

The MSE at JHU is simply a Master's of Science in Engineering.  JHU offers two options - the MA in applied math and statistics, and the MSE in engineering, applied math, and statistics.  The major difference appears to be the incorporation of engineering concepts in the latter option - to prepare engineers for analytical careers maybe in operations research and industrial engineering.

 

The UW degree looks like a normal professional statistics degree.

 

Basically, how you make your judgment is by looking at the required and elective courses.  Most stats programs require pretty much the same thing - graduate-level intro stats and prob, a course or two in statistical inference, a course or two in linear regression modeling, and a capstone seminar in statistical consulting or some kind of final project.  Some places require you to take an experimental design course; some places offer it as an elective.  Some places require you to take an analysis of categorical data class; others offer it as an elective.  If the program has these basic things as requirements and offer similar electives like survival analysis, multilevel modeling or longitudinal data analysis, time series data, stochastic modeling, nonparametric statistical analysis, maybe a survey data analysis course, structural equation modeling, multivariate data...etc...then it's probably a pretty normal statistics program regardless of the letters.

 

Some programs add some concepts and classes from specific fields.  Like you might find an analytics program that combines statistics and business together, and requires you to take classes in both.  Some programs add some engineering flavor, and some biostatistics concentrations might want you to take epidemiology and/or natural sciences classes.  Some programs require more computer science than others (many programs will require you to take a class or two, but some programs want you to learn a programming language).  But if you want to be a professional statistician, take a look at the required course sequence and just make sure a program of interest has the above elements and/or is similar to other statistics programs that you know are solid.