MS in Statistics/Applied Statistics

[Soopergirl]

Hi

I am a Computer Science Graduate(B.Tech) from India from a top 20 school here.

I joined as an analyst in one of the biggest pure play decision sciences firm in the world and have been working for the past 2 years here. I have worked on reporting, dashboarding, business intelligence and extensive statistical analysis for Fortune 100 firms.
I have worked extensively on SAS and am SAS certified(base level). I have knowledge of C, Python, SQL, SAS and MS Office extensively.

I wanted to know:

What are the differences in MA and MS in Statistics job prospects?

I want to continue in data analytics and get some higher skills so planning to take up an MS in Statistics. But is MS in Applied statistics more practical?

What are the best stats masters that foray into data analytics or decision sciences well and have good job prospects?

[I know this is not a typical quant question, but I thought I may get the best answers on Quantnet]

 

[Soopergirl]

Also what are the average starting salaries in good schools?
(I will have a work ex of 3 years when I start my MS)

 

[groy]

There's no difference between a MA/AM/MS in Statistics. Different programs have different titles. The top 3 Stats programs are:
1. Stanford (MS)
2. Berkeley (MA)
3. Harvard (AM)

I was looking at Columbia's program for a bit and they had classes like Advanced Data Science, Machine Learning, and Data Mining. I think Harvard's program has some of those courses as well.

 

[aero_malik]

Hi

I am a Computer Science Graduate(B.Tech) from India from a top 20 school here.

I joined as an analyst in one of the biggest pure play decision sciences firm in the world and have been working for the past 2 years here. I have worked on reporting, dashboarding, business intelligence and extensive statistical analysis for Fortune 100 firms.
I have worked extensively on SAS and am SAS certified(base level). I have knowledge of C, Python, SQL, SAS and MS Office extensively.

I wanted to know:

What are the differences in MA and MS in Statistics job prospects?

I want to continue in data analytics and get some higher skills so planning to take up an MS in Statistics. But is MS in Applied statistics more practical?

What are the best stats masters that foray into data analytics or decision sciences well and have good job prospects?

[I know this is not a typical quant question, but I thought I may get the best answers on Quantnet]

I've taken statistics classes on both ends of the spectrum, towards a degree in statistics.

1. Difference in MA and MS Statistics job prospects is negligible. It's just a name on the degree. I will be receiving a BA in statistics, but I'm confident I've covered everything a typical BS Statistics major would cover. A few employers might lean slightly towards a BS/MS, but it's your job to convince whoever is interested, that you have all the skills they need, regardless of degree.

2. Again, be wary of going off the label on the degree, and look at the curriculum.

Applied Statistics (henceforth abbreviated as AS) is more practical for basic/intermediate data processing. In a typical AS curriculum, you'll have your inference classes for regression, hypothesis tests, ANOVAs, non-parametric methods, data scrubbing/mining. Maybe one or two programming classes in Java and Python. Deal almost exclusively with MINITAB, SAS, and SPSS. For the majority of careers employing statistics, AS is a good degree.

For math/computation heavy roles in quant and other industries (oil and gas, blue chip research), you'll need much more math to go with the methods. AS degrees tend to be very light on this. A traditional statistics masters is grounded in mathematical theory. Prereqs of calculus and linear algebra are needed. The standard Mathematical Statistics courses that run through discrete/continuous probability distributions, functions of random variables... they give you the needed theoretical base, and they also teach you about the applied stuff. You're more likely to program with R, which is the more robust stats software out there.

AS will get you far, but a traditional MS in Statistics teaches you about AS, and more. More value for your buck.

3. Not sure about this.