Data Analysis and Applied Statistics

Virginia Tech's Department of Statistics offers the Master of Arts in Data Analysis and Applied Statistics (DAAS) on the Blacksburg and Northern Virginia campuses.

The DAAS curriculum provides a wide variety of applied statistical tools to students, without the emphasis on statistical theory steeped in mathematics. Core courses in the M.A. DAAS program emphasize the fundamentals of statistics. Students are then free to choose from a plan of electives in specialized topics in statistics. Thus, the degree offers sufficient depth in the fundamentals of contemporary applied statistical methods and gives students an understanding of how they are applied in different fields.

At our Blacksburg campus, the M.A. DAAS degree is a simultaneous degree. Current Virginia Tech master's and/or Ph.D. students in another discipline, who desire to complement their training with the M.A. DAAS degree, are eligible to apply to the degree. The applied statistics emphasis of the M.A. DAAS will empower students to perform more statistically sophisticated research, improving the quality of their theses/dissertations, and leading to papers published in higher-level journals than would be possible without such courses.

As part of our offerings in Blacksburg, this degree is co-sponsored by several other programs and departments.  The co-sponsoring programs include the Education Research and Evaluation Program (EDRE) and the Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology program and the co-sponsoring departments include the Departments of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Psychology, Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Geography, Economics, Human Development, Sociology, and Biological Sciences. 

The M.A. DAAS program is also offered at our Northern Virginia Campus as a part-time professional masters.  The curriculum offers students a strong foundation in statistics and analytics so that they begin to extract meaningful insights from large data sets and harness their potential.  The program is suited to all students, with particularly the working student in mind.  Consequently, our semesters are a blend of an in-person class that is taught one evening per week and one online course.

What You'll Need

Transcripts

Include a scanned copy of your college transcripts with your online application, then arrange for an official copy to be sent to us after you receive an offer of admission.

Letters of Recommendation

Check to see whether your department requires letters of recommendation from references. If so, you can include the letter writers' email addresses in your online application, or have the people you ask to write those lettes send paper copies directly to your program’s department.

Graduate School Testing Requirements

The Graduate School does not require entrance tests, but check to see whether your department requires you to submit GRE, GMAT, or subject test scores with your application. If so, have the testing agency send official scores to Virginia Tech Graduate School, code 5859. 

International students may be required to submit TOEFL scores. 

Application Fees

Degree-seeking students must include a $75 fee with their application, though check to see if you qualify for a waiver or reduced fee. All application fees are non-refundable.

Refund procedure

All application fees are non-refundable.