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The world of the 21st cen­tu­ry runs on data sci­ence and sta­tis­tics. With the advent of social media and dig­i­tal mar­ket­ing, the most lucra­tive prod­uct in the world isn’t a thing – it’s infor­ma­tion. Sta­tis­tics majors rule the world.

So is a data sci­ence degree worth it? With a bachelor’s degree in data sci­ence, stu­dents can find entry-lev­el jobs in infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy depart­ments at gov­ern­ment and cor­po­rate employ­ers. Those won­der­ing how to get a degree in data sci­ence can look for cours­es online or at local col­leges and universities.

A bachelor’s degree in sta­tis­tics can lead to lucra­tive careers in a num­ber of dif­fer­ent fields. Many stu­dents choose to get an under­grad­u­ate degree in sta­tis­tics and a master’s in data sci­ence to fill the demand for exper­tise in this field.

Some career paths include:

  • finan­cial analyst
  • oper­a­tions research analyst
  • bio­sta­tis­ti­cian
  • busi­ness analyst
  • econ­o­mist
  • mar­ket research analyst

Data stu­dents learn prob­lem-solv­ing skills and use sta­tis­tics for many real-world uses, from insur­ance com­pa­nies to health­care. Oth­er things you’ll learn in sta­tis­tics degree pro­grams include:

  • data col­lec­tion
  • sta­tis­ti­cal analysis
  • quan­ti­ta­tive data sets
  • sta­tis­ti­cal models
  • sta­tis­ti­cal methods
  • applied sta­tis­tics

Math­e­mati­cians and sta­tis­tics stu­dents can increase the prof­itabil­i­ty of com­pa­nies with their sta­tis­ti­cal knowledge.

What else makes a data sci­ence degree worth it? A bachelor’s degree in data sci­ence includes cours­es with infor­ma­tion about data sci­ence the­o­ries. This degree pre­pares stu­dents to work with big data and data ana­lyt­ics. Those look­ing into how to get a degree in data sci­ence should choose from online options if they already have jobs or are look­ing to change careers and want to keep on working.

Future data sci­en­tists can begin prepar­ing by becom­ing pro­fi­cient in pro­gram­ming lan­guages. You can do this by tak­ing Python and Java to begin with. It’s also a good idea to refresh your knowl­edge of sta­tis­tics and math­e­mat­ics. Those who enter col­lege or go back to school for a degree in data sci­ence will need these skills to fin­ish their pro­gram with ease.

What about sta­tis­tics – is a degree in sta­tis­tics worth it? To be entire­ly real­is­tic about it, sta­tis­tics is a dif­fi­cult dis­ci­pline, and not for every­one. That means that, for those who are adept at the com­pli­cat­ed math­e­mat­ics involved, a career in sta­tis­tics can be very reward­ing. Sim­ply because there’s less com­pe­ti­tion, sta­tis­tics experts can name their own price – whether they go into data analy­sis, actu­ar­i­al sci­ence, or any num­ber of oth­er careers.

Stu­dents can com­plete an under­grad­u­ate degree in data sci­ence in four years. Some stu­dents choose com­put­er sci­ence, infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy, math or sta­tis­tics at the under­grad­u­ate lev­el and then go on to obtain a master’s in data sci­ence. Any degree that includes pro­gram­ming lan­guages, SQL, data­base archi­tec­ture and sim­i­lar cours­es will set stu­dents up for success.

Now is the right time to go into sta­tis­tics and data sci­ence. Stu­dents who build con­nec­tions and pro­fes­sion­al net­works before they grad­u­ate may have an eas­i­er time find­ing intern­ships and gain­ing guid­ance from pro­fes­sors on job opportunities.

