25 Best Bachelor’s in Statistics

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• Lehigh Uni­ver­si­ty and Carnegie Mel­lon Uni­ver­si­ty offer top bach­e­lor’s in sta­tis­tics.
• Grad­u­ates can pur­sue careers in var­i­ous fields, includ­ing data sci­ence, bio­sta­tis­tics, finan­cial analy­sis, and acad­e­mia.
• Many pro­grams pro­vide options for online or part-time study to accom­mo­date work­ing professionals.

Do you have an ana­lyt­i­cal mind? Does solv­ing the mys­tery of seem­ing­ly ran­dom num­bers infor­ma­tion into con­tex­tu­al data sound inter­est­ing to you? If so, you should get a sta­tis­tics degree and embark on a career that uses the strength of your math­e­mat­i­cal apti­tudes. Now, you might be ask­ing “is a degree in sta­tis­tics worth it?” because it doesn’t sound like the most excit­ing of roles. The answer to that ques­tion is, yes.

A degree in sta­tis­tics is very much worth earn­ing due to the fact it’s a role that is always in demand. Sta­tis­tics are used in many areas of the econ­o­my which means that you’ll be able to find employ­ment in a field that inter­ests you and have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to apply your skills on a dai­ly basis. It’s a good time to get start­ed on a bachelor’s degree in sta­tis­tics. Job growth in the field means demand will out­strip sup­ply of qual­i­fied indi­vid­u­als for some time, and grad­u­ates are well-posi­tioned to gain entry into their cho­sen area of employment.

Methodology: Ranking the Best Undergraduate Statistics Programs

To rank the best sta­tis­tics pro­grams in Amer­i­ca, Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter edi­tors focused their research on accred­it­ed, trust­ed insti­tu­tions so stu­dents could feel con­fi­dent their degree would pay off. The best sta­tis­tics col­leges are ranked accord­ing to their tuition cost, rep­u­ta­tion, and poten­tial salary.

1. Lehigh University

Lehigh Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Sta­tis­tics that offers degree can­di­dates an aca­d­e­m­ic empha­sis in actu­ar­i­al sci­ence. Lehigh University’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams explore the prin­ci­ples in data col­lec­tion design, which allows for the for­ma­tion and inter­pre­ta­tion of valid con­clu­sions. These best sta­tis­tics pro­grams from Lehigh include core class­es in the the­o­ry of prob­a­bil­i­ty, sta­tis­ti­cal com­put­ing, math­e­mat­i­cal sta­tis­tics, and lin­ear mod­els in sta­tis­tics, plus a sta­tis­tic cap­stone project, to name a few.

Lehigh Uni­ver­si­ty (Lehigh) was estab­lished in 1865 as a research school. Lehigh Uni­ver­si­ty’s mot­to is Man, the ser­vant, and the inter­preter of nature. Lehigh Uni­ver­si­ty is home to approx­i­mate­ly 6,850 students.

What We Like: Alum­ni from Lehigh Uni­ver­si­ty include Nation­al Medi­al of Sci­ence win­ners, Pulitzer Prize win­ners, and Pres­i­den­tial Medal of Free­dom recipient.

Degree: BS in Statistics

Lehigh Uni­ver­si­ty BS in Statistics

2. Carnegie Mellon University

The Depart­ment of Sta­tis­tics at Carnegie Mel­lon Uni­ver­si­ty (CMU) offers one of the Com­mon­wealth of Pennsylvania’s best sta­tis­tics pro­grams with its under­grad­u­ate degree in sta­tis­tics. Carnegie Mel­lon University’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams offer sev­er­al aca­d­e­m­ic con­cen­tra­tions in State ML (Machine Learn­ing), Econ State (Eco­nom­ics), Math Stat, and Stat Neu­ro. Class­es for Carnegie Mel­lon Uni­ver­si­ty’s bac­calau­re­ate sta­tis­tics degree include cal­cu­lus, mul­ti­vari­ate analy­sis, matrix alge­bra, sta­tis­ti­cal infer­ence, and prob­a­bil­i­ty, to name a few. Many CMU sta­tis­ti­cal majors pur­sue grad­u­ate and doc­tor­al lev­el degrees once com­plet­ing their under­grad­u­ate studies.

Carnegie Mel­lon Uni­ver­si­ty (Carnegie Mel­lon) was estab­lished as a tech­ni­cal school by Andrew Carnegie in 1900. Approx­i­mate­ly 15,250 stu­dents attend class­es offered by Carnegie Mel­lon University’s sev­en colleges/schools.

What We Like: Carnegie Mel­lon Uni­ver­si­ty com­bined the Mel­lon Insti­tute with Carnegie Tech­ni­cal School in the late 1960s.

