Need Your Advice.My chance for MS Stat Program?

[IB0722]

Hi, Everyone.

I do need your feedback and advices on the matter of pursuing MS Statistics.

As I've been researching on this forum recently,

it's just getting clear that I am so not ready for Statistic Master Program,

and I would like to hear the thoughts from members of this forum.

About myself, I graduated from UC Berkeley, majored Economics about one and half year ago.

I got my GPA of 3.74 / 4.0 and took some of Math and Stat classes before my graduation.

Since I was pursuing Actuarial Science as my career, I was going after actuarial job opportunity,

taking exams at the same time (so far passed, P, FM, and MFE).

Although I am still between a job, I am also considering applying for stat Master Program.

1. Since I majored in Econ, I do not have many math classes taken as most of other candidates.

I've taken Calculus I, Calculus II, and Multivariable Calculus (Differential Equation).

For stat, I took Probability, Data Computation, and Time series.

It seems like Linear Algebra is an essential class for the program, so I am thinking about taking summer course near Community College.

Do you think it's good idea? Any other classes I need to take?

2. Also, I have to take GRE.

I wish to take one before August, so that I can stick to the old format of test,

and get my result back asap, but it only gives me 3 months of study time,

and I wonder how high I can get in a given time.

How long did you study for GRE General and

Do you recommend to take the New Format(After August) or Old Format(Before August)?

3. GRE Selective Exam.

Some program requires Math selective exam for their admission.

As I check online, the earliest one I can take is on October, 2011.

My questions are

Would programs with selective exam requirement consider me for the admission?

(it seems like only high prestigious ones require it)

How many hours did you put for this exam compared to General GRE?

and Can I get my result back and submit before this year's deadline if I take this late?

4. For the last, what level of program should I aim for?

May I ask for some of ranges of school ?

Do I have some chance for good programs if I take necessary classes and nail GRE exam?

I listed so many question, and I do appreciate any advice, input, and questions.

Thanks,

Edited April 13, 2011 by IB0722

[TheBigHunt]

Yea, you can definately get into one. Someone will take you with what is a pretty strong background. The question is which program.

[Paa_Ratt]

Hi, Everyone.

I do need your feedback and advices on the matter of pursuing MS Statistics.

As I've been researching on this forum recently,

it's just getting clear that I am so not ready for Statistic Master Program,

and I would like to hear the thoughts from members of this forum.

About myself, I graduated from UC Berkeley, majored Economics about one and half year ago.

I got my GPA of 3.74 / 4.0 and took some of Math and Stat classes before my graduation.

Since I was pursuing Actuarial Science as my career, I was going after actuarial job opportunity,

taking exams at the same time (so far passed, P, FM, and MFE).

Although I am still between a job, I am also considering applying for stat Master Program.

1. Since I majored in Econ, I do not have many math classes taken as most of other candidates.

I've taken Calculus I, Calculus II, and Multivariable Calculus (Differential Equation).

For stat, I took Probability, Data Computation, and Time series.

It seems like Linear Algebra is an essential class for the program, so I am thinking about taking summer course near Community College.

Do you think it's good idea? Any other classes I need to take?

2. Also, I have to take GRE.

I wish to take one before August, so that I can stick to the old format of test,

and get my result back asap, but it only gives me 3 months of study time,

and I wonder how high I can get in a given time.

How long did you study for GRE General and

Do you recommend to take the New Format(After August) or Old Format(Before August)?

3. GRE Selective Exam.

Some program requires Math selective exam for their admission.

As I check online, the earliest one I can take is on October, 2011.

My questions are

Would programs with selective exam requirement consider me for the admission?

(it seems like only high prestigious ones require it)

How many hours did you put for this exam compared to General GRE?

and Can I get my result back and submit before this year's deadline if I take this late?

4. For the last, what level of program should I aim for?

May I ask for some of ranges of school ?

Do I have some chance for good programs if I take necessary classes and nail GRE exam?