An entry-lev­el job in com­put­er sci­ence will fill the needs of many orga­ni­za­tions look­ing to recruit and train junior data ana­lysts. There’s a huge gap between the demand and sup­ply for this skill set. With the right edu­ca­tion, data sci­ence grad­u­ates can find com­pa­nies will­ing to train them in spe­cif­ic sub­spe­cial­ties such as busi­ness intel­li­gence, data visu­al­iza­tion and rela­tion­al data­base management.

Accreditation for Statistics and Data Science

Data sci­ence accred­i­ta­tion is a main con­sid­er­a­tion for stu­dents look­ing for a degree in this field. Accred­i­ta­tion guar­an­tees that pro­grams have high-qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion­al stan­dards and mod­ern cur­ric­u­la. Employ­ers look for degrees from respect­ed uni­ver­si­ties when hir­ing data sci­en­tists. Addi­tion­al­ly, stu­dents who have attend­ed accred­it­ed uni­ver­si­ties will be much more pre­pared for the job mar­ket. Region­al accred­i­ta­tion allow stu­dents to switch schools with­out los­ing trans­fer cred­its, and finan­cial aid is typ­i­cal­ly only avail­able for accred­it­ed data sci­ence programs.

Beyond insti­tu­tion­al data sci­ence accred­i­ta­tion, Prospec­tive stu­dents in online pro­grams or brick and mor­tar schools should only look at degrees that have pro­gram­mat­ic accred­i­ta­tion. This type of accred­i­ta­tion applies to the spe­cif­ic pro­gram to ensure it meets nation­al standards.

Accred­it­ed data sci­ence pro­grams Are val­ued by future employ­ers. For exam­ple, schools that have the Com­put­ing Accred­i­ta­tion Com­mis­sion of ABET are high­ly sought after. ABET issues pro­gram­mat­ic accred­i­ta­tion focus­ing on com­put­er tech­nol­o­gy, applied sci­ence and engineering.

Stu­dents can look up the accred­i­ta­tion for par­tic­u­lar schools on the Depart­ment of Education’s web­site.

Types of Statistics and Data Science Degrees

With a degree in sta­tis­tics online, stu­dents can go on to pur­sue a mas­ter’s degree in data sci­ence. Online degrees in sta­tis­tics pre­pare still stu­dents for their math­e­mat­i­cal rig­or are the data sci­ence cur­ricu­lum. Some of the spe­cial­iza­tions avail­able for data sci­ence degrees online e include the following:

  • Geo­graph­ic Infor­ma­tion Systems
  • Finance
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Soft­ware Development
  • Mar­ket­ing Analytics

Stu­dent often choose from majors such as a bach­e­lor of data sci­ence online or sta­tis­tics degrees online. Sta­tis­tics degrees online include instruc­tion in the visu­al­iza­tion and man­age­ment of soft­ware. Stu­dents who choose a degree in sta­tis­tics online also learn how to inter­pret dif­fer­ent kinds of data and use ana­lyt­i­cal analy­sis to gain insights from mas­sive amounts of data. Online degrees in sta­tis­tics gives data sci­en­tists the chance to per­form exper­i­ments based on pre­dict­ing out­comes from exist­ing data. A sta­tis­tics degree online requires build­ing mod­els based on data and inferences.

With an online degree in sta­tis­tics, stu­dents can choose a con­cen­tra­tion in data sci­ence or relat­ed field such as the following:

  • Math­e­mat­ics
  • Com­put­er Science
  • Cyber­se­cu­ri­ty
  • Busi­ness
  • Eco­nom­ics

An online sta­tis­tics degree is good prepa­ra­tion for peo­ple who want to go into data sci­ence at the mas­ter’s lev­el or find a job that can morph into a data sci­ence career. These areas of spe­cial­iza­tion in sta­tis­tics all work.

The types of sta­tis­tics degrees required also depend on the career goals of indi­vid­ual stu­dents. Choos­ing from dif­fer­ent types of sta­tis­tics degrees can help stu­dents gain a broad edu­ca­tion that gives them a lot of career choices.

