Statistics and data science degrees: Overhyped or the real deal?

The number of undergraduate degrees in statistics has tripled in the past decade, and as a statistics professor, I can tell you that it isn't because freshmen love statistics. Way back in 2009, economist Hal Varian of Google dubbed statistician the "next sexy job." Since then, statistician, data scientist and actuary have topped various "best jobs" lists. Not to mention the enthusiastic press coverage of industry applications: Machine learning!Big data! But is it good advice?