Advice for undergrad sophmore possibly pursuing a PhD in Stat?

[orbis]

So I've become interested in the field of statistics after an intro class and it's that time of the year to choose courses. My GPA is currently a (low) 3.63 but this can be improved over the next 2+ years of courses. I want my statistical studies to be focused on finance or related areas.

 

I am currently completeing Calc 3 and am planning to take intro courses lin algebra, ordinary differential equations, two algorithms courses (C++), intro to stochastic processes, an intro and an advanced econometrics course, intro to prob., monte carlo, and possibly an advanced calculus course. Are these courses sufficient? I cannot find a real analysis course unfortunately. I am not sure that I will have much research oppurtunities but that remains to be seen. How can I best improve my chances?

[Biostat_Assistant_Prof]

I think real analysis and advanced calculus are essentially the same thing... With that said, take Advanced Calc and Linear Algebra before all other math courses... 3.62 is not as low as you think, but by all means work on improving it, as you will definitely increase your chances at top programs.

[student12345]

I am a sophomore with a 3.64 GPA—You can still get into PhD programs, a 3.6 is not a bad GPA by any means. Stochastic processes might require an introduction to probability course... Are you sure you want to take them in that order? (Perhaps things are different at your school but I am curious to see how they teach stochastic processes without probability distributions!)

 

The programming courses are a really good idea, as is the Monte Carlo course. Can you link to the syllabus for your advanced calculus course? Having real analysis is very important and I'd like to be sure that Noco7 is right about the course being equivalent to analysis (if you are at Columbia, W4061-2 is the right sequence). 

[Shostakovich]

I am a sophomore with a 3.64 GPA—You can still get into PhD programs, a 3.6 is not a bad GPA by any means. Stochastic processes might require an introduction to probability course... Are you sure you want to take them in that order? (Perhaps things are different at your school but I am curious to see how they teach stochastic processes without probability distributions!)

 

The programming courses are a really good idea, as is the Monte Carlo course. Can you link to the syllabus for your advanced calculus course? Having real analysis is very important and I'd like to be sure that Noco7 is right about the course being equivalent to analysis (if you are at Columbia, W4061-2 is the right sequence). 

 

3.64 looks like a stellar GPA if you're applying as a sophomore

 

What I learned from applying this cycle as well as talking to some friends is that the context in which you earned your GPA could be more important than the GPA itself. This would depend on things like the prestige of your institution, time to degree, and difficulty of courses taken.

[cyberwulf]

The best thing you can do is to ace as many math courses as you can. You might also think about looking into what's covered on the Math Subject GRE, and take courses that will prepare you for it.

[33andathirdRPM]

I should think that a probability theory course would be a prerequisite for a stochastics processes course.