Online data sci­ence degrees Have names such as the following:

  • B.S. in Data Science
  • B.S. in Data Analytics
  • B.S. in Busi­ness Analytics
  • B.S. in Data Sci­ence and Analytics
  • B.S. in Data Ana­lyt­ics and Technology
  • B.S. in Data Man­age­ment and Data Analytics
  • B.S. in Dig­i­tal Infor­ma­tion Technology

Get­ting a degree in data sci­ence online pre­pare stu­dents for lucra­tive jobs and infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy and oth­er sec­tors. For stu­dents inter­est­ed in online degrees in data sci­ence, there is much more flex­i­bil­i­ty for when and how they fin­ished their degree. An online data sci­ence degree is a great choice for stu­dents who have fam­i­lies or cur­rent jobs that they don’t want to give up. A data sci­ence online degree Includes numer­ous areas for spe­cial­iza­tion, while a sta­tis­tics degree online gives stu­dents a broad­er base for future career choices.

With an online degree in sta­tis­tics, stu­dents can work for gov­ern­ment agen­cies, cor­po­ra­tions and pri­vate orga­ni­za­tions look­ing for employ­ees with strong com­pu­ta­tion­al skills. When stu­dents choose an online sta­tis­tics degree, there are many areas of spe­cial­iza­tion in sta­tis­tics. The types of sta­tis­tics degrees vary from school to school and depend­ing on the career goals of the stu­dents. Research dif­fer­ent type of sta­tis­tics degrees, includ­ing online data sci­ence degrees, to find one that fits your inter­est an expe­ri­ence. This is espe­cial­ly impor­tant if you’re going back to school for a sec­ond degree.

Many options open up for grad­u­ates with a degree in data sci­ence online. Whether stu­dents want to become a com­put­er pro­gram­mer or pro­vide analy­sis for deci­sion mak­ers, online degrees in data sci­ence maybe the best way to accom­plish this. With tra­di­tion­al schools or an online data sci­ence degree, they will receive the same edu­ca­tion from an accred­it­ed uni­ver­si­ty or col­lege. With a data sci­ence online degree, stu­dents mas­ter a broad array of tech­ni­cal skills that they can lever­age for high salaries for jobs that require a data sci­ence degrees online.

A bach­e­lor of data sci­ence online gives stu­dents a broad skill set that includes:

  • Flu­en­cy in Python, Java, SQL and sim­i­lar pro­gram­ming languages
  • The skills need­ed to suc­ceed in the busi­ness sec­tor. Stu­dents learn to find cre­ative solu­tions to prob­lems that involve busi­ness objectives.
  • Data sci­ence stu­dents also learn to com­mu­ni­cate clear­ly when it comes to tech­ni­cal and ana­lyt­i­cal top­ics. Data sci­en­tists often deal with non­tech­ni­cal co-work­ers look­ing for an analy­sis of data to make decisions.
  • Data sci­ence requires exper­tise in sta­tis­tics, math, data min­ing, data visu­al­iza­tion, report­ing and unstruc­tured data analysis.
  • Stu­dents must also mas­ter machine learn­ing tools.

Certifications/Licenses

Both SNHU and Great Basic Col­lege offer one to two-year cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams. Stu­dents can also find free data sci­ence cer­ti­fi­ca­tions that may help them advance in their careers. Free data sci­ence cer­tifi­cate pro­gram Include some of the most respect­ed schools in the coun­try. For stu­dents look­ing for data sci­ence cer­ti­fi­ca­tion free, the fol­low­ing cours­es may appeal to them.

IBM offer free data sci­ence cer­tifi­cates and so do Har­vard and MIT.

