Skip to main content

Stanford STATS DS

Program Overview​

Stanford DS has the best professors, a beautiful campus, and impressive classmates (many with 4+ YOE who got tired of Wall Street and came back to school). Research quality is outstanding, and you can do a lot of interdisciplinary research.

Admission Threshold & Data Points​

Each cohort admits around 50 students. Almost all are US undergrads, top GPA (3.9+) from top schools, GRE 330+ -- that kind of profile.

  1. NYU DS+Math undergrad, multiple TA + RA experiences, GPA 3.95
  2. UCLA Math+Statistics undergrad, GPA 3.98, multiple DS internships
  3. Georgetown University Operations Research undergrad, Math minor, small company DS intern
  4. Cambridge Economics undergrad, First Class Honours, six months of QD experience, DS intern
  5. UESTC Statistics undergrad, GPA 3.95+, four-month research internship at Harvard
  6. Duke Statistics undergrad, GPA 3.97, multiple MLE internships
  7. UCB DS undergrad, GPA 4.0, multiple DS/MLE internships
  8. UCLA DS undergrad, GPA 4.0, two and a half years of RA experience

Job Outcomes​

The majority go into MLE and DS roles. Very few go into quant -- that's mostly the ICME crowd. Going to Jane Street or Citadel is extremely rare. Beyond that, 80%+ land at big tech companies (FAANG), primarily in DS roles, with some going into SWE.

Some students prefer startups over big tech (Stanford especially encourages entrepreneurship) and will start their own companies or join early-stage startups.

In-School PhD Transfer​

The Statistics department does not have a direct PhD transfer pathway. Transferring to PhD is very, very difficult.