Statement of Purpose

of Tianjiao Liu (Master of Statistical Science applicant for Spring-2017)

I have been interested in statistical science for years since the concept of big data has become increasingly popular. With the development of technology, much more fields have applications related to statistical techniques than that in last decade. In most business cases people need statistical analysis to help them make decisions and in artificial intelligence area we need statistics to improve the machine learning process. Therefore I planned a career in the field of statistics.

As an undergraduate student of accounting major, I built my basic background with math and statistics courses such as Advanced Math, Linear Algebra, and Probability & Mathematical Statistics. In these courses my curiosity of statistics was keeping increasing. Anyway I knew the knowledge from my undergraduate study was far from enough to support my future career.

After graduation I applied a master program of University of Missouri to get further studies about statistics. I took some graduate level courses to enrich the understanding of the concepts and the techniques for statistical learning. However I found out that program might not fit me very well because nearly all the courses were talking about the theoretical part in statistics so that I hardly had chance to apply the theories to practical cases. In addition the location of the university was not quite well for the abundant research resources and enough working opportunities in the field.

Therefore I made a decision to find another program which can provide me a better knowledge of practical techniques and better career future. Finally I found the master program of statistical science in Mason with several courses about practical topics such as STAT515 and STAT634 and other useful elective courses from the related fields like OR531 and SYST675. Then I was enrolled by INTO Mason Pathway program to prepare for the following studies for master degree. During the only semester of pathway, on the one hand I improved my reading and writing skills through the pathway program on the other hand I kept enhancing the fundamental knowledge of statistics from the major courses. The pathway courses not only helped me have a better understanding of the culture, manner and whole environment of the U.S. universities but also trained me to be a well prepared student for the following studies in the graduate school and even in my future career. And also there are lots of resources I can use in the campus such as workshops from consulting firms like Ernst & Young and other companies which need statisticians. Thanks to these resources I have a basic awareness of what I should do now and what I want to do in the future. It’s really helpful for the network building of career.

I have the confidence about my learning skills and the background of statistical knowledge, and I’m prepared to handle the master program of statistical science now. And with the courses going on I become more interesting in the topics of time series than before and want to have a further knowledge of them. I hope you could give me the chance of continuing my studies in Stat Department of Statistic at Mason. I believe that graduate studies with your department will be one of the best helps for me to attain my academic and career goal.