IBM has a free online data sci­ence cer­ti­fi­ca­tion on Courera.org. The cer­ti­fi­ca­tion requires 9 cours­es they give stu­dents the skills they need to com­plete projects and work in the indus­try. Lec­tures include top­ics on analy­sis, visu­al­iza­tion and open source tools. Stu­dents who com­plete the pro­gram gain skills that enhance their resume by com­plet­ing projects and assign­ments. Instruc­tors assist stu­dents with the fun­da­men­tal tech­niques and in-depth knowl­edge need­ed to become data sci­en­tists. Stu­dents do not have to have pri­or pro­gram­ming experience.

Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty has a data sci­ence cer­ti­fi­ca­tion avail­able on edX. Some cours­es in the series are also avail­able for free. This pro­gram shows stu­dents data sci­ence essen­tial such as ML and R. it con­sists of nine cours­es and is rat­ed high­ly among edX cours­es. Con­cepts cov­ered in include machine lan­guage, regres­sion , Pro­duc­tiv­i­ty Tools and a cap­stone project for hands-on experience.

Stu­dents can find oth­er online cer­ti­fi­ca­tions online as well.

MIT also has a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram on edX. It only requires five cours­es to give stu­dents the fun­da­men­tals of data sci­ence and sta­tis­tics. This pro­gram focus­es on machine learn­ing and data dri­ven pre­dic­tions. Stu­dents learn how to make sta­tis­ti­cal infer­ences and mod­el com­plex data. Data sci­ence focus­es on enhanc­ing deci­sion mak­ing with sta­tis­ti­cal and data dri­ven analy­sis. In these pro­grams, stu­dents learn to cre­ate algo­rithms that make sense of mas­sive data dumps. Data sci­enc­tists work in a large­ly unsu­per­vised envi­ron­ment to cre­ate val­ue from projects such as deep neur­al networks.

Exam­ples of data sci­ence cer­ti­fi­ca­tions include:

  • Cer­ti­fied Ana­lyt­ics Pro­fes­sion­al (CAP)
  • Cloud­era Cer­ti­fied Pro­fes­sion­al (CCP) Data Engineer
  • Data Sci­ence Coun­cil of Amer­i­ca (DASCA) Prin­ci­ple Data Sci­en­tist (PDS)
  • Google Pro­fes­sion­al Data Engi­neer Certification
  • Microsoft Cer­ti­fied: Azure AI Fundamentals
  • Open Cer­ti­fied Data Sci­en­tist (Open CDS)
  • SAS Cer­ti­fied Big Data Professional
  • Ten­sor­flow Devel­op­er Certificate

Stu­dents who already have a degree and anoth­er field can make the tran­si­tion to data sci­ence by obtain­ing one of these cer­ti­fi­ca­tions. These cer­ti­fi­ca­tions are high­ly val­ued among gov­ern­ment agen­cies, cor­po­ra­tions and oth­er per­spec­tive employ­ers. Stu­dents who already have a job in infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy or a relat­ed field may con­sid­er tak­ing one of these cer­ti­fi­ca­tions to tran­si­tion into a data sci­en­tist role. This could leave them in a great posi­tion for more lucra­tive career with­out switch­ing com­pa­nies or los­ing their exist­ing ben­e­fits such as tenure or vaca­tion time.

Careers in Statistics and Data Science

Sta­tis­tics as a career can lead to lucra­tive roles as can a career in data sci­ence. Those look­ing for a career in sta­tis­tic should look for accred­it­ed online or on cam­pus pro­grams that meet their spe­cif­ic needs. Sta­tis­tics careers include jobs in aca­d­e­m­ic set­tings as well as think tanks and gov­ern­ment and pri­vate employers.

Those look­ing for a career in sta­tis­tics should choose a con­cen­tra­tion at the bachelor’s lev­el or con­sid­er a master’s lev­el degree to fur­ther careers in sta­tis­tics. Jobs with a degree in sta­tis­tics Start out at high­ly com­pet­i­tive salaries and a bachelor’s degree in sta­tis­tics jobs it’s also a great jump­ing off point for those who wish to obtain a post­grad­u­ate degree.