I listed so many question, and I do appreciate any advice, input, and questions.

Thanks,

Hi

I am a Bachelors of Engineering and Masters in Mathematics from India. I am writing to you because I thought the same way as you did but now that I have made it to some of the good programs in Statistics I can assure you that you are ready, maybe more than I was. Some pointers:-

1. Algebra and Real Analysis are important classes, plan to complete them before or while you are applying. I have also been told by current students that these classes can be taken up while in grad school too.

2. Also, plan to take up programming in whatever way you find suitable, school courses or a crash course. It surely helps to know programming and databases basics atleast.

3. Take the GRE before Aug, I am of the opinion that it should be done with before the pattern changes. I prepared for 3-4 months while doing a full time job and made 1400!!

4. I am not sure about subject GRE. I did not take it and most of the programs did not require it for a masters (check the websites). But yes, in case you want to be absolutely sure that you are not missing on anything that would work in your favor, go ahead.

Hope this helps!!

Edited April 15, 2011 by Paa_Ratt

[kash]

Hi, Everyone.

I do need your feedback and advices on the matter of pursuing MS Statistics.

As I've been researching on this forum recently,

it's just getting clear that I am so not ready for Statistic Master Program,

and I would like to hear the thoughts from members of this forum.

About myself, I graduated from UC Berkeley, majored Economics about one and half year ago.

I got my GPA of 3.74 / 4.0 and took some of Math and Stat classes before my graduation.

Since I was pursuing Actuarial Science as my career, I was going after actuarial job opportunity,

taking exams at the same time (so far passed, P, FM, and MFE).

Although I am still between a job, I am also considering applying for stat Master Program.

1. Since I majored in Econ, I do not have many math classes taken as most of other candidates.

I've taken Calculus I, Calculus II, and Multivariable Calculus (Differential Equation).

For stat, I took Probability, Data Computation, and Time series.

It seems like Linear Algebra is an essential class for the program, so I am thinking about taking summer course near Community College.

Do you think it's good idea? Any other classes I need to take?

2. Also, I have to take GRE.

I wish to take one before August, so that I can stick to the old format of test,

and get my result back asap, but it only gives me 3 months of study time,

and I wonder how high I can get in a given time.

How long did you study for GRE General and

Do you recommend to take the New Format(After August) or Old Format(Before August)?

3. GRE Selective Exam.

Some program requires Math selective exam for their admission.

As I check online, the earliest one I can take is on October, 2011.

My questions are

Would programs with selective exam requirement consider me for the admission?

(it seems like only high prestigious ones require it)

How many hours did you put for this exam compared to General GRE?

and Can I get my result back and submit before this year's deadline if I take this late?

4. For the last, what level of program should I aim for?

May I ask for some of ranges of school ?

Do I have some chance for good programs if I take necessary classes and nail GRE exam?

I listed so many question, and I do appreciate any advice, input, and questions.

Thanks,

I wrote a post a couple of days ago on the ideal profile for some one who wants to get into an MS statistics program, check that out. As to your questions you would absolutely need an linear algebra class as that is required. Other courses which are important if you want to make it to a good program would be Mathematical statistics, and Real analysis. If you can tak only two take math stat and linear algebra. What is your GPA in your math classes people dont really care too much about GPA overall. Was your probability course calculus based? The more courses you have in statistics the better, if you a lot of time on your hands you should probably take a course in stochastic processes, multivariate analysis.

As to your question about the GRE, in my experience GRE scores are very highly correlated with your SAT scores. Try taking a practice test after reviewing a GRE book for a couple of hours if you can get above a 750 then you shouldn't have a problem raising it to 800 in about 3-4 weeks. AS for my experience i studied for 3 weeks (time was running out and i had to apply fast) for the quantitative section to make sure i get an 800, i didn't study for the verbal section as i believe my vocabulary and comprehension skills were already good and statistics programs dont really care about your verbal score (i scored a 720 on the verbal and 800 on the Quant btw). Oh and stick with the old version of the test.