Degree: BS in Statistics

Carnegie Mel­lon Uni­ver­si­ty BS in Statistics

3. University of Washington

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton’s Sta­tis­tics Depart­ment offers a BS degree in Sta­tis­tics that requires degree can­di­dates to fin­ish 180 semes­ter units. The best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams offered by the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton requires a min­i­mum of 65 cred­its from the sta­tis­tics cur­ricu­lum. Spe­cif­ic core class­es for the Uni­ver­si­ty of Washington’s best sta­tis­tics pro­grams include lin­ear alge­bra, math­e­mat­i­cal rea­son­ing, dif­fer­en­tial equa­tions, prob­a­bil­i­ty the­o­ry, and applied sta­tis­tics, to name a few. Stu­dents may apply for trans­fer cred­it direct­ly with the Sta­tis­tics Department.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton is a sea-grant and space-grant high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tion that was estab­lished in 1861. About 47,850 stu­dents attend class­es offered by the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton on its three cam­pus­es and through the school’s dis­tance learn­ing platform.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton was estab­lished about a quar­ter-cen­tu­ry pri­or to becom­ing a state.

Degree: BS in Statistics

Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton BS in Statistics

4. Purdue University

The Depart­ment of Sta­tis­tics at Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty offers a bac­calau­re­ate degree in sta­tis­tics that explores the com­pu­ta­tion study of chance & data. Pur­due University’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams also offer degree can­di­dates an oppor­tu­ni­ty to study abroad. These best sta­tis­tics pro­grams pro­vide two aca­d­e­m­ic tracks – applied sta­tis­tics and math­e­mat­i­cal sta­tis­tics. Stu­dents can also apply to Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty’s hon­ors pro­gram for sta­tis­tics majors. Class­es for this under­grad­u­ate degree include numer­i­cal meth­ods, intro to the analy­sis of algo­rithms, sta­tis­ti­cal the­o­ry, data mining/machine learn­ing, rela­tion­ship data­base sys­tems, and large scale data ana­lyt­ics, to name a few.

Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty (Pur­due) is a land-grant, flag­ship school that was estab­lished in 1869. Pur­due offers its approx­i­mate­ly 44,100 stu­dents more than 200 grad­u­ate and under­grad­u­ate degree programs.

What We Like: Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty is hon­ored to have among its alum­ni more than two dozen astronauts.

Degree: BS in Statistics

BS Sta­tis­tics — Pur­due University

5. University of Michigan

The Sta­tis­tics Depart­ment at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan offers a bach­e­lor’s degree in sta­tis­tics that is rec­og­nized as one of Michi­gan’s best sta­tis­tics pro­grams. These best sta­tis­ti­cal pro­grams from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan focus on empir­i­cal research, com­pu­ta­tion­al sta­tis­tics, sta­tis­ti­cal the­o­ry, applied sta­tis­tics, and sta­tis­ti­cal tech­niques. Class­es for the Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams include com­pu­ta­tion meth­ods in sta­tis­tics & data sci­ence, applied regres­sion analy­sis, top­ics in bio­sta­tis­tics, Bayesian analy­sis, sta­tis­ti­cal prin­ci­ples for prob­lem solv­ing, applied quan­ti­ta­tive research meth­ods, and effec­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tion, among others.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan (UMich) is a space-grant and sea-grant school that was found­ed in 1817. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Michigan’s stu­dent enroll­ment is approx­i­mate­ly 45,850.

What We Like: As the state’s old­est uni­ver­si­ty, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan was found­ed pri­or to the state achiev­ing statehood.

Degree: BS in Statistics

BS Sta­tis­tics Uni­ver­si­ty of Michigan

6. University of Florida

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da offers two of Florida’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams with its BS degree and BA degree in Sta­tis­tics. Stu­dents enrolled in UF’s best sta­tis­tics pro­grams are required to fin­ish 120 semes­ter units to grad­u­ate. The core cur­ricu­lum for the Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da’s bac­calau­re­ate degree in sta­tis­tics includes cat­e­gor­i­cal data analy­sis, sta­tis­tic the­o­ry, time series & fore­cast­ing, sam­ple sur­vey design, the design of exper­i­ments, hon­ors cal­cu­lus, ana­lyt­ic geom­e­try, and regres­sion analy­sis, to name a few.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da (Flori­da) was estab­lished under the Mor­rill Act as a land-grant school in 1853. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da is a mem­ber school of the state’s uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem with a stu­dent enroll­ment of about 56,600 students.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da is orga­nized into six­teen colleges/schools and is among the top ten largest schools based on stu­dent attendance.

