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Hi Physics Forum, lurked around a bit and need some advice.
I've never particularly liked any branch of my academics, however I excelled in my English classes and I thought the most natural thing to do was declare it my major. I absolutely hate academic reading though, as I see it mostly as a lot of meaningless interpretation of issues that aren't there, and mostly guesswork. The thought of wading through 200 pages a week of 1000 CE English writing does not sound at all appealing to me.
So as I was finishing up my senior year, we did a brief section of probability and statistics in my pre-calc class and I was instantly hooked. While most of it was simple, and from what I understand almost completely different then undergraduate statistics, I loved the thought of it. To be able to come to conclusions based on data, to analyze and collect data, and the like sounds truly interesting to me, and something I wanted to pursue. I mentioned this to my math teacher and he responded "So why not major in statistics?"
I had no IDEA this was even an option, and I immediately changed my major to Statistical Science. I was happy with this decision, and I could not wait to start learning.
However, my previous record in math and school in general has not been extremely successful. I found most of my early education so incredibly simple that by 10th grade I foolishly decided to stop paying attention altogether, and my grades suffered immensely. The sheer amount of busy work killed me, but that's no excuse for my extreme arrogance at the time.
I decided to change all this with my freshman year in college, and have enjoyed great success. I'm sitting at a comfortable 4.0 as the quarter comes to a close, and have no intentions of letting it slip. I dedicate hours upon hours to studying and I've aced every exam so far.
My concerns though, is that my math is not advanced at all. Math was definitely one of my favorite subjects, but in no means did I even think I'd be using it for a potential career. The highest level I've been up to is pre-calc, althought I'm starting calc in the winter quarter. I wouldn't say I've been particularly troubled by math, but my prior lazy attitude has been unable to allow me to gauge its difficultly properly. I would say that when I actually did study, I found pre-calc to be no problem at all, and even pretty enjoyable.
So that's my first question: am I not to late to do stats, how should I prepare myself, and how can I succeed?
Second, I know that to get a job as a Statistician or data analyst I have to have at least a masters. I have no real intention of working for a college or doing intense research, and would to settle down and start a family with my fiance. Ideally, I'd like to get a masters and work for a business. However, I see that several universities offer different types of programs. The four I've seen are M.S., M.A., M.Stat, and MPS in Statistics. I've seen M.S. and M.A. before, but I've never seen them offered for the same subject. I've also seen that stats and math in general is extremely competitive.
So what's the difference between the four degrees I've listed for stats, and what do I need to do to be a competitive grad candidate.
Thanks :)
I've never particularly liked any branch of my academics, however I excelled in my English classes and I thought the most natural thing to do was declare it my major. I absolutely hate academic reading though, as I see it mostly as a lot of meaningless interpretation of issues that aren't there, and mostly guesswork. The thought of wading through 200 pages a week of 1000 CE English writing does not sound at all appealing to me.
So as I was finishing up my senior year, we did a brief section of probability and statistics in my pre-calc class and I was instantly hooked. While most of it was simple, and from what I understand almost completely different then undergraduate statistics, I loved the thought of it. To be able to come to conclusions based on data, to analyze and collect data, and the like sounds truly interesting to me, and something I wanted to pursue. I mentioned this to my math teacher and he responded "So why not major in statistics?"
I had no IDEA this was even an option, and I immediately changed my major to Statistical Science. I was happy with this decision, and I could not wait to start learning.
However, my previous record in math and school in general has not been extremely successful. I found most of my early education so incredibly simple that by 10th grade I foolishly decided to stop paying attention altogether, and my grades suffered immensely. The sheer amount of busy work killed me, but that's no excuse for my extreme arrogance at the time.
I decided to change all this with my freshman year in college, and have enjoyed great success. I'm sitting at a comfortable 4.0 as the quarter comes to a close, and have no intentions of letting it slip. I dedicate hours upon hours to studying and I've aced every exam so far.
My concerns though, is that my math is not advanced at all. Math was definitely one of my favorite subjects, but in no means did I even think I'd be using it for a potential career. The highest level I've been up to is pre-calc, althought I'm starting calc in the winter quarter. I wouldn't say I've been particularly troubled by math, but my prior lazy attitude has been unable to allow me to gauge its difficultly properly. I would say that when I actually did study, I found pre-calc to be no problem at all, and even pretty enjoyable.
So that's my first question: am I not to late to do stats, how should I prepare myself, and how can I succeed?
Second, I know that to get a job as a Statistician or data analyst I have to have at least a masters. I have no real intention of working for a college or doing intense research, and would to settle down and start a family with my fiance. Ideally, I'd like to get a masters and work for a business. However, I see that several universities offer different types of programs. The four I've seen are M.S., M.A., M.Stat, and MPS in Statistics. I've seen M.S. and M.A. before, but I've never seen them offered for the same subject. I've also seen that stats and math in general is extremely competitive.
So what's the difference between the four degrees I've listed for stats, and what do I need to do to be a competitive grad candidate.
Thanks :)
