American Postgraduate Statistics Specialty Direction and Application Guide

American Postgraduate Statistics Specialty Direction and Application Guide

At present, many students choose to go to the United States for graduate studies. Among the major majors, statistics is a branch of applied mathematics, which mainly uses probability theory to establish mathematical models, collect observation data, make quantitative analysis and summary, and then infer and predict, providing basis and reference for relevant decisions. The following is the knowledge I brought to you about the professional direction and application guide of graduate statistics in the United States. Welcome to reading.

First, the statistical direction of American graduate students

Generally speaking, there are two directions for setting up statistics major in American universities: one focuses on theoretical research and the other focuses on practical application. If you choose the theoretical research direction, it is mainly the specialized statistics department or the statistics department under the mathematics department; If you choose the practical direction, it will cover a wide range, such as biostatistics, economic statistics and social statistics, which are very popular now.

In the United States, the main learning directions of statistics are biostatistics, financial statistics, applied statistics and mathematical statistics. Statistics has gradually separated from the Department of Mathematics and become an independent department. Many schools have set up their own statistical departments. The basic research directions of statistics include: sample design, data mining, stochastic process, establishment of statistical model, model selection, time series, nonparametric statistical methods, survival analysis, spatial statistics, various introduction theories, etc. Applied research directions include: biostatistics, environmental statistics, financial statistics, economic statistics, agricultural statistics, etc.

Second, employment and prospects

Statistics is a widely used discipline, which requires statistical knowledge in almost all fields, such as biology, economy, engineering, medicine, public health, psychology, marketing, education, military affairs, sociology and so on. It can be seen that the employment prospects of statistics are very broad. Generally speaking, statistics graduates can engage in the following jobs: full-time statisticians in government departments (such as the National Bureau of Statistics, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the US Food and Drug Administration). ), analysts of fund securities companies, actuaries of insurance companies, staff of research institutions, and survey statisticians of enterprises (such as market research).

Statistics used to be an unpopular major in China. Except for insurance companies, securities companies and some government agencies, ordinary enterprises rarely recruit students majoring in statistics. However, the situation has improved in recent years. Now some companies that seem to have nothing to do with statistics, such as Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble, also need some statistical talents. It can be said that statistics is becoming more and more popular.

Three, the United States graduate statistics professional application

Among many branches of mathematics, statistics is one of the most popular branches, but compared with EE, cs and other majors, the application of statistics is far less intense, so applicants with suitable background will have a much greater chance of applying for statistics and being admitted to a good school.

1. Principles of applying for choosing a school

For students who want to work after finishing MS in the future, the geographical location of the school is very important, so it is best to choose big cities on the east and west coasts.

MS values your hardware background more. GPA and GT are very important, the higher the better.

For students who have the ambition to transfer from MS to PhD, it is best to do thesis projects, otherwise they will suffer a lot. Moreover, schools with high statistical professional rankings should pay more attention.

If you apply for Ms, don't limit yourself to special arrangements. There are many statistical projects under the Department of Mathematics and the Academy of Engineering, such as Georgia Institute of Technology.

2. Specific circumstances

1) Undergraduate students majoring in mathematics/statistics still apply for mathematics/statistics: there is nothing special to say about this, and there is no cross-disciplinary trouble in itself. Most of the time, you don't need to take a submarine. Besides, even if you are required to take a substitute exam, aren't you a pediatrician who graduated from the Department of Mathematics? Therefore, GPA is very important, and schools also account for a certain degree of importance. Recently, however, the department of mathematics seems to recruit more domestic masters, which may be a unique phenomenon in the department of mathematics in our school. Few undergraduates can send papers. In fact, it is quite difficult for doctoral students in the United States to issue papers. Statistics has many related branches, such as financial statistics, biostatistics, marketing and traditional statistics. Actuarial science may become more and more popular in China in recent years. I hope you don't follow the trend and have your own opinions.

2) Undergraduate students majoring in mathematics/statistics apply for other majors: quite a few people go to ComputerScience, after all, this is a major closely integrated with mathematics. As for the rest, I think the best way is to apply for mathematics first, and then transfer abroad to save the country. Many people have done this successfully. In that case, your advantage is that you have a solid foundation in mathematics, which is very helpful to your thinking.

3) People from other majors in China apply for graduate students majoring in mathematics/statistics: I think it is impossible to apply for mathematics, but there are quite a few who apply for statistics. First of all, you must have studied the course of mathematical statistics. Probability theory is absolutely essential, and the scores of basic courses related to statistics must not be low. Your advantage is that you have a background in other disciplines. It will be very helpful for your application if there are professors in the statistics department who do projects related to your previous major. You can apply for magnetism first, and the success rate will be higher.

