Statistics

The Hottest Career of the 21st Century

 What is statistics?

It’s not what you think it is.

So, what is statistics?

Statistics is...

•  The science of learning from data

•  It’s analyzing information
•  It’s creating models to
capture insights
•  It’s solving complex problems

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So, what do statisticians do?

Statisticians...

•  Help companies make sense of the world

around us by analyzing data.
•  Use data to solve complex
problems, in fields like business,
medicine, public service
and more.

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Statisticians help manage the earth’s natural resources

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Fjallsjökull glacier in Iceland
Statisticians reduce disease and improve medicines

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Spiral strand of DNA
Statisticians work for professional sports teams to make
strategic draft picks

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Jarvis Hayes, Darius Songalia, Mark Madsen and Rashad McCants. Image source: Keith Allison
Statisticians improve voter targeting and assess the
success of government policies and programs

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President Barack Obama campaign rally in Urbandale, Iowa, 2012. Image source: White House
Statisticians help protect human rights in
developing countries

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Yezidi children in an internally displaced person camp in Sharya, Iraq. Image source: Human Rights Data Analysis Group
Statisticians advance computing through machine
learning, speech recognition and artificial intelligence

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Data center
Statisticians are crucial to making industry more efficient
and financial institutions stronger

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Budweiser plant. Image source: Ryan Glenn
 Why study statistics?

The opportunity is endless.

Statistics education is incredibly useful
in a wide array of majors

•  Marketing •  Genetics
•  Business and Finance •  Physical Therapy and
•  Medicine and Healthcare Movement Sciences
•  Data Science •  Marine Sciences
•  Journalism •  Geography
•  Communications and Public •  Linguistics
Relations •  Food Sciences and Nutrition
•  Government and Public •  Agriculture and Horticulture
Policy •  Education
•  Biological Sciences •  Statistics!
•  Environmental Sciences
•  Criminology

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Statistics education also offers a strong
return on investment.

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“The Fastest-Growing STEM Major in the U.S.”

Move over, computer science. Bachelor’s Degrees in

Statistics have soared 95% since 2010…the number
of U.S. colleges granting degrees in the field has already
gone up, from 74 in 2003 to 110 within 10 years,
and 20 more schools have recently added new programs.

Source: Fortune, February 10, 2015

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In fact, statistics graduates are in
high-demand across nearly every industry.

Most in-demand skill in Among the fastest-growing jobs.

2014, according The McKinsey Global Institute predicts a
to LinkedIn. shortage of up to 190,000 people with the
data analysis skills to work with Big Data.

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“#1 in Best Business Jobs”

Statistics is one of the oldest professions in the world, it dates

back to the 1700s. There’s a tremendous history
...and now more exciting opportunities. It has never
been a better time to be a statistician.

Source: U.S. News & World, February 12, 2016

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 Women earn more than 40% of
undergraduate statistics degrees.

1
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Statistics offers a wide variety
of careers to choose from.
Ranked by Fortune as the top
graduate degree based on salary,
growth and job satisfaction.
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Statistics offers a wide variety of careers to
choose from
•  Environmental statistician
•  Industrial statistician for a
manufacturer
•  Econometrician in financial
services
•  Biostatistician
•  Data journalist
•  Director of analytics for a
professional sports team
•  Professor of statistics
•  Data analyst of marine life
•  Data scientist at a software
company
•  Public health
statistician for a municipal
health department
•  Statistician at a human
rights organization
•  Data scientist for a political
campaign
•  Statistician at the U.S.
Census Bureau
•  Data analyst at an online
retailer
•  Clinical trial statistician at a
pharmaceutical company
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A career in statistics means choosing an
exciting field where your work really matters.

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“Women Flocking to Statistics”

As the demand explodes for workers in high-tech

professions who can analyze the staggering amounts of
raw digital data produced every year, women barely
register.
Except In One Field: Statistics.

Source: The Washington Post, “Women Flocking to Statistics, the Newly Hot,
High-Tech Field of Data Science,” December 2014.

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So, what are you waiting for?
Start studying statistics today!

•  Sign up for a course in statistics.

•  Consider doing a minor in statistics.
•  If you like everything you’ve heard today, consider
pursuing a degree in statistics.

The possibilities are endless.

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 Learn more at
ThisisStatistics.org