Columbia University's Department of Statistics, in collaboration with the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Continuing Education, will offer a part-time online-only version of its renowned Master of Arts in Statistics starting in the Fall of 2013. The online degree format is designed for working professionals and students across the country and around the globe. With this new degree format come new and broadening opportunities for outstanding students and practitioners of statistics to take part in Columbia University's exceptional Statistics community.

The M.A. in Statistics deepens students’ knowledge of applied statistics and improves their command of statistical theory and applications, providing them with a strong competitive edge in this burgeoning field. The program gives students the opportunity to study with some of the best minds in the field, and provides an academic experience rooted in solid theoretical foundations while continually considering its application in the real world.

Based in the New York metropolitan area, where there is a confluence of financial organizations, internet startups and pharmaceutical laboratories, Columbia is uniquely situated to create a dynamic community of faculty, professional practitioners, and students in statistics focused on data science and its applications. The M.A. program gives students the opportunity to take classes with faculty who are at the forefront of research in data science, mathematical finance, econometrics and statistical methods.

"There will be a shortage of talent necessary for organizations to take advantage of big data. By 2018, the United States alone could face a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to use the analysis of big data to make effective decisions."‘Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity’
McKinsey Global Institute report, May 2011

Columbia continues to offer this program on-campus, adding online and hybrid formats to better serve full-time professional students and others unable to take up residence for full-time study in New York City. The online experience, developed in partnership with the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Continuing Education, is offered by the Department of Statistics and designed to promote a strong professional network among students, faculty and the program's alumni. Regardless of how students access the program, they will enjoy the privilege of being a part of this dynamic intellectual community.

Learn more about Columbia's full and part-time on-campus options on the Department of Statistics website or sign up to receive details of the online options starting in Fall 2013.