Is this worth the money? UT Austin Summer Statistics Institute

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>There is a program at UT-Austin’s Division of Statistics and Scientific Computation called the Summer Statistics Institute. The cost for a UT student is $125 per course for a student and I want to take two courses. Each course lasts four days at three hours a day for a total of 12 hours of instruction.</p>

<p>Although there are many courses available to take, I want to take the SPSS and SAS courses because I want to have some hard skills to make me more attractive for internships and research assistantships. I would receive a certificate upon completing the course, which may or may not be useful.</p>

<p>Please take a look at the link provided and tell me if this is something I should truly be investing in. Will it actually help me get a research or internship position? </p>

<p>[Summer</a> Statistics Institute](<a href=“http://ssc.utexas.edu/programs/summer-statistics-institute]Summer”>http://ssc.utexas.edu/programs/summer-statistics-institute)</p>

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<p>I don’t know much about your specific major, but if I saw that a student had taken similar summer courses in structures, I would be impressed! What a cheap price, too - it’s great that they discount it so much for UT students. I think it would be useful if you can describe it in a little detail when you’re applying for positions.</p>

<p>Also, you might learn something that would actually be helpful! The only reason my husband and I take classes is that we need them for continuing education credits for our PE licenses. The side benefit is that we usually do come away with some new knowledge. Oh, and another thing to keep in mind is that you could make some wonderful contacts! Strike up conversations with everyone you can. They will probably be impressed that you’re taking the time to be there, and give you some good advice and ideas for companies to contact.</p>

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<p>I’m not sure you can learn SAS adequately in only 12 hours of instruction.</p>

<p>It will probably be able to only cover the basics. SAS is such a powerful program that it takes a very long time to master (but you really can’t master it).</p>

<p>While you will get a certificate that you completed the course, I’m assuming that’s different from being a SAS Certified Programmer.</p>

<p>If you have taken some programming courses, SAS really isn’t very difficult. If you have taken no programming classes, you may have extreme difficulty with SAS. </p>

<p>SPSS is a little more user friendly. Sets up like Excel and uses point and click software. That’s why it’s used more for psych and social sciences - less coding and programming required.</p>

<p>Although I think there may be a point and click version of SAS…I’m not sure.</p>

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<p>Thank you so much for your great responses.</p>

<p>OminousRun, what programming language do you suggest I start with if I want to eventually know how to program in SAS? The course outline states that programming in SAS will be covered on the fourth day of the class and the only prerequisite for the class is an intro to stats course (which I have). </p>

<p>What I really want to do is get some undergrad research experience over the next year to see if grad school is the way I want to go or not. I feel like being able to conduct basic data analysis using software would make me jump out to profs as well as give me skills for the future. Thanks again for your responses.</p>

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<p>I’m only familiar with C and SAS, as far as pure programming goes (I’m a Stats major). I took C programming before I took SAS, and it did help.</p>

<p>SAS is easier than pure C programming. There are similarities, but many differences.</p>

<p>There’s two main aspects to SAS: </p>

<p>1) importing your data (which can be done in many different ways). It’s not as simple as it sounds, as the data (variables) have to be coded properly depending on what type of data you have (categorical, numerical, alpha, etc). There’s also special coding needed for different things like dates, numbers with commas, hyphens, etc.</p>

<p>2) running functions on your data/analyzing your data. After you import your data you need to be able run do specific things with that data. Create regression models, create charts, graphs, etc. Running various statistical tests on the data. There are literally thousands of commands that you can do in SAS depending on what you want to do with the data.</p>

<p>SAS is a great program. Lots of opportunity if you are a good SAS programmer.</p>

<p>FWIW, I’ve taken 2 classes that used SAS specifically, as well as taking a class in SAS…in addition to getting a degree in Statistics…and I still would categorize myself as a novice to average SAS programmer.</p>

<p>If you want to learn a statistical software package, you can download “R” for free. It’s a decent package. The price is right!!</p>

<p>I actually like another SAS product better, called JMP. Very powerful program that is very user friendly. I’m not a giant advocate of pure programming/coding. It can get quite frustrating at times.</p>