Sleepy

I think you should accept the offer based on where you want to live after graduation. If you are planning to move back to RI but have made all your contacts in Florida, you will find it very hard to find a job and move back north. But if you want to stay in FL, then it would be better to move there now, so you can network during school.

You people are really making me out as some villain. I emailed the admissions coordinator in february and she told me to wait till april for a funding decision. She told me that there is no deadline.

I'm sorry I'm not versed in grad talk, but I've been curious about this acronym for months now and I figured I'd take the risk of looking stupid. So, what does POI mean?

I think the big advantage to going to school in a big city is that you could pursue opportunities while still in school. You could do internships or consulting work in NYC, but I'm sure there are slim pickings in Ithaca.

Look, I have made a decision to: a. Not fund another degree b. Not to get a degree of the same level (i.e. not another degree at the masters level) While I was reluctant, at first, to pursue a PhD. I think it is the only logical step after an MS. If you can't find a job after getting an MS, you probably will have just as hard of a time after an MPH. I would try and expand the net as far as job search. Look into completely different industries that require your skill set (plenty of jobs require SAS or R).

I have accepted an offer from a good program already. I also got into my safety school where they have no April 15th deadline. They said that they will let me know late April whether or not I will be receiving funding and then I can make a decision whether or not I want to attend. I'm kinda curious to know whether or not I get funding. Do you think it is ok to wait for the funding offer before I decline, or I should I decline right away?

I checked the survey section of this site and saw a bunch of acceptances and rejections for my program, so I assumed the letter should come any day in the mail. I waited for about 3 days and when nothing came, I called the department. I asked to check my status since I hadn't heard anything yet. She checked while I prayed and crossed my fingers. She then informed me that I was on the waitlist for funding which is why I hadn't received a letter yet. So I asked: wait, so I'm in? She told me not to get too excited since the waitlist was apparently rather long. Nonsense, I eventually got the funding

Most of the positions are in the pharm industry and not necessarily insurance. But as the poster above me said, it will be hard to get your "foot in the door" with just an MS degree.

Real Analysis is extremely important. I got rejected from a program only because I didn't take the course. I then spoke to a committee member who said he would be willing to change the denied status to deferred it I promised to take the class. So its very important. I don't think it matters the level of the course, as long as you have it in your transcript, your'e good.

I understand your problem. I was also faced with a similar problem for my masters and decided to go with the less prestigious yet cheaper school. I would suggest that if you do pick Stanford, try to do a credit overload and graduate early, that way you can at least save some of the living costs. I think you will do fine with either programs. I have seen a lot of job listings requesting only ivy league graduates, but if someone only wants a certain kind of employee, maybe you wouldn't want to work for such a company anyways. I think you are right, campus appearance or admin problems should not be a factor, the only factor is: is the name and the prestige worth the amount of debt? I would try to look for some opportunities in Stanford right now and also check the possibility of overloading credits and graduating early, if you find out that none of this is possible, then go to SUNY SB.

I have spoken to a Biostatistician in a very large pharm company and he said the following: 1. There are plenty of jobs in the field. 2. It is better to get a PhD in Statistics and not Biostatistics since it is considered more prestigious, for some reason.

I hope this isn't too much work for you and I don't know if this is relevant for your discipline, but I think the best TA experience I had as an undergrad was a TA who handed out a quiz every class and most people stayed and solved the quiz and discussed the answers. I just took the quiz and left because that way I could have a lot of questions to practice for the final. Perhaps you could do that.

Do they provide you with a W2 at the end of the year, or is it s schedule C? I'm not trying to pry into your personal business, I was just wondering whether it is the fact that you work freelance and not full time that makes it ok, or does it also have a difference in taxation in order to make it permissible to work.

yes, this is with roommates.

I'm looking at about 2/3 of my income for rent and car payment (oh, and I can't sell the car because I will need it for school).

I also will only be TAing and not performing research, and I have a fixed amount of hours per week that I am required to work. I tried to look up online what the school's restrictions are, but found nothing. I'm sure this doesn't mean anything, though. I went to work full time after my masters. I will essentially have my pay cut in half. The problem is the rent. It is extremely high. What kind of housing arrangement do you have and what percent of your income is it?

