Statistics

Statistics

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Bachelor of Arts in Statistics & Bachelor of Science in Statistics

Top 5 Reasons to Study

01

In a world where organizations collect more information than ever before, statisticians help make sense of that data, identifying what it reveals and what it doesn't.

02

Future employment of statisticians is projected to grow 8% from 2024 to 2034, well above the 3% average across all occupations.

03

From predicting hurricanes to advancing medical treatments and building AI systems, statistics helps solve real-world problems. Its influence can be found in everything from agriculture and wildlife conservation to finance.

04

You'll be trained to think about uncertainty and to compute with it. Anyone can produce a number. A statistician can tell you how much to trust it. Our majors learn this judgment alongside serious computing, so judgment comes with the tools to act on it.

05

Every statistics major at Mississippi State consults on real project with a community partner. This is required, giving our students documented professional experience.

Core
Skills

  • Quantifying and communicating uncertainty in real-world data
  • Statistical modeling, regression, and experimental design
  • Statistical computing and data visualization in R, SAS, Python, and MATLAB
  • Drawing valid inferences grounded in statistical theory
  • Explaining complex findings clearly to non-expert audiences

Sample
Jobs

  • Statistician/Biostatistician
  • Data Scientist/Data Analyst/Actuary
  • Quantitative Analyst
  • Consumer Insights Scientist
  • Sports Analytics Specialist

Successful Career Outcomes

Mississippi State graduates boast a 95% successful career outcome within six months of graduation, including entering the workforce, military, or continuing education programs, such as graduate school.

Top
Employment
Industries

  • Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Public Health
  • Finance, Banking, and Insurance
  • Government and National Defense
  • Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resources
  • Technology, Analytics, and Consulting

Brag
Points

  • Gain hands-on experience before graduation. Through our required Statistical Consulting course, you'll work with clients, solve real data challenges, and participate in team meetings modeled after professional statistical practice.
  • Statistics I is taken during your sophomore year, after taking Calculus I and II. You will start building data skills early in your academic journey.
  • Computing is embedded throughout the major. Our students learn to work with software and programming languages, such as R, SAS, Python, and MATLAB, and graduate with the skills to turn statistical ideas into real-world solutions.

Spotlight

Few majors combine mathematics, computing, communication, and real-world experience as effectively as statistics.

Statistics

Bachelor of Arts in Statistics & Bachelor of Science in Statistics

Get the Courses You Need

1st Year

Calculus and coding  

Calculus I and II (MA 1713, MA 1723) and Computer Programming with Python (CSE 1263)
You learn the two languages statistics is written in — calculus and programming — and then start using them. 

2nd Year

Probability, computation, and inference

Calculus III (MA 2733), Introduction to Linear Algebra (MA 3113), Statistics I: Descriptive Statistics (ST 3133), and Statistics II: Probability (ST 3213) 
This is the year the major becomes the major. Probability gives you the mathematics of uncertainty; computation puts it into R on real data; inference teaches you to reason from a sample to everything you didn't measure. Estimation and hypothesis testing stop being formulas and start being arguments you have to defend.

3rd Year

Building models and designing studies

Introduction to Statistics Computation (ST 3333), Statistics III: Inference (ST 3223), Regression (ST 4113), Seminar in Statistical Packages (ST 4111), and Design of Experiments (ST 4123)
You learn that the hard part of regression isn't fitting the model — it's knowing whether you should have. In Design of Experiments, you move to the other side of the problem: instead of analyzing data someone handed you, you decide what data should be collected in the first place.

4th Year

Becoming a statistician

Statistical Consulting (ST 4211) and advanced electives: Bayesian Statistics, Multivariate Statistics, Nonparametric Statistics, Survival Analysis, Statistical Learning, Spatial Statistics, Statistical Quality Control, Statistics in Finance, Stochastic Modeling, Gambling and Gaming.
You stop choosing from a menu of tests and start reasoning under uncertainty — taking a real client's question, designing the analysis, and defending the conclusion to someone who is not a statistician and who does not have to agree with you.

Hands-On Learning

1st Year

• Write your first computer program and use it to answer a question about real data.
• Build the habit of checking assumptions before trusting a number.
• Practice explaining a result in plain English to someone outside the class.