Degree: BA or BS in Statistics

Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da BA or BS in Statistics

7. University of Wisconsin

The Sta­tis­tics Depart­ment at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin-Madi­son offers two of Wisconsin’s UF’s best sta­tis­tics pro­grams with its Bach­e­lor Arts degree and its Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree in sta­tis­tics. Each of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wisconsin’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams requires stu­dents to fin­ish 120 semes­ter units to grad­u­ate. The BA degree in sta­tis­tics requires a more high­ly devel­oped for­eign lan­guage require­ment. Class­es for this bac­calau­re­ate degree pro­gram include ana­lyt­ic geom­e­try, trigonom­e­try, ele­men­tary matrix, and lin­ear alge­bra, dif­fer­en­tial equa­tions, data mod­el­ing, applied sta­tis­tics for engi­neers, and applied regres­sion analy­sis, to name a few.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin (U of W) is a sea-grant school that was estab­lished in 1848 and is also known as a pub­lic ivy league uni­ver­si­ty. The stu­dent enroll­ment at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin, Madi­son, is approx­i­mate­ly 44,400.

What We Like: Sci­en­tists at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin have been respon­si­ble for the dis­cov­ery of vit­a­min A and vit­a­min B.

Degree: BS in Statistics

BS Sta­tis­tics Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin Madison

8. North Carolina State University

North Car­oli­na State University’s Sta­tis­tics Depart­ment offers a bachelor’s degree in sta­tis­tics that is con­sid­ered as one of North Carolina’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams. Stu­dents enrolled in North Car­oli­na State’s best sta­tis­tics pro­grams must fin­ish 120 semes­ter units to grad­u­ate. Class­es for this bac­calau­re­ate degree in sta­tis­tics from NC State include sta­tis­ti­cal pro­gram­ming, regres­sion analy­sis, exper­i­men­tal design, sur­vey sam­pling, data man­age­ment, and intro­duc­tion to sta­tis­ti­cal com­put­ing & data man­age­ment, to name a few. Stu­dents grad­u­at­ing from North Car­oli­na’s sta­tis­tics degree enter the work­force in the areas of data sci­ence, busi­ness ana­lyt­ics, sta­tis­ti­cal genet­ics, bio­sta­tis­tics, and the­o­ret­i­cal sta­tis­tics, to name a few.

North Car­oli­na State Uni­ver­si­ty (NCSU) was estab­lished as a research and land grant high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tion in 1887 with a stu­dent enroll­ment of about 36,250. North Car­oli­na State Uni­ver­si­ty is one of the three research schools in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area.

What We Like: North Car­oli­na State Uni­ver­si­ty is also a space-grant and sea-grant university.

Degree: BS in Statistics

North Car­oli­na State Uni­ver­si­ty BS Statistics

9. University of California, Santa Barbara

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, San­ta Bar­bara Depart­ment of Sta­tis­tics & Applied Prob­a­bil­i­ty offers sev­er­al of California’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams. Stu­dents have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to select from these best sta­tis­tics pro­grams from UC San­ta Bar­bara – a BA or BS in Sta­tis­tics & Data Sci­ence or a choice of BS degrees in Finan­cial Math­e­mat­ics & Sta­tis­tics or a BS in Actu­ar­i­al Sci­ence. Degree can­di­dates are also afford­ed oppor­tu­ni­ties to par­tic­i­pate in under­grad­u­ate research with a net­work of pro­fes­sion­als and professors.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, San­ta Bar­bara was estab­lished under the Mor­rill Act as a school in 1909. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia San­ta Bar­bara’s stu­dent enroll­ment is approx­i­mate­ly 26,340 stu­dents, and the uni­ver­si­ty is the 3rd old­est of the uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem of California’s mem­ber schools.

What We Like: The school oper­ates ten sep­a­rate nation­al­ly-ranked research centers.

Degree: BS in Sta­tis­tics and Data Science

Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, San­ta Bar­bara BS in Sta­tis­tics and Data Science

10. University of Georgia

The Franklin Col­lege of Arts & Sci­ences Sta­tis­tics Depart­ment at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Geor­gia (UGA) offers a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree (BS) in sta­tis­tics that is con­sid­ered among the best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams avail­able in the mar­ket­place. Class­es for these best sta­tis­tics pro­grams from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Geor­gia include math­e­mat­i­cal sta­tis­tics, applied lin­ear alge­bra, regres­sion analy­sis, exper­i­men­tal design, and sta­tis­ti­cal pro­gram­ming, plus a sta­tis­ti­cal cul­mi­nat­ing cap­stone project. Degree can­di­dates have the option of study­ing for a dual degree pro­gram that allows this BS degree to be paired with a grad­u­ate degree in edu­ca­tion­al psy­chol­o­gy (quan­ti­ta­tive method­ol­o­gy), sta­tis­tics, or busi­ness analytics.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Geor­gia (Geor­gia) is a land-grant, sea-gran, sun-grant, and space-grant insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion that was estab­lished in 1785. The flag­ship cam­pus in Geor­gia is home to approx­i­mate­ly 38,910 students.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Geor­gia is rec­og­nized among the old­est of all high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tions in the Unit­ed States and in Georgia.

