So you want a graduate degree in statistics?

After six years of graduate school – two at UMass-Amherst (MS, statistics), and four more at Brown University (PhD, biostatistics) – I am finally done (I think). At this point, I have a few weeks left until my next challenge awaits, when I start a position at Skidmore College as an assistant professor in statistics this fall. While my memories are fresh, I figured it might be a useful task to share some advice that I have picked up over the last several years. Thus, here’s a multi-part series on the lessons, trials, and tribulations of statistics graduate programs, from an n = 1 (or 2) perspective.

Part I: Deciding on a graduate program in statistics

Part II: Thriving in a graduate program in statistics

Part III: What I wish I had known before I started a graduate program in statistics  (with Greg Matthews)

Part IV: What I wish I had learned in my graduate program in statistics (with Greg Matthews) The point of this series is to be as helpful as possible to students considering statistics graduate programs now or at some point later in their lives. As a result, if you have any comments, please feel free to share below. Also, I encourage anyone interested in this series to read two related pieces:

• Trey’s thoughts on “Getting started in Data Science,” which covers several of the same themes touched upon in the articles above.
• Greg’s path to a graduate degree in statistics. In particular, I really liked the part about the difference between 25 year old Greg and 21 year old Greg.

Cheers, and thanks for reading.