Statistics - MSc

Why did you decide to do an MSc?

I did a teaching qualification after my undergrad but decided it wasn’t the right career for me so it’s taken me a while to figure out what I wanted to do. I knew I was strong in statistics so started researching the different courses available. I chose Leeds because it’s accredited by the Royal Statistical Society which means if you get the qualification you become a graduate statistician and can go on to get a chartered statistician qualification.

Which modules in particular appealed to you?

In general I thought the courses sounded quite flexible because you can just study general statistics or take more of a financial or medical statistics route. I thought this would be good as I wanted to keep my options open. In my first semester I did quite general modules and then in second semester I focused more on medical statistics. I did a module called Introduction to Clinical Trials which was jointly taught by the School of Mathematics and the Clinical Trials Unit. We also had a module which introduced us to how to write our dissertations which was really helpful.

Has the course lived up to your expectations?

Yes it’s been really good to have such a diverse range of modules to choose from and the support from the staff has been really good. All the lecturers have office hours so you can go and ask them for help or you can email them and they tend to get back to you quickly and all the other students on my course have been really friendly.

Do you spend much time with the people on your course?

We’ve set up a study group which has been really helpful because when I started I was a bit unsure of my ability because my background isn’t in maths it’s in biology, but having course friends who support one another has been really useful. For our study group we often book out a room in the library to discuss any problems we were having with the work that we're doing, and we've met in the hidden cafe as well. There are loads of different spaces you can use. I find the study group really useful because often you just want to sit somewhere and discuss because in Maths we have lots of problems to work through, so it's good to sit with other people and just discuss them.

Why did you choose the University of Leeds?

I really liked the course structure for MSc Statistics here, it isn’t just theoretical but also practical which means that it helps you in the corporate world when you go into a job. It had a lot of practical work which helps to understand how the theoretical work is put into practise. So I like the course structure, it was very interesting.

Where did you do your undergraduate degree?

I am from India and I did my undergraduate degree in Calcutta. So, it was my first time living in the UK.

And how did you find it living here?

Really nice, the people are very helpful and the teachers are very friendly. It’s been a good experience. I have also made some good friends here, we went out together and went to parties, we had get-togethers and so yes it was really fun. So yes I will miss the University when I leave.

How did you find the facilities?

They were very different to India. I’ve never had so much available, like printing and the library. The library is such a plus point because the University of Calcutta doesn’t have such a good library as here. Whatever books you need, you can find them here.

What are your plans for the future?

Well I have a job in Edinburgh which is due to start in January. The role is as a Credit-Risk Analyst in the Royal Bank of Scotland. Doing this Masters really helped with getting the job a lot because in the interview they asked me about technical questions and it was very easy to understand because of the practical element here. So, I am planning to re-locate to Edinburgh and I have already found somewhere to live. So I just need to sort my visa out now.

Would you recommend the course to others?

Yes, surely. I enjoyed the topics such as Risk Management and Stochastic Modelling because they are really useful in real-life. The other universities I looked at didn’t offer this practical element.