2nd Year

• Move from spreadsheets to reproducible, documented code in R.
• Work with actual data sets in Statistics I, not just textbook examples.

• Simulate a sampling distribution instead of taking one on faith.
• Learn what happens when data is missing, mislabeled, or quietly wrong.
• Present findings rather than answers — a plot with no explanation is not a result.

3rd Year

• Build, criticize, and repair regression models on live data.
• Design your own experiment and defend the design choices.
• Work in multiple professional environments — R, SAS, Python, and MATLAB.
• Apply for a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in computational statistics or biostatistics.
• Join a faculty research project. (Statistics Faculty Directory)

4th Year

• Consult on a real project with a real client, and attend the weekly staff meeting.
• Complete an independent study or capstone analysis (ST 4000).
• Present at the MSU Undergraduate Research Symposium.
• Write an analysis a non-statistician can act on — the single most valuable thing you'll leave with.

Connect with Community

1st Year

• Get to know people in your calculus, programming, and Statistics I classes. Statistics is collaborative, and these are your first collaborators.
• Visit the tutoring center before you think you need it.
• Come to department office hours — our faculty teach the upper-level courses you'll take in two years.
• Join the MSU Math Club.

2nd Year

• Form standing study groups. Statistical thinking sharpens fastest when you have to say it out loud.
• Attend departmental seminars, including the ones you only half-follow.
• Join the American Statistical Association as a student member — dues are minimal.
• Introduce yourself to faculty whose research interests you.

3rd Year

• Classes get smaller and professors become mentors rather than instructors.
• Argue about model choices, collaborate on projects, prepare for exams together.
• Attend a regional conference or ASA chapter meeting.
• Start collaborating with researchers outside the department — statisticians are always wanted.

4th Year

• Meet clients from across the university through the consulting practicum.
• Present research on campus and at conferences.
• Mentor younger majors and tutor introductory statistics.
• Ask faculty about graduate programs — most of us know these programs and their people personally.

Explore the World

1st Year

Notice how much of the world is quietly statistical: the drug approvals behind your medicine cabinet, political polling and what a margin of error really means, insurance premiums, "70% chance of rain," sports analytics, and the recommendation algorithms on your phone.

2nd Year

Start reading numbers critically. Learn to spot a misleading graph, a broken sample, a percentage with no denominator, and the distance between correlation and causation — then notice how often those appear in the news.

3rd Year

Pair statistics with a field you care about. The Bachelor Arts' social science breadth points toward public policy, public opinion, criminal justice, and economics. The Bachelor of Science's science requirement and large elective block point toward biology, agriculture, engineering, and computer science. Consider study abroad, an REU at another university, or a summer internship in an industry you've never worked in.

4th Year

Step into the professional statistical community. Present at a conference, attend the Joint Statistical Meetings, and see the discipline as a global profession — statisticians work on public health, climate, food supply, and economic policy worldwide.

Launch Your Career

1st Year

• Ask your professors what statistics majors do after graduation. The range of answers will surprise you.
• Attend a career fair and notice how many employers ask about data skills. It's most of them.
• Start a portfolio and save every project where you analyzed real data.

• Practice using Git and GitHub alongside your statistics courses to strengthen your professional portfolio.

2nd Year

• Apply for internships — sophomores are more competitive than they expect to be.
• Look for on-campus research assistantships in data-heavy units.
• Tutor introductory statistics. Explaining statistics to non-statisticians is the job.
• Read job postings to learn which skills get named, then choose electives accordingly.

3rd Year

• Intern. Statistics internships convert to full-time offers at a high rate.
• Choose a direction — biostatistics, computational statistics, analytics, actuarial science, statistical learning — and take the advanced electives that support it.
• If actuarial work appeals to you, sit for your first exam.
• Talk to faculty about the accelerated bachelor's/master's program and graduate application timelines.

4th Year

• Apply early. Many analytics employers recruit in the fall.
• Ask for letters of recommendation at least a month ahead.
• Build a portfolio with two or three complete analyses, start to finish.
• Lead with your consulting work. You have documented experience with a real client, which most new graduates do not.

Major Maps are intended as general planning guides and may be updated as academic requirements, policies, and opportunities change. The MSU Academic Catalog in effect for the student’s catalog year is the official source for degree requirements and policies.

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