Degree: BS in Statistics

BS in Sta­tis­tics — Uni­ver­si­ty of Georgia

11. Wake Forest University

Wake For­est Uni­ver­si­ty Math­e­mat­ics & Sta­tis­tics Depart­ment (WFU) offers two of North Carolina’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams with its Bach­e­lor of Arts degree (BA) and its Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence (BS) degree in Sta­tis­tics. Course­work for these best sta­tis­tics pro­grams from Wake For­est Uni­ver­si­ty includes sta­tis­ti­cal infer­ence, lin­ear mod­els, dis­crete math­e­mat­ics, sta­tis­ti­cal mod­els, and cal­cu­lus with ana­lyt­ic geom­e­try, to name a few. An hon­ors degree is avail­able to those enrolled in Wake For­est University’s bac­calau­re­ate degree pro­gram if stu­dents main­tain a min­i­mum of a 3.5 GPA in the major of statistics.

Wake For­est Uni­ver­si­ty (Wake For­est) is a pri­vate school that was estab­lished in 1834 as a labor insti­tute. Wake For­est University’s cam­pus in Win­ston – Salem is home to approx­i­mate­ly 8,500 students.

What We Like: Wake For­est Uni­ver­si­ty was found­ed by Bap­tists but cur­rent­ly oper­ates as a non­sec­tar­i­an insti­tu­tion of high­er education.

Degree: BS in Statistics

Wake For­est Uni­ver­si­ty BS in Statistics

12. University of Minnesota — Twin Cities

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Min­neso­ta offers two of Min­neso­ta’s best sta­tis­tics pro­grams with its Bach­e­lor of Arts degree (BA) pro­gram in Sta­tis­ti­cal Prac­tice and its Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree (BS) pro­gram in sta­tis­ti­cal sci­ence. Degree can­di­dates in both best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams stu­dent the many ways to mea­sure and con­trol uncer­tain­ty prin­ci­ples. Note: how­ev­er, that the Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree in sta­tis­tics from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Min­neso­ta Twin Cities does not require degree can­di­dates to com­plete a for­eign lan­guage requirement.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Min­neso­ta (UM Twin Cities) is a mul­ti­ple-cam­pus uni­ver­si­ty that was estab­lished under the Mor­rill Act in 1851. Each of the cam­pus­es is locat­ed only a few miles from one anoth­er, with a total stu­dent enroll­ment of approx­i­mate­ly 49,150 students.

What We Like: Renowned alum­ni of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Min­neso­ta includes Vice Pres­i­dents Wal­ter Mon­dale and Hubert Humphrey, and Bob Dylan.

Degree: BS in Sta­tis­ti­cal Sci­ence or BA in Sta­tis­ti­cal Practice

Uni­ver­si­ty of Min­neso­ta BS in Sta­tis­ti­cal Sci­ence or BA in Sta­tis­ti­cal Practice

13. University of California, San Diego

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, San Diego offers some of California’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams with its bac­calau­re­ate degree in Prob­a­bil­i­ty and Sta­tis­tics. Stu­dents enrolled in these best sta­tis­tics pro­grams from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia San Diego often choose to pur­sue grad­u­ate sta­tis­ti­cal stud­ies. Class­es for this under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics degree from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia at San Diego include lin­ear alge­bra, hon­ors cal­cu­lus, engi­neer­ing com­pu­ta­tion, and Java – at an accel­er­at­ed pace, to name a few.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, San Diego was estab­lished in 1960 as a sea-grant and space-grant insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion. This mem­ber school of the state’s uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem is home to approx­i­mate­ly 40,450 students.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia is a high research school with near­ly twen­ty sep­a­rate research facil­i­ties, includ­ing a super­com­put­er cen­ter and the brain and mind institute.

Degree: Prob­a­bil­i­ty and Statistics

Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, San Diego Prob­a­bil­i­ty and Statistics

14. California Polytechnic State University

Cal­i­for­nia Poly­tech­nic State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Sta­tis­tics that is ranked among California’s best sta­tis­tics pro­grams. The course­work for Cal Poly’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams includes esti­ma­tion & sam­pling the­o­ry, sta­tis­tics I& II, lin­ear alge­bra, the dis­ci­pline of sta­tis­tics, math­e­mat­i­cal sta­tis­tics, and applied lin­ear mod­els, and intro to prob­a­bil­i­ty & sim­u­la­tion, to name a few. Degree can­di­dates must fin­ish 180 semes­ter units to grad­u­ate, of which 60 semes­ter units of upper-lev­el sta­tis­ti­cal coursework.

Cal­i­for­nia Poly­tech­nic (Cal Poly) was estab­lished in 1901 and is now a space-grant uni­ver­si­ty. More than 21,150 stu­dents attend class­es on the school’s main 1,200+ acre cam­pus vying for near­ly 100 aca­d­e­m­ic degrees offered by Cal Poly’s six colleges/schools.

What We Like: Cal­i­for­nia Poly­tech­nic State University’s first class­es were held in 1903 with only twen­ty students.

