Study Statistics at Otago

Lara Najim:

Hi, I’m Lara, and I’m a third-year student of Statistics at the University of Otago. When I was in my last year of high school, I really wanted to open as many doors as I could with my degree, and so Statistics was the perfect choice. In my degree, I get to look at data from a range of different fields, from economics, biology, and finance. So once I graduate, it’ll be really easy to slot into any field and solve a range of problems. The University of Otago is the perfect place to do it as well.

Dr Matthew Schofield:

My name is Matthew Schofield, and I’m a senior lecturer here at the University of Otago in Statistics. Statistics is all about the collection, the analysis, the interpretation, and presentation of data. Data is all around us, and so there’s a need for statistics everywhere in society. Statistics is important for everything from modelling infectious diseases, to describing the dynamics of animal populations, to designing studies that make sure our drugs and vaccines are safe.

The thing I love most about statistics is the variety. I’ve had the chance to work on problems as diverse as studying penguin movement in Antarctica, to the physiological changes in marathon runners, to climate change. John Tukey, a famous statistician, once said, “The best thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in everyone else’s backyard,” and that’s something that I certainly found to be true. I really enjoy the challenge of trying to understand what data can tell us about the uncertain world around us.

Many of our students will opt to take Statistics as a second major or a minor, and that’s because Statistics complements nearly every course of study here at the University of Otago. So, if you’re expecting to be working with data, whether that’s experiments from a lab, whether it’s the natural world, or data from business or markets, then Statistics is a really good option for you.

In your first year of study, you’ll be taking a broad introductory Statistics course that covers how statistics can be used across all disciplines here at the University of Otago. From there, in your second and third years, you’ll move on to courses that specialise in visualisation of data, the interpretation of statistical models, and also how all of these models hold together and how they work. Throughout your time here at the University of Otago, you’ll be taught by some of the very best. You’ll be taught by leading statisticians in New Zealand, leading researchers, and teachers. Our courses attract students from all corners of the campus.

Our students go on to work in some really interesting and exciting careers. Many end up working in government departments, some in Crown Research Institutes like AgResearch or Landcare Research. Others have gone on to work for business, insurance, the health sector, and some continue on with further study.