How can you gain statistics experience while in school?

Statistics is a valuable skill that can open many doors for your career, but how can you gain practical experience while in school? In this article, you will learn some tips and strategies to enhance your statistics knowledge and apply it to real-world problems.

1 Take relevant courses

One of the most obvious ways to gain statistics experience is to take courses that teach you the concepts and methods of statistics. You can choose courses from your own major or minor, or explore other disciplines that use statistics, such as psychology, economics, biology, or computer science. Taking relevant courses will help you build a solid foundation of statistics theory and practice, and expose you to different applications and perspectives.

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Brunella D'Anzi

PhD Physics Student at CERN | Data Scientist | Data Analyst | Nova Global Talent Member
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In my experience you should be quite lucky to really learn a subject from school. The take home message from those kinds of courses is the list of books you could read by yourself to really understand the topic.

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Ncube Bongani

Data Scientist | R| Biostatistics| | Wellcome Trust Deltas Africa SSACAB 11 fellow
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Taking courses to do with statistics is a proven method of breaking into statistics . Whether you are in biology ,economics or social class you will always find yourself needing some statistics expertise.

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Anthony Clemons

Senior Data Analyst @ General Dynamics | Skills = AWS, SQL, Tableau, PowerBI | Certified Scrum Master (CSM) | Veteran
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One of the most effective ways to gain valuable experience is by enrolling in courses offered by platforms like LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, and edX. Additionally, actively participating in communities such as the American Statistics Association and Kaggle can greatly contribute to your learning journey. As you progress through these courses and immerse yourself in the material, you'll start noticing patterns and connections, allowing the concepts to firmly take root in your mind. Another valuable approach is to engage in guided projects, which provide an opportunity to apply and showcase your newly acquired knowledge, and you can proudly display your work on a GitHub page.

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2 Join or start a project

Another way to gain statistics experience is to join or start a project that involves data analysis, visualization, or modeling. You can look for opportunities to work on research projects with your professors, classmates, or other students from different fields. You can also create your own project based on your interests, hobbies, or passions, and collect or use existing data to answer a question or solve a problem. Working on a project will help you develop your skills in data collection, cleaning, manipulation, exploration, and communication.

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Harry Snart

Data Scientist at Oracle
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When learning a new skill it is important to start small and build up your experience. If you enjoy what you do then you will always be curious and always be learning. The wonderful thing about statistics is that you don't need someone to give you a project, you can use your imagination and pick a topic. For example, when I was expecting my second child I wondered what the probability was they would share a name with a peer in their classroom. This lead to a fun thought experiment and I was able to arrive at some sensible probabilities after gathering some public data, running some monte carlo simulations and use software to calculate the conditional probabilities. It was fun and I learned some new skills along the way.

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3 Participate in competitions

A third way to gain statistics experience is to participate in competitions that challenge you to use your statistics knowledge and creativity to tackle real-world issues. You can find competitions online, such as Kaggle, DataCamp, or StatCrunch, or offline, such as local or national contests, hackathons, or case studies. Participating in competitions will help you test your skills, learn from others, and showcase your work to potential employers or collaborators.

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4 Seek mentorship

A fourth way to gain statistics experience is to seek mentorship from someone who has more experience or expertise in statistics than you. You can find mentors from your professors, teaching assistants, tutors, peers, alumni, or online communities. Seeking mentorship will help you get feedback, advice, guidance, and support for your statistics learning and career goals.

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5 Volunteer or intern

A fifth way to gain statistics experience is to volunteer or intern for an organization that uses statistics in its work. You can look for opportunities in various sectors, such as education, health, environment, business, or government. Volunteering or interning will help you apply your statistics skills to real-world situations, gain valuable work experience, and network with professionals in your field of interest.

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Athena Farrar

Owner @ Athena Analytics | M.B.A. in Economics Data Goddess
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If you feel confident enough, try to teach it. Anymore there are data science clubs, machine learning groups, marketing societies, etc. all over the place. I never really internalized the subject's beauty until I had to figure out how to explain it twenty-dozen different ways to different audiences to suit their particular needs. Forces you to know what you're talking about.

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Anthony Clemons

Senior Data Analyst @ General Dynamics | Skills = AWS, SQL, Tableau, PowerBI | Certified Scrum Master (CSM) | Veteran
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Many organizations welcome volunteers and offer opportunities to showcase your skills in working with their data. In some cases, volunteering can also assist them in enhancing their data management and analysis processes, ensuring they benefit even after you've moved on. However, it's crucial to consider that any improvements you introduce should simplify, rather than complicate, their data analysis or management tasks. It would be unfair and inappropriate to recommend or implement an expensive tool for a small non-profit operating on a tight budget, only to expect them to maintain it after your departure.

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6 Keep learning

A sixth way to gain statistics experience is to keep learning new things and expanding your horizons. You can use online resources, such as books, blogs, podcasts, videos, courses, or MOOCs, to learn new topics, techniques, tools, or trends in statistics. You can also join online or offline groups, such as clubs, societies, forums, or meetups, to learn from and interact with other statistics enthusiasts. Keeping learning will help you stay updated, curious, and motivated in your statistics journey.

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7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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How can you gain statistics experience while in school?

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2

3

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5

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1 Take relevant courses

2 Join or start a project

3 Participate in competitions

4 Seek mentorship

5 Volunteer or intern

6 Keep learning

7 Here’s what else to consider

Statistics

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How can you gain statistics experience while in school?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Take relevant courses

2 Join or start a project

3 Participate in competitions

4 Seek mentorship

5 Volunteer or intern

6 Keep learning

7 Here’s what else to consider

Statistics

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