Degree: BS in Statistics

Cal­i­for­nia Poly­tech­nic State Uni­ver­si­ty BS in Statistics

15. Baylor University

The Sta­tis­ti­cal Sci­ence Depart­ment at Bay­lor Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS degree – a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree in Sta­tis­tics that offers an aca­d­e­m­ic con­cen­tra­tion in actu­ar­i­al sci­ence. Bay­lor University’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams also include a minor and a grad­u­ate degree pro­gram. Class­es for these best sta­tis­tics pro­grams include sta­tis­ti­cal rea­son­ing, intro­duc­tion to com­put­ing for the math­e­mat­i­cal and sta­tis­ti­cal sci­ences, prob­a­bil­i­ty & sta­tis­tics, regres­sion analy­sis, and Bayesian data analy­sis, to name a few. Degree can­di­dates must also com­plete a cul­mi­nat­ing cap­stone project in sta­tis­tics as well as par­tic­i­pate in ongo­ing research, with the super­vi­sion of a fac­ul­ty mem­ber at Bay­lor University.

Bay­lor Uni­ver­si­ty (Bay­lor) is a pri­vate high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tion that was estab­lished before Texas reached state­hood in 1845. Baylor’s Waco cam­pus is home to about 19,260 students.

What We Like: Bay­lor Uni­ver­si­ty holds the dis­tinc­tion of being the longest-run­ning (con­tin­u­ous­ly) school in the Lone Star State.

Degree: BS in Statistics

Bay­lor Uni­ver­si­ty BS in Statistics

16. Case Western Reserve University

Case West­ern Reserve Uni­ver­si­ty offers two of Ohio’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams. Case West­ern Reserve University’s best sta­tis­tics pro­grams with its Bach­e­lor of Arts degree (BA) pro­gram in sta­tis­tics and its Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree (BS) in sta­tis­tics. Core class­es for these under­grad­u­ate degrees in sta­tis­tics from Case West­ern include dif­fer­en­tial equa­tions, cal­cu­lus for sci­ence & engi­neer­ing, data analy­sis & lin­ear mod­els, lin­ear alge­bra, and the­o­ret­i­cal sta­tis­tics I & II.

Case West­ern Reserve Uni­ver­si­ty (CWRU) is the com­bi­na­tion of two exist­ing schools that was cre­at­ed in 1967. The Cleve­land cam­pus that is Case West­ern Reserve Uni­ver­si­ty cov­ers more than 525 acres and is home to approx­i­mate­ly 11,750 students.

What We Like: Case West­ern Reserve Uni­ver­si­ty’s pro­grams are often part­nered with near­by edu­ca­tion, cul­tur­al and med­ical facil­i­ties like the muse­um of art, the Cleve­land Clin­ic, and the music insti­tute, among others.

Degree: BA or BS in Statistics

Case West­ern Reserve Uni­ver­si­ty BA or BS in Statistics

17. University of California, Davis

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, Davis offers two of Cal­i­for­ni­a’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams with its Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree pro­gram (BS) in Sta­tis­tics. Stu­dents enrolled in UC Davis’ best sta­tis­tics pro­grams have the option of four aca­d­e­m­ic tracks, the gen­er­al track, the com­pu­ta­tion­al sta­tis­tics track, the sta­tis­ti­cal data sci­ence track, and the applied sta­tis­tics track. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia Davis offers degree can­di­dates stu­dent abroad oppor­tu­ni­ties in Hong Kong or Berlin, plus a num­ber of vir­tu­al intern­ships worldwide.

UC Davis was estab­lished under the Mor­rill Act in 1905. UC Davis is one of the mem­ber schools that com­prise the state’s uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia Davis’s cam­pus is home to approx­i­mate­ly 21,450 students.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia at Davis is home to the coun­try’s largest aca­d­e­m­ic vet­eri­nar­i­an program.

Degree: BS in Statistics

Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, Davis BS in Statistics

18. College of the Holy Cross

The Col­lege of the Holy Cross’s Math­e­mat­ics & Com­put­er Sci­ence Depart­ment offers one of New England’s best sta­tis­tics pro­grams with its bac­calau­re­ate degree pro­gram in math­e­mat­ics that offers an aca­d­e­m­ic minor in sta­tis­tics. The best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams from Holy Cross Col­lege allows stu­dents to explore the meth­ods of draw­ing insight from large amounts of data. Advanced course­work for the minor includes cat­e­gor­i­cal data analy­sis and lin­ear mod­el­ing. The sta­tis­tics minor is a great degree that aug­ments degrees in eco­nom­ics, psy­chol­o­gy, biol­o­gy, math, com­put­er sci­ence, or sociology.

The Col­lege of the Holy Cross was first found­ed as a boy’s school in 1843. As a Jesuit insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion, the Col­lege of the Holy Cross is home to approx­i­mate­ly 3,150 students.