Eh, I really hate teaching, so tutoring would be an even worse nightmare for me. I'm just really frustrated because I'm not interested in a lavish lifestyle, but yet, on paper, I probably wont be able to make ends meet.

Does this include consulting and internships as well?

I think if the financial cost is not too burdensome, you should go ahead with your plans and start the program. Even if a program is not as rigorous, with stellar grades and taking extra classes and more challenging classes, you could certainly prove yourself to be a worthy PhD candidate down the line.

Hello All I really don't think I will manage with the TAship that I have been awarded. Its not like I have expensive tastes, I am pretty thrifty, but the rent at my school is really high, especially considering the location. I was wondering if, from your experience, you think it would be best to rack up some more debt on my student loan, or to look for another job? I was thinking of looking for some consulting gigs,or I can probably find a work-from-home job if I used some connections. Or would you think it would be best if I held off on working and focused all my energy into finding a lucrative summer internship that could help me cover my basic expenses? How have you managed with such a low income and such high expenses?

Hey there You can look in off campus housing. http://web.offcampuspartners.com/33 You can set up a visitor account and look at listings.

I think the best thing for you would be: 1. Look at the topic list for the GRE Math Subject test and make sure you take all of those courses. 2. Look at the requirements for the schools you plan on applying to. If you cover all of those bases, I don't see what can prevent you from being qualified enough to apply for a PhD after you finish your bachelors degree. As far as funding, I think all PhD programs are funded, at least the ones worth your time. As far as grades and GRE, obviously, the higher the better. It is highly recommended that you get an 800 on the math section of the general test and obviously, almost no school will accept you without a 3.0 GPA. I think the GPA criteria will vary according to the level of difficulty of the classes you have taken. As far as what schools are considered to be good: I would look at the rankings published online and obviously take other criteria into consideration like location, climate, surrounding area, etc.

There are 2 problems here: 1. An FE program from a good school is very costly and very unlikely to receive any funding. I wouldn't defer that much debt for so many years if you do not plan on embarking in a lucrative FE career anyways. 2. While it may be a rigorous program, an FE program does not cover even 1/4 of what is in the Math Subject GRE. You would have to make up at least 4 courses in order to be considered as having enough of a solid background to pursue a PhD in Math (if you haven't already taken them, obviously). I know that I personally, as someone without a solid background, was not going to bother with any undergrad classes and was not going to take time off from work just to take these classes that may not necessarily guarantee that I even get in to a good school. But thats just my opinion.

I usually enjoy existential talk, but I don't see the point here. I would like to point out that I am a female, do not play any video games, and do not have expensive tastes. I have had great schooling and parenting and have no tv or video game addictions. I don't buy into this capitalist notion that we have to pursue "something we love" and only then we can be happy functioning members of society, like proper working screws in a machine, and if we haven't found this "true calling" then we haven't tried hard enough, perhaps we should seek therapy, religion, or anti depressants. I also took the exams around 08. My experience was different from yours. I studied in an organized fashion. I did about 150 hours of studying divided into an equal amount of hours every day for about 3 months. But each person is different. Eh, I make decisions for the company right now as the company math person and I'm not the vp and I've only been working here for over a year. I have no real interest to work in finance, though I have worked in the field before as a number cruncher.

There is no career I like. I am truly happy doing nothing. Everyone who knows me will totally back me up on this. How ever, I am not lazy in the sense that I will live off the government, I do intend to work and be a functional member of society, I would just prefer to do nothing. My former co-worker went on to be a math teacher. I don't know exactly why she was miserable because I was only there for 2 months, but she was very unhappy. I also took FM and P and passed both. The underlying material is not extremely difficult, but the level of difficulty of the questions is pretty high. I ended up doing absolutely nothing like what I studied in my actuarial internship. Not only that, but I felt I had no decision making impact. Nothing like what I thought the profession was. and I agree with you 100%, in other fields a PhD is definitely not necessary if you want to do more than number crunching, but in this field I heard time and time again that it is.