Modern statistics is an exciting subject that affects many aspects of daily living. It has been developed to deal rationally and objectively with the uncertainty that accompanies variation present in most physical and social phenomena. A vitality to the subject is derived from the use of statistical methods applied to practical problems arising in all fields of scientific investigation in the biological, social, and physical sciences, ranging from applications on research issues in agricultural, medical, and engineering sciences to business, law, government, finance, accounting, and actuarial work. The field of statistics is concerned with valid and efficient methods to learn more about such physical and social phenomena in the presence of variation. It is an inductive scientific discipline concerned with extracting information from sample data in order to draw inferences. Fundamental areas of study within statistics include summarization, presentation, and display of sets of data, the planning of experiments and surveys and analyses of the resulting data collected, and the determination of underlying patterns in the data that may be obscured by observational errors and different sources of natural variability.

• Undergraduate Major in Statistics
• Undergraduate Advising and Course Information
• UW-Madison Undergraduate Catalog-Statistics
  
  
• Statistics Tutorial Schedule
• Greater University Tutorial Services
• Student News and Forums

Career Opportunities in Statistics

Well-trained statisticians are in strong demand and have excellent employment prospects. Statisticians work in industry and business, in government, and in universities and other research institutions, including medical and biopharmaceutical. Typical employment in industry might be as a statistical consultant to engineers and other scientists in a research and development branch of a large company in areas such as the chemical, petroleum, or automotive industry. While an undergraduate major in Statistics allows for many interesting job opportunities, it is also the case that further education in statistics at the graduate level provides an even wider range of employment possibilities of various types and levels. In addition, statistical training is seen as quite desirable in several professions (e.g., agricultural and engineering sciences, business and economics) where the primary activity may not be statistics. In view of this, Statistics may often be appropriate to consider for a second or additional major.

The single, best place to look for statistics jobs is the American Statistical Association Career Center. Consult with the Statistics Undergraduate Advisor about the best fit for you.