sidneysamson

Hi everyone,
 
what's the academic job market like for statistics PhDs?  I want to become a professor ideally, but if the academic job market is as saturated as it is for math, then I'd like to know sooner than later so I can start making contacts with people in industry.  I don't want to be toiling for a decade in low paid postdoc positions after a PhD.  Ideally I would spend a year or two as a postdoc before moving to a tenure-track assistant professorship.

I'm very risk averse since my math degree was fairly useless for anything except for programming jobs, and I don't want a repeat of the same.  It gave me a good foundation to build on for grad programs, but it didn't provide much in itself.
 
Also some more information about me...I'm a 24-year-old starting Berkeley's stats phd program this fall.

Appreciate any input guys.  Thanks!

This is part of the reason I'm considering deferring my acceptance for a year.  I'd rather enter with 15k saved up instead of the 5k saved up that I will have by August.

Also I'm in the middle of a solo work project for a client that may not be done until November, so...

Okay, anyone?

You have very good points. However, I know it's not going to wreck my life, DUH!

It's not getting a C that I care about (trust me I've gotten a ton of Bs) but getting a C in one of the classes stat programs look at crucially. I think that's a genuine concern for someone who is serious about pursuing future study in statistics, not the worry of a perfectionist. Also it doesn't help when I see and hear of people with all As getting rejected by every graduate program to which they apply.

My main question was regarding working as an RA though. It looks like almost every university only allows current students to RA.

Ahh, the pervasive sound of desperate people demanding answers on the internet.

Getting one C freshman year is not going to wreck your life, mate, especially not if you have an A in graduate analysis to balance that out. If you keep obsessing over this, then you're only going to be fighting against yourself and wearing yourself out. If you really can't let go of this, then no amount of encouragement here is going to change that, and you should seriously consider therapy, anti-anxiety meds, amphetamines, etc. (That is not sarcasm--I mean it.)

I would kill to have HYP on my record; as such, you will get no sympathy from me. Your pedigree has opened doors for you and linked you into a network of powerful academic and professional resources that are yours for the taking if you can stop being so fearful.

For what it's worth, I had a friend who did his undergrad at Harvard. He doubled-majored in applied math and economics, and got many Bs and even a C on his transcript. Yeah it sucked--especially having been that perfect 4.0 concert-pianist Asian kid in high school--but he chose not to let it get him down and was able to land a job at a bulge-bracket firm on Wall Street.

So don't stagnate over this. Keep moving, moving forward, towards the day when you will wake up and realize that you really have nothing to complain or worry about.

Okay, anyone?

Okay, anyone?

Okay, anyone?