Undergraduate Student Profile - Adriana Vars

Written by: Meghan Honerlaw, M.S. candidate in Statistics

Adriana Vars
A long road led Adriana Vars to Purdue to continue her education. She was born in Romania and attended George Bacovia High School, a science high school in Bacau, her hometown, where she studied mathematics and informatics. "At that time (1993), personal computers were new to Romania and I wanted to learn about them. Although, I really loved mathematics, I was frustrated with the teaching style in Romania, which was very rigid, with a lot of theory, but no practical side," said Adriana. This rigid high school education left Adriana with the need to see how mathematics could be applied to real-world problems.

Adriana, however, did not immediately pursue a college degree after completing high school. During her time in high school she competed in kick boxing. "I quickly became very good and started to win championships. So after finishing high school, I decided to pursue a career as a kick boxing athlete. I won numerous Romanian national championships, including a bronze medal at the European Kick Boxing Championship in Lithuania (1998) and a gold medal at the European Thai Boxing Championship in Cyprus (2000). While I was competing, I earned an Associate Degree as a kick boxing instructor," Adriana remembered.

In the meantime, her parents moved to Rome, Italy and Adriana moved as well. Her mother became ill with cancer and passed away. Adriana stayed in Rome until 2004, babysitting and teaching kick boxing. Adriana recalled, "Growing up in communist Romania, I had always dreamed of moving to America. Kick boxing allowed me to travel outside Romania which would have been difficult otherwise. I saw how other societies and cultures lived and I saw the opportunities that were available. I learned about the United States and I had to go there to live."

Adriana moved to the United States in 2004 to attend college. Throughout the many years after high school that took Adriana abroad, she never forgot her love of mathematics and need to see the practical application of the subject. She chose Purdue for her undergraduate degree in statistics because, "Purdue has one of the top 10 statistics departments in the country and that says it all. I commute 4-5 days a week from Indianapolis to get the best knowledge offered in statistics in Indiana and one of the best in the country," explained Adriana.

Thus far, Adriana has found that her favorite classes have included the use of computer programming. "I really enjoyed applying SAS in Introduction to Statistics (STAT 350) and the Regression Analysis courses. I also liked learning R in Time Series and I’m currently taking another course, Introduction to Computing with Data, that uses the R language also. I think combining the statistical theory with the use of computer programming languages is what makes Purdue’s statistics major so valuable," said Adriana.

Adriana has taken the opportunity to be a mentor to other undergraduate women in mathematics through the Women in Science Program (WISP). She also has the opportunity to mentor students by being a teaching assistant. Last semester, she was a teaching assistant for STAT 350 and MATH 154. She is currently an undergraduate Teaching Assistant for STAT 501 and MATH 154. For anyone interested in statistics at Purdue, Adriana advises, "The statistics program at Purdue is tailored in such a way to give you hands-on experience through numerous applications, not just theory. Also, there is a great variety of classes in statistics from which to choose. I also found the professors to be well prepared in their fields. Another observation: all my classes in statistics were taught by professors, not TA’s, which is absolutely great."

Adriana is finishing up her degree in statistics and hopes to continue on to get a Masters or PhD. After completing her graduate education, she plans to get a job in industry, where she would like to work in a field that would allow her to use both her statistical and computer programming knowledge. Adriana received the V.L. Anderson Scholarship award in 2009 which recognizes an undergraduate student who shows promise of contributing to statistics and its applications. She is expecting her first child, a baby boy, in December.

Adriana concludes, "To all the adult non-traditional students out there who fear that school is not for them anymore: there is no better place than Purdue to start all over again or to continue your education."

October 2009