What jobs can you get with a degree in sta­tis­tics? Sta­tis­tics bach­e­lor degree jobs include oppor­tu­ni­ties in insur­ance, finance and relat­ed fields.

What jobs can you get with a data sci­ence degree? As pre­vi­ous­ly dis­cussed, jobs with a data sci­ence degree include depart­ments such as infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy, finance and oth­er depart­ments that sup­port deci­sion mak­ing with analy­sis from big data.

Data sci­ence bach­e­lor degree jobs Can lead to lucra­tive careers. What jobs can you get with a data sci­ence degree Depends on your pre­vi­ous expe­ri­ence and jobs with a data sci­ence degree often lead to six fig­ure salaries, espe­cial­ly if stu­dents go on to obtain high­er degrees or certifications.

Sta­tis­tics as a career often leads to lead­er­ship roles in finan­cial insti­tu­tions and oth­er lucra­tive posi­tions. A career in sta­tis­tic requires a great deal of math­e­mat­i­cal prowess and ana­lyt­i­cal think­ing. With an online degree, stu­dents can pur­sue sta­tis­tics careers with­out giv­ing up their day job. For those who already have a career in sta­tis­tics but lack a for­mal degree, careers in sta­tis­tics can open up with an online degree from an accred­it­ed university.

Jobs with a degree in sta­tis­tics include posi­tions as infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy experts, and sta­tis­tics bach­e­lor degree jobs posi­tion stu­dents well to move up with­in any orga­ni­za­tion Thanks to the valu­able skills it brings with it.

What jobs can you get with a degree in sta­tis­tics? Data sci­ence bach­e­lor degree jobs require com­put­er ana­lyt­ics, sta­tis­tics, soft­ware devel­op­ment and oth­er tech­ni­cal skills. These skills are use­ful in infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy, mar­ket­ing and oth­er jobs that require data dri­ven deci­sion mak­ing. This can include jobs at tele­vi­sion net­works, hos­pi­tals and mil­i­tary bases.

Data sci­ence is impor­tant to numer­ous indus­tries. Those with sta­tis­tics or data sci­ence degrees can find jobs that require pro­ject­ing out­comes from big data. There is a huge mar­ket for data sci­en­tists due to a lack of qual­i­fied work­ers in this field. Those hop­ing to become data engi­neers or clin­i­cal data ana­lysts can get there by start­ing with a data sci­ence or sta­tis­tics degree.

Data Science and Statistics Salary Potential

A degree in sta­tis­tics salary Aver­ages $100,560, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics. This high salary reflects the real­iza­tion that cor­po­ra­tions and insti­tu­tions require employ­ees who are knowl­edge­able in the pow­er of big data to dri­ve deci­sions and make smart choic­es from an oper­a­tional per­spec­tive. Lucra­tive sta­tis­tics degree salary Fur­ther reflect the lack of data pro­fes­sion­als who are unique­ly qual­i­fied to meet this demand.

Those wish­ing to obtain a huge data sci­ence degree salary must obtain the edu­ca­tion an expe­ri­ence need­ed to suc­ceed in the field. Although a bach­e­lors is a great start for entry lev­el posi­tions, those who wish to obtain the high­est data sci­ence degree salary should con­sid­er a post grad cer­ti­fi­ca­tion or master’s degree.

How much can you make with a data sci­ence bach­e­lor degree salary depends on a num­ber of fac­tors. Data sci­en­tists bring immense val­ue to agen­cies, insti­tu­tions and orga­ni­za­tions which they work for. Find­ing one per­son who can per­form a wide vari­ety of data sci­ence task is chal­leng­ing. Com­pe­ti­tion for data sci­en­tists is fierce among prospec­tive employ­ers. This puts data sci­ence grad­u­ates in a unique posi­tion of choos­ing the career that most appeals to them.