What We Like: The Col­lege of the Holy Cross holds the dis­tinc­tion of being the old­est of all Catholic high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tions in New England.

Degree: BS in Statistics

Col­lege of the Holy Cross BS in Statistics

19. Penn State

The Eber­ly Sci­ence Col­lege at Penn­syl­va­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Sta­tis­tics that is among the nation’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams. Penn State’s best sta­tis­tics pro­grams offer stu­dents sev­er­al aca­d­e­m­ic tracks in actu­ar­i­al sta­tis­tics, bio­sta­tis­tics, or applied sta­tis­tics. Sta­tis­ti­cians find reward­ing careers across sec­tors in man­u­fac­tur­ing, pub­lic health, labor, and edu­ca­tion, to name a few indus­tries. Degree can­di­dates are required to fin­ish 124 semes­ter cred­its, of which 80 – 95 cred­its must be from the sta­tis­tics cur­ricu­lum. Class­es for this degree include analy­sis of vari­ance, regres­sion analy­sis, matri­ces, vec­tor analy­sis, and prob­a­bil­i­ty the­o­ry, among others.

Penn­syl­va­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty (PSU) is a sun-grant, space-grant, sea-grant, and land-grant insti­tu­tion of high­er learn­ing that was estab­lished in 1855, which makes Penn­syl­va­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty one of two schools pub­licly-run with all designations.

What We Like: Penn­syl­va­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty oper­ates nine­teen cam­pus­es across the state that serve approx­i­mate­ly 95,950 students.

Degree: BS in Statistics

Penn­syl­va­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty BS in Statistics

20. University of South Florida

The Uni­ver­si­ty of South Flori­da offers a BA in Sta­tis­tics that pre­pares stu­dents for reward­ing careers in bio­sta­tis­tics, research, indus­tri­al sci­ences, and actu­ar­i­al sci­ence. Stu­dents enrolled in USF’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams must fin­ish 120 semes­ter units to grad­u­ate, with 31 semes­ter cred­its devot­ed to the sta­tis­tics cur­ricu­lum. Class­es for these best sta­tis­tics pro­grams include engi­neer­ing cal­cu­lus, sam­ple sur­vey design, non­para­met­ric sta­tis­ti­cal meth­ods, com­pu­ta­tion­al meth­ods for applied sta­tis­tics, intro prob­a­bil­i­ty, math­e­mat­i­cal sta­tis­tics, and cal­cu­lus I, II, & III.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of South Flori­da (USF) was estab­lished in 1956 as a space-grant uni­ver­si­ty. With a stu­dent enroll­ment that exceeds 51,550 stu­dents, the Uni­ver­si­ty of South Flori­da is among the largest pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties in the nation.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of South Flori­da main­tains three cam­pus­es in Sara­so­ta, Tam­pa, and Saint Petersburg.

Degree: BA in Statistics

Uni­ver­si­ty of South Flori­da BA in Statistics

21. University of Rochester

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Rochester offers a BA in Sta­tis­tics, a Bach­e­lor of Arts (BA) degree in Math­e­mat­ics & Sta­tis­tics, and a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence (BS) degree in Sta­tis­tics that is rec­og­nized among the Empire State’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams. These best sta­tis­tics pro­grams from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Rochester includes core course­work in class­es like mul­ti­di­men­sion­al Cal­cu­lus, applied sta­tis­tics, Bayesian Infer­ence, lin­ear mod­els, data struc­tures & algo­rithms, and intro­duc­tion to prob­a­bil­i­ty, to name a few. The BA in sta­tis­tics is the major often cho­sen to com­bine with a degree in eco­nom­ics, busi­ness, or com­put­er sci­ence, among others.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Rochester (Rochester) is a pri­vate uni­ver­si­ty that was estab­lished in 1850. The university’s cam­pus cov­ers both sub­ur­ban and urban acreage and is home to approx­i­mate­ly 12,150 students.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Rochester’s must col­lec­tion is among the largest col­lec­tions in the country.

Degree: BA or BS in Sta­tis­tics, BA in Math­e­mat­ics & Statistics

Uni­ver­si­ty of Rochester BA in Statistics

22. Florida State University

Flori­da State University’s Sta­tis­tics Depart­ment offers a bac­calau­re­ate degree in sta­tis­tics that is rec­og­nized among the Sun­shine State’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams. These best sta­tis­tics pro­grams include class­es in sta­tis­tics through exam­ples, fun­da­men­tal busi­ness sta­tis­tics, sta­tis­ti­cal for biol­o­gy, and com­pu­ta­tion­al meth­ods in sta­tis­tics, to name a few. Stu­dents must com­plete all course­work with a min­i­mum grade of C-. Flori­da State University’s under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics degree pro­gram offers intern­ship oppor­tu­ni­ties across the nation, includ­ing Bio­gen in Cam­bridge, MA, the Insti­tute for Health Met­rics in Seat­tle, WA, and an Air Force Research Lab pro­gram, to name a few.

