All in all I would have to say that my graduate experience in Statistics was enjoyable, although at times extremely challenging, especially Math Stats.  To be honest, a Masters in Statistics was not my first choice.  My initial goal was to obtain a PhD in Economics.  Statistics was only a backup plan in case I was not accepted into the universities to which I applied.  Now I should really send thank you notes to all those universities that rejected my applications.  I think that my prospects are far superior and much more diversified having a degree in Statistics than they would have been with a degree in Economics.

I would be remiss if I did not thank the faculty in the department for passing on their knowledge to me and my classmates, especially considering how trying it must have been to get the Stats theories through our thick skulls, because there were times when my skull was especially thick.  I can only hope that I am capable of doing the same for my students.

I am currently working for Ryder Systems Inc, and I can tell you firsthand that the data that companies maintain takes ungodly amounts of time to clean in order to make it manageable.  Therefore when you are dealing with those nice neat data sets they give you in the text, remember, real world data is never like that.

For those of you considering a Masters in Statistics, don’t let this scare you.  Statistics is in my opinion a very rewarding field in which to work.

Randy Miller