Question:
Hey guys,
After much ado I think I've finally found something with school that I really wholeheartedly enjoy--statistics. However, a degree in math is kind of out of the question for me. I want to pursue a Bachelor's degree in Management, and am trying to decide on a concentration that will give me the most potential to graduate and use statistics in the workforce.
So my question to CGR is...what jobs out there use statistics and what qualifications do you need to land those jobs?
Thanks all!
Noelle
Answer:
Marketing and Economics can both be heavily statistics-oriented, depending on your exact focus.
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Statisticians
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You should probably just get a degree in math emphasizing in statistics. It would be much more worthwhile than a management degree (depending on where you go). Ask JerryLove. I think his specialty is statistical inference.
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Lots of people up here in Alaska work for The Department of Fish and Game as statistitians.....I had an algebra teacher and a statistics teacher that work for ADF&G. It seems like a really cool job and I would think that lots of other states would have similar positions...
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I think the current plan is to go with a marketing/statistics concentration in the faculty of Management. That may change depending on many things, but right now that's the goal. My parents were very much pushing for management, so I think that's probably a good idea to go with that because it makes them happy (and keeps them paying) and I'm fine with working in the business world, especially as it's where there's a lot of jobs and such.
I fear that I'd get lost in a lot of the more theoretical math courses. I've done well in statistics and linear algebra, but have to work really hard to be average in calculus and stuff like that. That's why I decided against an actual math major, and my school doesn't have the option of doing a degree in statistics, or even a concentration in statistics. It's not cool at all.
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OH, and thanks to everyone who applied! You guys are the best.
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Just to update this with what I actually went with...
I decided to go with a bachelor's degree in operations research and a minor in mathematical statistics. I have one more year left after this one and what I end up doing after that, well, we shall see...
Possibilities include:
1. I'm getting my 6-Sigma green belt now (That's a quality control program)--possibly I could go work for Boeing or another related company in their Six Sigma department and obtain my black belt, etc. I'd be happy with this.
2. Go into operations management, ie, supply chain, logistics, etc.
3. I met with my statistics program advisor and he told me that if I took a couple additional math courses (analysis courses) I'd be okay to apply for grad school in an applied statistics masters program. I would definitely be interested in this, as well as potentially doing epidemiology or biostatistics. It's definitely an intriguing possibility
So we'll see what comes, whether I flunk out or anything, what sort of internships I can get, etc.
Answer:
Originally Posted by SccHarpGirl I decided to go with a bachelor's degree in operations research and a minor in mathematical statistics. I have one more year left after this one and what I end up doing after that, well, we shall see...
Very cool. If I were you, I'd make sure to take a few managerial accounting courses (if you haven't already) along the way.
Possibilities include:
1. I'm getting my 6-Sigma green belt now (That's a quality control program)--possibly I could go work for Boeing or another related company in their Six Sigma department and obtain my black belt, etc. I'd be happy with this.
I wouldn't focus too heavily on this route. Six Sigma is just a trend like any other business trend (although it has its roots in something business statisticians have known for a long long time), and it's already starting to get a little old. Don't tie yourself down to any particular trend, because that's like tying your career to a cement block and throwing it off the docks, or so it seems to me.
2. Go into operations management, ie, supply chain, logistics, etc.
There is beaucoup money to be made in this field, especially if you are really good at it. Furthermore, this isn't something that's going to be going away anytime soon (like Six Sigma might be). Even if the recent trendiness of "supply chain management" dies down, the need for solid logistics management is always going to be with us. If you're going business for sure, I'd look into this more.
3. I met with my statistics program advisor and he told me that if I took a couple additional math courses (analysis courses) I'd be okay to apply for grad school in an applied statistics masters program. I would definitely be interested in this, as well as potentially doing epidemiology or biostatistics. It's definitely an intriguing possibility
If you're not into business that much, this would definitely be the best way to go. Business statistics, for the most part, isn't that advanced and isn't that challenging to a well-rounded statistician. Something like the research fields you mention would be much more interesting if you just want to cut your teeth on some advance applied statistics work.
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Originally Posted by Nate Very cool. If I were you, I'd make sure to take a few managerial accounting courses (if you haven't already) along the way.
I've taken both financial and managerial accounting courses, as well as I was the VP finance for my church for a year. I swore, never again But I know those skills will come in very handy later on.
I wouldn't focus too heavily on this route. Six Sigma is just a trend like any other business trend (although it has its roots in something business statisticians have known for a long long time), and it's already starting to get a little old. Don't tie yourself down to any particular trend, because that's like tying your career to a cement block and throwing it off the docks, or so it seems to me.
That's true...I recall my professor saying that TQM is now badmouthed in business circles and that everyone who studied it is kind of out of luck. I can see a similar thing happening to Six Sigma. In any case, the course I'm taking is required for my program so I get the green belt just as an added bonus.
There is beaucoup money to be made in this field, especially if you are really good at it. Furthermore, this isn't something that's going to be going away anytime soon (like Six Sigma might be). Even if the recent trendiness of "supply chain management" dies down, the need for solid logistics management is always going to be with us. If you're going business for sure, I'd look into this more.
I remember now talking to a representative for Bombardier aerospace who said that logistics is where it's at...I'm taking a logistics management course next semester, so I'll see how I like it and whatnot. It could be interesting, though, esp. in this era of globalization.
If you're not into business that much, this would definitely be the best way to go. Business statistics, for the most part, isn't that advanced and isn't that challenging to a well-rounded statistician. Something like the research fields you mention would be much more interesting if you just want to cut your teeth on some advance applied statistics work.
Right now this is what I would really like to do, I'm just unsure about the money aspect of things. I'm going to try and fit the analysis courses into my schedule just to leave it open as a possibility, and then see what develops next year.
I'm just already getting sick of business class after business class on how to read the normal tables, how to compute a Z-score, how to do basic hypothesis testing. It gets really old, really fast. But I'm wary of putting myself in serious debt to go to grad school only to be unsure of what kind of jobs are out there when I graduate. I don't want to end up with lots of school and zero work experience and not be able to get hired.
So basically, I guess I'll see what happens next year. I'm taking 3 classes each of managegement core, management science, and statistics. I guess based on that I'll have a better idea of what I want to do after school.
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The ultimate irony of this is this:
When I decided to transfer into management it's because I'd skated by with the most narrow of margins in Calculus 2 and intro linear algebra. I thought that taking upper level math courses would most definitely be beyond the range of my abilities and thus a stats major would be out of reach.
However this year (my first year in mangement) I took a higher level linear algebra course and got an A in it. This semester I"m taking Calculus 3 and also doing very well...So I guess the irony is that I probably could have managed a statistics major after all. However, now it'd be an additional two years to go back and do this, so I'm better off just finishing what I have and looking into masters programs if that's what I want to do.
Answer:
Originally Posted by SccHarpGirl That's true...I recall my professor saying that TQM is now badmouthed in business circles and that everyone who studied it is kind of out of luck. I can see a similar thing happening to Six Sigma. In any case, the course I'm taking is required for my program so I get the green belt just as an added bonus.
That problem is that university-level study lags behind business trends by at least 5 to 10 years. If you study a "hot," "new" trend like TQM, Six Sigma, The Fifth Discipline, etc, you're not going to get to use your skills in the job market for at least a couple more years, and the university isn't going to have initiated those programs that you studied under until the programs themselves have already been in common business usage for a few years. The net result is that all the trends you study are terribly outdated by the time you get to use them. It's interesting to study them as history and as general knowledge, but risky to stake your career on them; you're much better off studying a more general topic, like logistics in your case.