Flori­da State Uni­ver­si­ty (FSU) was estab­lished in 1851 and oper­ates as a space-grant and sea-grant uni­ver­si­ty. Flori­da State’s cam­pus in the state’s cap­i­tal is home to approx­i­mate­ly 41,450 students.

What We Like: US News & World Report rec­og­nizes Flori­da State Uni­ver­si­ty among the top twen­ty pub­lic schools in their nation­al school category.

Degree: BS in Statistics

Flori­da State Uni­ver­si­ty BS in Statistics

23. Carleton College

Car­leton Col­lege’s Math & Sta­tis­tics Depart­ment offers a bac­calau­re­ate degree in sta­tis­tics that is ranked among the state’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams. Stu­dents enrolled in Car­leton College’s best sta­tis­tics pro­grams take class­es in applied regres­sion analy­sis, intro­duc­tion to sta­tis­ti­cal infer­ence, time series analy­sis, advanced sta­tis­ti­cal mod­el­ing, and intro to sam­pling tech­niques, among oth­ers. With­in the Math & Sta­tis­tics Depart­ment are course pat­tern to help stu­dents match study paths with career objec­tives that include high school teach­ing applied math, oper­a­tions research, actu­ar­i­al sci­ence, engi­neer­ing, bio­log­i­cal sci­ence, or social sciences.

Car­leton Col­lege (CC) is a lib­er­al arts high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tion that was found­ed in 1866. The col­lege’s cam­pus in North­field is home to approx­i­mate­ly 2,500 stu­dents, most­ly study­ing lib­er­al arts degree.

What We Like: Car­leton Col­lege is rec­og­nized among the top school for under­grad­u­ate teach­ing in the nation.

Degree: BS in Statistics

Car­leton Col­lege BS in Statistics

24. Smith College

Smith Col­lege offers a bac­calau­re­ate degree in sta­tis­tics that is rec­og­nized among the Com­mon­wealth of Mass­a­chu­setts’ best sta­tis­tics pro­grams. Foun­da­tion­al class­es for these best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams include mul­ti­ple regres­sion, intro­duc­to­ry sta­tis­tics, lin­ear alge­bra, machine learn­ing, dis­trib­uted com­put­ing, and intro­duc­tion to data sci­ence, among oth­ers. Addi­tion­al­ly, each stu­dent enrolled in Smith College’s under­grad­u­ate degree in sta­tis­tics will also com­plete a cap­stone expe­ri­ence to demon­strate real world appli­ca­tions of the­o­ret­i­cal knowl­edge learned in the class­room and online.

Smith Col­lege (SC) is a pri­vate women’s school that was estab­lished in 1871. Smith Col­lege’s cam­pus in small-town Northamp­ton includes a botan­i­cal gar­den and a muse­um of art. About 3,000 stu­dents attend class­es at Smith College.

What We Like: Smith Col­lege is a mem­ber school of the Sev­en Sis­ters Col­leges and the Five Col­lege Con­sor­tium in the Pio­neer Valley.

Degree: BS in Statistics

Smith Col­lege BS in Statistics

25. Southern Methodist University

South­ern Methodist Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Sta­tis­tics that requires stu­dents to com­plete 42 semes­ter cred­its in course­work from the sta­tis­tics cur­ricu­lum. South­ern Methodist’s best under­grad­u­ate sta­tis­tics pro­grams include these core class­es – Man­age­r­i­al Sta­tis­tics, Sta­tis­ti­cal Com­put­ing, Con­sol­i­dat­ed Cal­cu­lus, Sta­tis­ti­cal Meth­ods for Engi­neers & Applied Sci­en­tists, and applied sta­tis­tics: regres­sion, to name a few. Stu­dents grad­u­ate from South­ern Methodist University’s best sta­tis­tics pro­grams pre­pared for careers in research, sta­tis­ti­cal sci­ence, or data sci­ence, among many oth­er options.

South­ern Methodist Uni­ver­si­ty (SMU) was estab­lished in 1911 and oper­ates addi­tion­al facil­i­ties in Taos, NM, and Plano, Texas. South­ern Methodist’s stu­dent enroll­ment is approx­i­mate­ly 12,350 stu­dents across all campuses.

What We Like: South­ern Methodist University’s game design grad­u­ate degree pro­gram has been ranked the finest by the Prince­ton Review for two con­sec­u­tive years.

Degree: BS in Statistics

South­ern Methodist Uni­ver­si­ty BS in Statistics

Is Statistics a Good Career?