ON the GRE subject test, with you background it is impossible for you to get a good score so do not even bother taking this test. The test is for people who want to pursue a PhD in pure math most stat majors would have a hard time with it. An econ major with no advanced math classes would absolutely get killed on that test. So dont even bother self studying for this exam because you cant study an entire undergraduate mathematics curriculum( and some other topics) in a span on three months. NO programs require it for a masters, only Stanford requires it for a PHD. (Uchicago, Columbia and Washington recommend you take it for their PhD)

If you are aiming for top programs read my post in the thread ideal profile for a MS stat program. Who are you going to ask for recommendations, can you get any good ones since you have been out of school for a while? DO you any research experience at all? What is your reason for pursuing an MS stat (better job?(if so then you might not need research experience), Phd Prep?) If you can take the math and stats classes i mentioned before and have A's in all your math classes, then you should probably apply to a range of programs, the program at Berkeley looks like it takes only a few students a year, Stanford seems like a program which doesnt require a very high math background to gain admission and it looks like a program that caters to professionals (their average age of entry is 25) so you might want to look into that but it is really expensive since it will probably take about 15-18 months to complete. You should also apply to programs such as UMichigan, Carnegie Mellon, Wisconsin-Madison, Minnesota some of these programs actually give funding to their MS students and these programs look like they are for people who want to obtain a job afterwards. If you want to obtain a PhD afterwards then the best Masters program would probably be University of Chicago (you have to write a thesis and you have more individual attention from professors in the department) or an MS program outside of the states such as LSE, Oxford, and Toronto(requires an extensive background in statistics so might not be for you). It doesn't take much time to fill out an application so you should apply to a bunch of programs.

Why dont you email your stat professors at Berkeley with some questions, i am sure they can give some really good answers to your situation.

[m4thguYY]

My advice would agree with Kash. You seem like a person that is well-rounded in math basics, so your general GRE should be fine in quantitative and verbal i really dont know. You don't need 3-4 months to study I don't think, i got an 800/800 on math section and I barely looked at a practice test.

Also, I agree with Kash about the math subject test. I took it and got in the upper 600's and I have two degrees in math. without the best math undergrad in purely math, you really have no shot of getting a score that makes taking the test worth it.

3.74 is a great GPA from berkeley and you seem to have your grades in order, but theyre really going to be looking at your math grades, so thats the important part of your GPA, not overall.

hope this helped.

[qqyyzz]

Thanks for detailed post Kash. I'm actually in a pretty similar situation as the OP. I graduated three years ago from a small liberal arts school in econ. Unlike the OP however, my GPA was not as good and I only took two math classes that I did horrible in (C+ in calc I and withdraw from calc II). However, I've since retaken calc I online from UC berkeley with an A and enrolled in my state university (not the best university overall, but it's the biggest in the state and decently cheap with in-state tuition). And I've taken the rest of calc series, ODEs, numerical analysis, prob theory, linear algebra, an intro proof class with mostly As. This semester I'm taking real analysis, numerical analysis II, and math stats. I plan on taking abstract algebra, discrete math, advanced calculus, PDEs and advanced prob theory before I apply next fall.

I knew coming from a non-quantitative background and with mediocre grades this would be an uphill battle. But I'm glad to hear that the adcoms don't look at non-math classes too heavily.

[hedgie]

I know the Math GPA's are important for MS Stats and PhD programs but do CS course grades matter much? Obviously C's are bad but if you take a few and make B's but have a 3.7 in your math's does it matter?

Thanks for any input.

Best of luck to the OP.

[StatlyDude]

Since I was pursuing Actuarial Science as my career, I was going after actuarial job opportunity,

taking exams at the same time (so far passed, P, FM, and MFE).

Congratulations on passing 3 exams already. You pursued an actuarial career and even passed 3 exams, you have a great GPA ... could you share with us why you're pursuing grad school? You tried an actuarial position and didn't like it?