PhD Statistics program with Biostat slant...but I don't want to do Biostats...

[ArnoldLayne]

This might be a strange topic, but I'm kind of at a loss here. I was accepted into Baylor University's PhD Statistics program. Great stuff. However, most of the professors' primary research is based in Biostatistics. That's all good and fun, but I don't have a ton of interest in being a Biostatistician.

 

If I could choose a specific route of my own I would pursue some sort of Statistics/Econometrics hybrid. I've developed a passion for Economics over the past few years, and would enjoy the applications of Statistics to the field of Economics. I've thought at times that maybe the best route here would just be to pursue the PhD in Economics.

 

The main issue is that Baylor wants to know by THIS MONDAY morning (May 20th) if I am coming or not. I suppose in the end I'm just worried that getting a PhD in Statistics from a Biostat heavy department would effectively dictate me into either Academia or working for a research hospital or pharmacology firm. I don't hate those ideas, I'd just much rather go the Economics route.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[cyberwulf]

Purely based on a quick scan of the list of faculty research interests on the Baylor stat website, I don't see a lot of people who claim to primarily focus on biostats. How did you come to this conclusion?

[ArnoldLayne]

I was told by one of the professors I met last week at Baylor that most professors there have Biostatistics as their primary application of research.