Caleb VanArragon: Student Success Story

For Caleb VanArragon ’23, ’24 M.S., the statistical way of thinking has always resonated in the most logical sense. “I love the way it can be used to solve all sorts of real-world problems,” he explains. It’s a personal truth that stuck with him throughout his Valpo experience. As an undergraduate student, he combined his interests with a double-major in biology and statistics, then narrowed down his professional interests in pursuit of a master of science in analytics and modeling.

“Valpo has an amazing statistics program. I would absolutely recommend that students study math and statistics here,” Caleb shares. “The professors are amazing; I’ve learned so much from them, and I’ve learned a lot of skills that I’ve been able to apply to all sorts of things outside just my classes.”

Statistics has even played a role in Caleb’s position on the Valpo men’s golf team. “Every season, our coach has us record all of our data from our tournaments. I’ve been able to use that data and some of the skills that I’ve learned here from the statistics department to improve my golf game,” Caleb says. “Last year, I looked at my correlations and I figured out that the number of fairways I hit per round did not influence my score at all. Everything you do – every shot that you hit – can be turned into statistics, and you can use it to figure out which shots are important and how you’re playing in every aspect of your game.” Just looking at the statistics helped Caleb figure out what he needed to practice and what he didn’t – a testament that statistics is a tool that can be applied to anything and everything.

Looking ahead, Caleb has several open doors post-graduation: the perspective of a professional golf career, three degrees, and a passion for crunching numbers that can be taken into any industry.