统计学提供了定量的方法来分析数据，在不确定性下做出合理的决定，设计实验以及对世界中的随机性和可变性进行建模。统计学的理论核心被人类学，天文学，生物学，商业，化学，计算机科学，经济学，教育，工程，环境科学，流行病学，金融，政府，历史，法律等领域的众多应用领域所包围，语言学，医学，物理学，心理学，社会学等等。《纽约时报》的一篇文章在标题为“今天的毕业生，一个字：统计”的文章中指出了对统计学家的日益增长的需求。通用轨道是最灵活的轨道，为统计理论，方法和应用提供了原理和技术的基础。这个基础可以应用于众多领域。正如
Statistics can be applied almost anywhere, to reflect this, the concentration allows many opportunities to learn about how statistics is used in other fields, by definition, statistics should not be studied in isolation. The concentration requirements can be fulfilled via any of the four tracks: The general track is the most flexible track, providing a foundation in principles and techniques for statistical theory, methods, and applications. This foundation can be applied to a myriad of fields. As John Tukey said, The best thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in everybody else's backyard.