The USC Department of Mathematics offers a variety of courses, and a minor program, in both Statistics and Data Analytics. The USC minor in Statistics has as it core courses MATH 307 and MATH 308 in probability and statistics, which also cover programming in R; one may also choose the higher level courses, MATH 407 and MATH 408 to satisfy the program requirements. A large number of elective courses supplement this program.
At a more advanced mathematical level, starting in the Fall of 2020, a Data Analytics minor will be offered. This program includes MATH 447 on Machine learning, as well as MATH 650 in Statistical Consulting, and again a choice of electives. Both R and Python are included in this program.
Students interested in actuarial science should be aware that becoming a fully qualified actuary involves taking a sequence of 10 exams. Only the first four or so of these exams is based on mathematics, see the page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actuarial_exam
Though USC offers no program specific to the actuarial field, as a math major the relevant courses for the probability and statistic covered on these exams would be Math 407/408. Students interested in actuarial science may also want to consider a minor in statistics or financial mathematics, and should also be aware of our statistics courses that are approved as electives for the statistics minor. Our graduate sequence Math 530ab has some aspects of interest theory and math finance that would be relevant for actuarial work. These courses are at the Master’s, not undergraduate level, but could be taken by advanced undergraduates who have been properly prepared, that is, who satisfy the listed course prerequisites, or can secure permission of the instructor. The same applies to the graduate level statistics courses approved for the Masters degree in statistics.