3. Application conditions

The requirements of the Master of Statistics program for undergraduate background are not particularly strict, but it is best to have a certain mathematics background and have attended relevant mathematics courses. For example, a master's degree in statistics at the University of Washington requires applicants to have a background in mathematics and statistics and take more than 30 credit courses in mathematics and statistics, including intermediate calculus, linear algebra, probability theory, etc. 1 year. Carnegie Mellon University also requires applicants to take calculus, linear regression analysis and matrix algebra for two semesters. The students admitted to Stanford a few years ago have different backgrounds, 30% are mathematics majors, 65,438+09% are statistics, 65,438+06% are economics, 65,438+04% are engineering, and there are other backgrounds such as computer, finance and operational research. Requirements of Yale University for the applicant's background: All applications must have a strong mathematical background, including advanced calculus, linear algebra and elementary probability theory, and at least one course provides and introduces mathematical statistics. Undergraduate majors may be statistics, mathematics, computer science, or subjects that may have major statistical problems. Strictly speaking, there will also be requirements for the length or credits of the course, such as taking calculus for 2-3 semesters.

For example:

1) Georgetown University requires three semesters of calculus, the cultivation of multivariate calculus, and linear algebra. Other courses in mathematics and statistics will strengthen an application. The school's FAQ says that the undergraduate course can't meet the application requirements of econometrics, but you can provide the course description and confirm whether you can apply for the school.

2) The requirements of the University of Southern California for the prerequisite courses are: at least three members of calculus, including multivariate calculus and linear algebra for one semester. Undergraduate analysis course is also desirable. At least one undergraduate course in probability and statistics. And the results of these courses are relatively good.

Therefore, applying for statistics usually requires students to have a good background in science and engineering, especially undergraduates majoring in statistics, mathematics, actuarial science and applied mathematics. , application has advantages. If students have studied advanced mathematics, linear algebra, calculus, probability theory and statistics, etc. , and excellent grades, and good practice related to statistics, you can also apply to transfer to statistics. In addition to basic mathematics, students should also be able to use computer software well, such as MATLAB, SAS, SPSS and so on.

In the application of the master of statistics program, the applicant should be most concerned about whether to take the GRE math exam. In fact, many top schools do not require applicants to submit Math Sub scores in their application requirements. Although it is not necessary, most schools will advise students to submit scores, which shows that getting a good math branch will add a lot of color to the application. Generally speaking, it is very good to get more than 90% in the sub-exam.

As for GRE and TOEFL scores, like other professional master program applications, top schools require TOEFL 100, such as JohnsHopkins University. The University of Washington requires applicants to have a TOEFL score of 26 or above. Most American schools have no minimum requirements for GRE scores, but since they are applying for statistics with certain requirements for mathematics, it is crucial to get high marks in the mathematics part of GRE.

Fourth, matters needing attention

1. Do I need to take points when applying for statistics?

Only a few cattle schools require doctoral applicants to take the SUB, such as Yale and Stanford, and most other schools do not. For master applicants, the school basically does not require SUB. In addition, if you apply to a school specializing in statistics, such as Bloomington, Indiana and Seattle, Huada, you should also take the sub-exam, but the statistics major in this department is generally small in scale and the number of applicants is small. Therefore, unless the customer has extra time and energy or the target school is a doctor from Niu School, there is no need to recommend the customer to take the sub-exam. Scholarships Generally speaking, there is no scholarship for master of statistics, but a few schools will give master applicants $5,000? Small scholarships ranging from $65,438+00,000, such as University of Pennsylvania, ann arbor University, Purdue University, Rutgers University, Worcester Institute of Technology, etc. , all the awards were given to the applicants; Other schools have partial tuition fee remission policies. For example, Johns Hopkins University and University of Chicago have relatively rich doctoral scholarships. According to the collected data, about two-thirds of applicants can get scholarships (mostly full prizes), mostly in the form of tuition fee remission +TA or RA.

2. Suggestions for background enhancement

According to the application characteristics of statistics major and the requirements of the school, the homepage suggests that applicants improve their competitiveness from the following aspects:

1) Take advanced (postgraduate) mathematics or statistics courses;

2) Improve the professional GPA of mathematics and physics courses.

3) Familiar with statistical software, such as R, SPSS, STATA, SAS, MatLab, etc.

4) Have computer programming ability, such as C/C++, Python, etc.

5) Focus on professional research, such as sequence analysis;

6) Participate in mathematical modeling competitions or statistical research projects to enhance hands-on ability.

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