Undergraduate Program

A Major in Statistics

Why Study Statistics?

A degree in Statistics opens up a broad range of opportunities for your professional career. After graduating, students can choose for example from employment possibilities in the financial sector and industry, health and government agencies, but also from outstanding graduate programs around the country. In particular for graduate programs with a quantitative emphasis such as economics, marketing, finance, actuarial sciences or bioinformatics and biostatistics holding a degree in Statistics is often advantageous. Most importantly, if you are interested in one of the natural or business sciences or in one of the humanities but also enjoy Mathematics, Statistics offers the unique chance of combining both areas of interest. An understanding of the field of application is immensely beneficial and often as crucial as the knowledge of the appropriate statistical tools.

What do we we have to offer?

At Iowa State we offer a solid training in statistical methods and applications providing you with a strong foundation for your future development either as a working professional or a graduate student. A fundamental background in areas such as design of experiments, regression and survey sampling techniques as well as statistical computing is established during your 4-year degree. In addition, students are trained in determining appropriate statistical methods for a given scientific problem and data structure at hand and we familiarize students with advanced statistical software packages such as SAS, SPSS, S-Plus and/or R. Being solid in at least one of the common statistical software packages is an essential prerequisite for future employment.

Because Statistics is used in so many different areas (e.g. industry, financial sector, pharmaceutical, health and environmental sciences) it is of great advantage to have a minor or at least some substantial coursework in one of these fields. Naturally you should choose the area that you picture yourself working in after graduation. A specific choice however does not necessarily bind you to this particular area, but most likely will benefit you when you apply for your dream job.

Below you can find links for the 4-year plan and requirements for the major in Statistics for each course catalog. If you are considering a minor in Statistics, please visit the Minor in Statistics page. Students interested in exploring career opportunities in actuarial science should visit the link below.