A career in sta­tis­tics is a very good career. The Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics, in of itself a job that uses sta­tis­ti­cians, reports that the medi­an salary for math­e­mati­cians and sta­tis­ti­cians was $92,030 for 2019. It’s esti­mat­ed that demand will grow 33% between 2019 and 2029. That rate is much high­er than the aver­age job growth for the econ­o­my as a whole over that time peri­od. Based on this infor­ma­tion alone, a career in sta­tis­tics is a very good one indeed. Growth in the field is being dri­ven by the need for work­ers who can ana­lyze the amount of data that’s being col­lect­ed through dig­i­tal sources such as the inter­net and smart­phone apps.

When look­ing at sta­tis­tics as a career, you’ll find that there are a num­ber of options for employ­ment that include pri­vate and pub­lic roles. Local, state and fed­er­al gov­ern­ments hire sta­tis­ti­cians to han­dle tax­es and pop­u­la­tion data while pri­vate employ­ers have job posi­tions that reach across a broad spec­trum of indus­tries and fields. Some careers in sta­tis­tics include:

• Data­base administrator
• Econ­o­mist
• Finan­cial analyst
• Cost esti­ma­tor
• Mar­ket researcher
• Actu­ary
• Oper­a­tions research analyst

Many stu­dent choose online pro­grams, which may be four years or two, depend­ing on your pri­or cred­its. Under­grad­u­ate stu­dents will find the accep­tance rate at the top col­leges to be pret­ty low (some of the best schools, like Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty, Yale Uni­ver­si­ty (New Haven), the Uni­ver­si­ty of Chica­go, Rice Uni­ver­si­ty, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­va­nia in Philadel­phia, Cor­nell Uni­ver­si­ty, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Pitts­burgh, North­west­ern Uni­ver­si­ty, Stan­ford Uni­ver­si­ty, Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia-Berke­ley, Colum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty, Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia Los Ange­les, and Duke Uni­ver­si­ty in Durham, admit just a frac­tion of applicants).

But uni­ver­si­ty rank­ings aren’t every­thing. A new grad with a four-year degree can find work in many places, as you’ll see below.

Can I Get a Job with a Bachelor’s in Statistics?

Yes, you can find jobs with a degree in sta­tis­tics at the bachelor’s lev­el. You might hear that sta­tis­tics jobs require a master’s degree in order to suc­ceed, but the fact is, you need to gain expe­ri­ence in order to put your skills to the test. An intern­ship can help you put what you’ve learned into use and help you find employ­ment lat­er, but the fact is, you can find employ­ment with a bachelor’s in statistics.

Sta­tis­tics is one of those areas of employ­ment that require peo­ple with a high lev­el of thought process, the abil­i­ty to inter­pret data with lit­tle room for inter­pre­ta­tion, and high­er math­e­mat­i­cal skills than the aver­age. Much of sta­tis­tics is applied math­e­mat­ics. Those who get a bachelor’s in sta­tis­tics are typ­i­cal­ly employed in entry-lev­el posi­tions for sta­tis­ti­cians. That’s not to say that the pay is entry-lev­el, but the salaries will reflect the fact that the sta­tis­ti­cian has lit­tle-to-no real-world expe­ri­ence apply­ing their skills.

Some­one who has a bachelor’s in sta­tis­tics shouldn’t be put off or feel insult­ed at the fact that they go to school for a bachelor’s and are con­sid­ered entry-lev­el upon grad­u­a­tion. Sta­tis­tics is a field that pays bet­ter once you gain expe­ri­ence and mas­tery of your skills. And there is always the option to return to school to earn grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cates or com­plete a master’s degree in order to boost your own skill sets and increase inter­est from employers.

Should I Get a Specialized Statistics Degree?

Areas of spe­cial­iza­tion in sta­tis­tics give you the oppor­tu­ni­ty to build upon a par­tic­u­lar strength you pos­sess. You might find that you’re well-suit­ed to deter­min­ing risk in the finan­cial indus­try or you’re good at data min­ing. Spe­cial­ized sta­tis­tics degrees are offered at the master’s degree lev­el and allow you to refine your skills into a spe­cif­ic area of employ­ment. How­ev­er, there is always the risk, albeit small, of pigeon­hol­ing your­self and lim­it­ing your career choic­es if you go into a less-desir­able area of spe­cial­iza­tion. The more you explore your options for enter­ing a spe­cial­ized area of sta­tis­tics, the bet­ter your deci­sion-mak­ing process becomes.

Take the time to explore areas of spe­cial­iza­tion dur­ing your under­grad­u­ate stud­ies. Learn­ing about the dif­fer­ent spe­cial­iza­tions helps you deter­mine if it’s some­thing that inter­ests you or isn’t what you thought it would be. When you know the area of sta­tis­tics that you pre­fer to focus on, you can more eas­i­ly posi­tion your­self for a career in that area. You might find that you want to stay a gen­er­al­ized sta­tis­ti­cian and keep your employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties wide open. Alter­na­tive­ly, you might find that spe­cial­iza­tion appeals to you and you know that, even though you face a nar­row­er field of employ­ment, you can always find a job because the odds are in your favor.

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