kickpushcoast

For the person interested in DePaul, they just published a new book on student life there: http://www.amazon.com/DePaul-University-2012-Off-Record/dp/1427404089/

In short, a master's is a good qualification, but your chances of getting a job vary by field and school. Technically and legally, a Master's degree is a sufficient qualification for teaching at the community college and university (undergraduate) level. If you look at the faculty listings of your local community college (or even university) you'll see many of them "stopped" with the Master's. For accreditation purposes, a very common requirement is for the instructor to hold a Masters degree, with/or 12-18 graduate hours in the subject they teach. I say "with/or" because a Master's does not always include 18 hours in one subject. Some instructors go back for additional graduate work, so they may have a Master's degree in Poli Sci but have 18 hours in HIST as well, which qualifies them for either subject area. This gets tricky for people with, for example, MBAs since that degree does not often include 18 hours in one area, so that's another scenario for having to meet the 18 hour requirement with more coursework. Your undergraduate education is not a factor here, so right now you'd only be qualified to teach subjects that are closely related to the graduate coursework you've completed. Obviously in a tight market, you'd be "competing" with PhDs, but it is not a Phd-only market by any means. As for real-world experience, it is always nice to have, but often more essential in fields like business, health sciences, etc than the liberal arts. References: Here's a listing of a CC in NY and their faculty degree stats: only 16 Phds and 39 with a Masters http://www.sunysccc....out/factfig.htm Other sites/documents detailing faculty requirements: http://ww2.nscc.edu/..._Guidelines.pdf http://www.teachingc...ge-instructors/ http://search.legis....t-frame.htm$3.0

Again, this is a question for a specific department. In general, it's more critical for PhD applicants. However, you asked for something *competitive*. Taking (and doing well in) those sort of classes are what make you *competitive* for any degree level. You're still aiming for the top schools, and even though you're "just" going for a masters, you have a lot of competition...not just from those who do want to go on to get a PhD but from other students in other disciplines who want to "add on" a masters.....and of course professionals. My question, in the other thread, is similar--I've asked if I could take grad classes on my own--possibly earning a certificate or full masters--to increase my chances. In some areas like econ, none of this would matter--mathematical preparation is the priority over economic course preparation. I haven't yet gauged how this works for stats. I will have about 8 or 9 probability/stats classes when it's all said and done from undergrad as is. I'm in the same boat as you, I cannot take analysis either unless I do it online somewhere, but I was just relaying the information to you as I've seen it.

Thanks to all who have replied so far. Here's something I didn't think of before......a good compromise perhaps is a Certificate of Applied Statistics or whatever they're called at each school--basically a subset of the master's program. No apps for admission (thus no rejection ), and again, I get to prove myself at that level. I still may take a an analysis class as well, if I can find it somewhere (online I suppose) but depending on when I do it, this information may not be available to put on my applications. Other than that, FWIW, I will put my all into the GRE....

sorry, i didn't know......i am not very knowledgeable on the international student process. wow, where is this professor????? do you think this is only true for state/public schools? if so, that would give me a better idea of what to target.....

That would have been my assumption as well--especially because of visa costs. I was surprised to see such a vast imbalance. I wonder if there are others like me , who see the majority and get intimidated, assume this isn't for them, and therefore don't apply? I for one would be happy to be anyone's "cheap american" !!!!!

i'm sure someone more experienced will come along, but i didn't want your post to sit there alone. people were nice enough to give me advice, so i'm paying it forward. there is no one perfect profile, as many students who get into Top N schools also get rejected by others in those categories. if you look at admissions pages for the schools in your target range, they sometimes give you hints, for example: http://www.stat.umn.edu/Admissions/FAQ.html http://www.stat.berkeley.edu/417 from there, the bare minimum course-wise is calc 1-3 and linear algebra. from there, many schools require or "like to see" advanced calc or real analysis (as you can see in the thread from a day or so ago), as well as at least a couple of courses in statistics/probability. of course you should do as well as you can in those courses. as for gpa, each school has a minimum (3.0, 3.2, 3.5, etc), and i guess "ideal" is "as high as you can get it".....same with the general gre. if you take all of the classes that would give you a background for the gre math subject test, you could take that too...again some schools require it, some schools don't but would "like to see" it, and so on. you should have some computer programming background. of course, as others have mentioned in other threads, there are people that don't have half of this stuff who are happily studying away at their program of choice. i hope to be one someday. and as you're going for your masters, the requirements at some schools are slightly less stringent, but to be as competitive as you say you want to be, shoot for the stars! this is info i've gleaned from looking at tons of profiles/acceptance threads, and grad dept websites. your best bet is to search this and other forums for your target schools and see what sorts of people were accepted. results can vary from person to person and year to year, but at least you'll have an idea. from there, do the best you can with what you have.

Thanks for your response as well. This is good to know. I never would have guessed by surveying the school websites....Most sites have a photo gallery or directory of grad students. Only one school (Florida State) seemed to have a balanced (if not domestic-heavy) group of students. Everywhere else was the opposite. That's what led me to believe that international students were simply much stronger, so no domestic students even got a chance.

great suggestions. I'd have to enroll elsewhere to take more classes....the only class that most admission sites ask for that I won't have by graduation is Real Analysis. That's why I figured I may as well start doing the master's program online--I can take classes in my field and then have something "more" to boost my profile in another year.

wow i just poked around your profile---i am inspired by your success!

Thanks for replying! I edited some stuff out because I didn't realize posts on here were permanent (glad I found out before the hour was up!).... I don't know how to say this , but: Basically, I have spent days and days and weeks and weeks going through "graduate students" profiles at schools all over the rankings, and many unranked. I am a domestic student, and a minority at that, and most departments have NO domestic students of any kind. So my view is that the spots for domestic students would be the most competitive....I would LOVE to be wrong but that's just from my research (n=probably 300+ students) On top of that, from the profiles i've seen, I don't really have the super 4.0 GPA, summer research experience, etc that others have. And while my stats course coverage is pretty good, I only have the "minimum" math requirements.

OK, I've read tons of posts, but I've never posted one of those "profile" things and I'm not sure where to ask this... I have searched, but I haven't found a situation like mine , so here goes: I am a "domestic minority" undergraduate student majoring in statistics Despite my status (non-international, I mean), I'd like to apply to a PhD program in Statistics. I will have the basic math prereqs, but no real analysis. Programming-wise, I am fine. No research. I would *love* to do something on my own using data I can access, but everything I've come up with seems so elementary compared to what goes on in grad school anyway. (How do other students do this? ) Grades-wise, I am "OK"....nothing spectacular. No GRE yet but I plan to take it this fall. I do not have the background for the Math Subj GRE. So, from what everyone seems to post here, I don't have a good chance of being admitted directly to a PhD program. In hopes of increasing my "chances", I was thinking of doing a Masters program online, which is the only way I'd be able to continue to work (and thereby afford the classes). To answer some questions posed in recent threads: I am not interested in finance, actuarial science, or anything like that. I am interested in teaching, stat consulting, and applied research. And my goodness, I feel so "exposed' in writing this. I'm not the type to post stuff like this on the internet, but I'd love some advice on my path or alternate paths...and maybe there are other lurkers out there who don't "fit in" here but have the same questions........