<p>I've been floating around different major ideas and statistics is one of them. I've always liked statistics I guess, at least the data part, but I don't know if that would translate to an interest in the actual major.</p>
<p>How is it? Is it tough? Is it more interesting than econ?</p>
<p>I’m a Stats major. What do you want to know?</p>
<p>It is a difficult major, but any quantitative major is difficult. If you’re good at math and analysis, it’s a very good major. I describe it as a mix of math and computer science applied to all varieties of subjects (business, sciences, psychology, etc).</p>
<p>I just want to know if I’m suited for it and what the major really entails.</p>
<p>From what I know, I think I like statistics, but my understanding of it is skin deep. For example, the only real applicable and hard data I have is what I’ve done in tennis. I would get to the point where I would win solely because I took enough data to realize that player A fits in this category and that from data I gather he’d try this first, than this and so on and so forth. I actually had a blast applying to colleges because I would gather all the posted stats from different schools and mull over the probability and factors for hours. I know this is probably only a trivial amount of what a stats major would actually do, but to be honest, it’s this kind of number crunching that I really like.</p>
<p>I’ve taken a few statistics classes in my undergrad as well as in grad school, but still I’d say it is difficult to answer your question. I’ve had statistics classes that have been interesting, while others have been extremely boring. I honestly have never met someone who has majored in statistics, it isn’t a very popular major, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be a good fit for you. If you like looking at data then you might like it, it can be tedious at times, but you learn some pretty cool stuff. It can be pretty tough at times, but so is every other major. If we’re talking about basic requirements, fulfilling the basic requirements will probably be more difficult than filling the basic requirements on average for other majors.</p>
<p>In your first stats class you may only cover probability, but this is one of the first statistical concepts you’ll learn about (maybe not till your second course, depending on your university):</p>
<p>[Statistical</a> hypothesis testing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_hypothesis_testing]Statistical”>Statistical hypothesis testing - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Well, you’ll learn some other important theorems first, but this is one of the first major units.</p>
<p>“Looking at data” really isn’t a large part of statistics (it sounds weird, I know). Statistics is more about using statistical methods and tests to determine if the data you’ve collected (or were given) reveals relationships between variables, or trends, or other useful information. Often you will end up using computer software to analyze and compile your data. On class tests you may be asked to calculate different data sets based upon the statistical test you are running, but in the real world computers are typically used to do the actual calculations. Often you are calculating measurements of “central tendency” (mean, median, mode), but there are other things to calculate (variance, standard deviation, etc).</p>
<p>Euler touched on it a bit, but one of the main things in statistics (if not THE main thing) is hypothesis testing. In short, it is comparing real world data vs. probability models to determine “how likely” your measurement of that event (or variable) is to occur. There are endless statistical tests applied depending on the data you have to determine if you reject your null hypothesis or not.</p>
<p>Also, regression analysis is a major part of statistics. Regression is building predictive models based upon known independent variables. Say you wanted to predict the college GPA of a student based upon their high school SAT scores, that could be done using regression analysis.</p>
<p>Other aspects of Statistics include data collection, which may include data mining (a computer science related aspect), or conducting surveys and/or experiments. Surveys (or polls) are very popular with businesses and government to determine trends and public response to different topics. Additionally, surveys are used in the real world to estimate costs, for auditing purposes, and for fraud detection.</p>
<p>Bottom line, there are endless applications for statistics. They are used in pretty much any business, academic and government setting. </p>
<p>Most people either “get it” or “don’t get it” when they first take a stats class. You probably won’t learn a ton in your first college level stats class, as they usually dumb it down as part of a general education requirement. However, if you take upper level stats classes you will run into a lot of mathematical theory, most of which is calculus based.</p>
<p>OminousRun,</p>
<p>See, that sounds all very interesting to me. I’ve always been into that kind of stuff, especially when we’ve done labs in Physics or Geology. I like seeing what the data reveals, and what I can get from it. However, I’m not sure I’d actually like doing it. What’s the hardest part about stats?</p>
<p>Hardest part is probably when you get to upper level stats classes that are theory based and having to do formal proofs. If you’re good at proofs it shouldn’t be that big of a deal.</p>
<p>You need to be strong in all math fundamentals, especially calculus and combinatorics. 95% of the questions you run across are word based problems, so you need to know how to analyze and pick apart the question to get the proper answer.</p>
<p>A good background in computer science can also help for many of the classes.</p>
<p>When I set myself down and study, I really enjoy math. Last year I had numerous anxiety attacks, and I usually buckled down and did math at the time and it would relax me. Odd, but true. I’m also looking at introductory computer science courses next quarter because I’ve always been interested in computers and learning to program.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help, if there’s any other little things you’d like to say, feel free. Right now it’s definitely looking like an option for me.</p>