Course summary

This course is a chance for you to put your statistics knowledge into practice in the real world, and build up skills and experience that you can apply to the final years of your degree and a career in research. Our students have worked in finance roles at major corporations and applied their analysis skills to data science jobs in the civil service as part of their degree. We have a small but focused number of modules in the first year, that cover all the essentials you’ll need for the rest of your degree. You will start to develop programming skills using Python and R, which can be applied to lots of jobs that involve data. You’ll learn to use the typesetting software LaTeX, which mathematicians and statisticians use to present their work. In your second year, you’ll continue to build a powerful toolbox of mathematical techniques. You’ll also learn how to apply your statistics knowledge to increasingly complex problems through statistical modelling and computer simulations. There are optional modules on topics including algebra, mechanics and fluids. Some modules include more project work. This gives you the chance to put your mathematics skills into practice in different contexts and scenarios that you might encounter when you start work after graduation. A module on careers development gives you the chance to find out about different career paths, learn about potential employers, write an impressive CV and sell yourself at job interviews. By the third year, you’ll have the skills, knowledge and experience to go in lots of different directions. There is training in how to design experiments and collect data, how statistics are used in clinical trials of new drugs and how data can predict the likely outcome of an event. We’ll give you lots of optional modules to choose from, so you can study the topics that are most useful to the career path you want to take or that you enjoy the most. Your fourth year will be your placement year. When you return to Sheffield for your final year, you’ll have another wide range of optional modules to choose from. You’ll also spend a third of your time working on your own research project. You’ll choose a topic in an area of statistics that interests you, and work closely with one of our staff who is an expert in the field. You’ll write up your findings and give a presentation about what you’ve learned, which is great experience to add to your CV.