Fac­tors impact­ing degree in sta­tis­tics salary range also include expe­ri­ence, indus­try and job titles. A sta­tis­tics degree salary is also deter­mined by the com­pa­ny size and region in which the stu­dent works. A data sci­ence degree salary can be enhanced with high­er edu­ca­tion or cer­ti­fi­ca­tion achieve­ments. Data sci­ence bach­e­lor degree salary are influ­enced by the same factors.

Accord­ing to Glass­door, data sci­en­tists salaries aver­age $120,000. The main fac­tors that influ­ence the salary are region and the size of the cor­po­ra­tion stu­dents choose to work for. Fresh out of col­lege, stu­dents may decide to work for small­er orga­ni­za­tions with the hopes of mov­ing up quick­ly. How­ev­er, as seen by the glass door exam­ple, choos­ing a small­er role in a larg­er orga­ni­za­tion can often com­mand high­er salaries and oppor­tu­ni­ties to move between projects. Many stu­dents with data sci­ence degrees also obtain cer­ti­fi­ca­tions spe­cif­ic to their indus­try and field of expertise.

Data Scientist Job Outlook

There are more com­pa­nies look­ing for data sci­en­tists than there are data sci­en­tists avail­able. That said, it’s very impor­tant for data sci­ence grad­u­ates to firm­ly grasp the tech­ni­cal and math­e­mat­i­cal course­work in order to suc­ceed in the indus­try. New edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties are pop­ping up online and else­where every day. Stu­dents should also be aware that some com­pa­nies refer to data sci­en­tists by oth­er names such as data ana­lyst, data engi­neer or data archi­tect. The best way to under­stand what skills com­pa­nies need is to look at the job post­ings care­ful­ly and to inquire direct­ly if cho­sen for an interview.

Professional Organizations

Even with the tremen­dous growth in this field, pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions can help new grad­u­ates learn about which com­pa­nies are the best to work for. Pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions include oppor­tu­ni­ties to obtain cer­ti­fi­ca­tions, net­work with oth­ers in the field and keep up with new trends in the industry.

Pro­fes­sion­al data sci­ence asso­ci­a­tions often dis­trib­ute newslet­ters and oth­er infor­ma­tion that helps mem­bers stay informed about the lat­est inno­va­tions and tech­nol­o­gy. Stay­ing abreast of new infor­ma­tion and tech­niques is impor­tant at any point in a data scientist’s career. Remain­ing rel­e­vant is one of the tough­est things when it comes to obtain­ing new employ­ment or mov­ing up in a cur­rent position.

There are many pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions for data sci­en­tists. A few are high­light­ed below.

  • Asso­ci­a­tion of Data Sci­en­tists: This asso­ci­a­tion is a glob­al body that includes machine learn­ing and data sci­ence professionals.
  • Data Sci­ence Asso­ci­a­tion: This non­prof­it asso­ci­a­tion includes data sci­en­tist look­ing to improve the pro­fes­sion and Enhance diver­si­ty in the field
  • INFORMS : This orga­ni­za­tion has 13,000 mem­bers and works to improve the field of data sci­ence from within.

Choos­ing careers in sta­tis­tics and data sci­ence gives stu­dents an oppor­tu­ni­ty to go into a num­ber of dif­fer­ent indus­tries and job set­tings. Data sci­en­tists and sta­tis­ti­cians can be found every­where from NASA to finan­cial insti­tu­tions in large cities. These jobs are uni­ver­sal­ly val­ued, and stu­dents can find work any­where in the coun­try with­out too much effort. Also, going into a field such as data sci­ence gives stu­dents unprece­dent­ed free­dom to choose their employ­er. The field shows no sign of slow­ing down and stu­dents who tru­ly appre­ci­ate and mas­ter the field can choose their own destiny.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Statistics

25 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Data Science

10 Most Afford­able Bach­e­lor’s in Data Science

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Analytics

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Analytics

10 Fastest Online Bach­e­lor’s in Analytics

10 Most Afford­able Bach­e­lor’s in Analytics