Attending a university in Texas was never in the plans for Sebastián Bravo ’23, especially after securing a job at a reputable company: General Motors (GM) Financial. However, after reaching a stagnant point in his career, Bravo discovered Texas A&M University’s online statistics master’s program, which he credits for equipping him with the skills he needed to grow.
Born in Bogota, Colombia, Bravo attended Universidad de Los Andes and got his undergraduate degree in chemical and industrial engineering. Although he was fully prepared to work as an engineer, he found that more opportunities for growth existed in the financial sector, so he began working as a sales and marketing analyst for GM in 2015.
After joining the company’s international rotations program and relocating to Charlotte, N.C., Bravo worked his way up to senior data analyst, giving him a newfound inclination for the data science department.
Buoyed by the excitement of new opportunities within GM, Bravo realized that in order to continue his growth, he would need additional education.
“I got a couple of certifications, and I got as technical as I could, but I couldn’t really scratch the itch that I had for quantitatively heavier work,” Bravo explained. “I networked internally and was steered toward the data science department and was encouraged to go out for a position, under one condition: I needed to pivot back to my roots and get a master’s degree in something more related to data science.”
Bravo knew that going back to school would be different this time around. In order to continue working full time at GM, he would need to enroll in a fully online program that could allow him to complete the degree asynchronously.
After doing research on about a dozen programs around the country, Bravo found the Department of Statistics' online master's program through reading Reddit posts, speaking to current and former students and joining an informational Discord server.
“Texas A&M’s program was much more rigorous,” Bravo said. “We studied math, theory and methods simultaneously. Being able to master the underlying theory behind concepts is what set the program apart for me. The Department of Statistics at Texas A&M being so well-ranked also solidified my decision and made it the best distance-friendly program out of every single one I looked up.”
Catered to working professionals, Texas A&M Statistics' popular online master's program offers students a master of science in statistical data science or an applied statistics certificate, providing all students with high-quality education and around-the-clock support.
The online program officially launched in 2007 and has amassed a solid reputation along with an average annual enrollment of approximately 230 students per year, according to Director of Operations Kim Ritchie '95. She says one of the program’s most unique characteristics is the fact that distance students are treated the same as on-campus students and have access to the same resources.
“The biggest difference between our program and other programs in the country is that our students get a regular Texas A&M diploma,” Ritchie added. “Students will have no distinction on their diploma saying they're in an online program, and our coursework is the same for both distance and local students.”
During Bravo’s two years in the program prior to graduating in May 2023, he says he grew significantly in his career and was placed on a team where he did heavy duty statistical modeling, allowing him to directly apply what he was learning in class.
“As I joined this team and was wrapping up the program, I felt that everything fit nicely into place,” Bravo said. “I was learning what I needed to learn, and I was applying the concepts which set me up for success.”
Being able to master the underlying theory behind concepts is what set the program apart for me. The Department of Statistics at Texas A&M being so well-ranked also solidified my decision and made it the best distance-friendly program out of every single one I looked up.
According to Ritchie, a master’s degree in data science from Texas A&M opens doors for students with diverse skill sets and enables them to pursue careers in a plethora of different industries. Some of the program’s graduates work in finance and banking, while others pursue careers in fields such as forensic science, K-12 education or aerospace defense.
“Statistics has to be one of the broadest disciplines,” Ritchie said. “We have three types of students: the ones who come in already with a job in a statistics-related field and want to increase their knowledge; the students who have no statistics experience but know it can land them a job; and the working professionals who want to run data analytics for their own research.”
Bravo, who did the majority of his coursework from the Dallas area, explained that the faculty’s flexibility and willingness to communicate was one of the reasons why he was able to successfully complete the extensive coursework while working full time at GM.
“The live Q&A sessions and discussion forums were very helpful for the distance students who were not in class to ask questions,” Bravo said. “As a distance student, it was sometimes hard to build trust and form a relationship with a professor that I didn’t see every day, but each resource offered by the professors and staff allowed us to do that while also talking to other students.”
Bravo’s time as an Aggie benefited him in ways that extended far beyond the classroom. In addition to his new degree, the program gave him the chance to expand his network and improve his collaborative and time-management skills. He continues to work as a machine learning engineer at GM and is currently a member of the 2024 cohort of the Global Executive Track Ph.D. program in industrial engineering at Wayne State University.
“Because I was working full time and I wanted to get through the program quickly, it required me to develop organizational skills, discipline and a lot of time management,” Bravo added. “I also developed the ability to work as a team in a distributed environment and found that it was very valuable to go through group projects with people from different time zones.”
Learn more about the statistics online learning program or additional graduate programs in the College of Arts and Sciences.