Statistics internships for the summer before grad school

[CauchyProcess]

Hello everybody,

 

I've applied to a variety of Ph.D programs in Statistics, and am now looking for something to do in the summer before grad school. Ideally, this would be some sort of internship or temporary work position involving analyzing and modeling data. I have not and will not be taking actuarial exams, so I'm ineligible for anything that requires them.

 

Does anyone know how to go about searching for such positions? I've found absolutely no internships for statistics graduates whatsoever that do not require actuarial exams. Do such jobs exist? What online keywords would I use to search for them?

 

Additionally, what have others who are already in PhD programs done in the summer before grad school? It seems that the general consensus on the internet is to "travel", "party", "go on vacation", or "do nothing", none of which are financially viable options for me. I need some sort of paid work if I want to have more than a few hundred dollars in my bank account by the time I start graduate school.

[wine in coffee cups]

You'll have a hard time finding anything paid that is described as an "internship" and appropriate for you because you are between degree programs. Usually paid internships are at larger organizations with formal hiring/career pipelines and are intended for upper-level college students who might come back full-time in the next year or two, or for mid/later stage PhD students hoping to enter industry (again in the next couple of years). I think the big tech companies like Google/Microsoft/etc. hire research interns in earlier stages of the PhD sometimes, but obviously those positions are very competitive.

 

I don't think the kinds of opportunities you're looking for are going to be found via search engines, it'll have to be more like making your own position. You definitely need to be networking. You might see if any alumni of your college at nearby companies/organizations would have need of short-term contracting help with data analysis in the summer months. Also, university departments and offices sometimes have use for these kinds of short-term things, ask around your current institution. As an undergrad, I had a great experience doing data analysis for a dean's office one summer when my college was preparing to undergo reaccreditation and needed a lot of assistance with reports.

 

Since $$$ is your immediate need, something completely unrelated to statistics would be fine too, like working at a summer camp. It's your last opportunity to spend your summer not in front of a computer all day, after all.

[CauchyProcess]

You'll have a hard time finding anything paid that is described as an "internship" and appropriate for you because you are between degree programs. Usually paid internships are at larger organizations with formal hiring/career pipelines and are intended for upper-level college students who might come back full-time in the next year or two, or for mid/later stage PhD students hoping to enter industry (again in the next couple of years). I think the big tech companies like Google/Microsoft/etc. hire research interns in earlier stages of the PhD sometimes, but obviously those positions are very competitive.

 

I don't think the kinds of opportunities you're looking for are going to be found via search engines, it'll have to be more like making your own position. You definitely need to be networking. You might see if any alumni of your college at nearby companies/organizations would have need of short-term contracting help with data analysis in the summer months. Also, university departments and offices sometimes have use for these kinds of short-term things, ask around your current institution. As an undergrad, I had a great experience doing data analysis for a dean's office one summer when my college was preparing to undergo reaccreditation and needed a lot of assistance with reports.

 

Since $$$ is your immediate need, something completely unrelated to statistics would be fine too, like working at a summer camp. It's your last opportunity to spend your summer not in front of a computer all day, after all.

 

I spoke to my current department, and they seemed to offer a similar take. 

 

When would you recommend I begin looking for such opportunities? It seems a bit early to look for them now since summer is still months away.

[wine in coffee cups]

I spoke to my current department, and they seemed to offer a similar take. 

 

When would you recommend I begin looking for such opportunities? It seems a bit early to look for them now since summer is still months away.

Start reaching out to people now. Maybe you'll get told to check back in a month or two, but it can't hurt to be making connections sooner rather than later and putting your name out there.

 

Also, you may have already done this, but make a LinkedIn profile, fill it out thoroughly, and make as much of it public as you are comfortable with. My profile is quite sparse but because of some listed technical skills and being part of my former employer's network, I get recruiters contacting me from time to time.

[lasso]

You can consider apply to hedge funds and prop trading companies. E.g. Jane Street, Hudson River, Getco, ... 

Apparently try not to mention your PhD plan. The good things is the work at systematic trading companies are very much about statistics. 

Good luck.

[CauchyProcess]

You can consider apply to hedge funds and prop trading companies. E.g. Jane Street, Hudson River, Getco, ... 

Apparently try not to mention your PhD plan. The good things is the work at systematic trading companies are very much about statistics. 

Good luck.

 

None that I am aware of in the south San Diego area. Would not be interested in living anywhere else, since relocation/rent/etc costs would wipe out any money I'd make and I doubt I would break even.

Edited February 7, 2014 by CauchyProcess

[benni]

None that I am aware of in the south San Diego area. Would not be interested in living anywhere else, since relocation/rent/etc costs would wipe out any money I'd make and I doubt I would break even.

Have you heard about Jane Street or the other companies mentioned? You'd be surprised how much you can make in one summer.

[StatPhD2014]

Have you heard about Jane Street or the other companies mentioned? You'd be surprised how much you can make in one summer.

 

Those are usually very hard internships to secure though

[CauchyProcess]

Given I have a grad school offer, I honestly might not even bother now.

 

I would have thought that a statistics-type skillset would be in demand right now, yet there seem to be very few opportunities in the San Diego area. Submitting my resume (which should in theory be quite strong given a 3.9 and far-above-average programming experience) to the ones that are open has so far achieved little beyond getting my email added to some SPAM database.

 

For everyone on this forum's sake, I hope that this reflective on the San Diego area, and not a sign of what's to come after we all finish our dissertations 5 years down the line.

Edited February 16, 2014 by CauchyProcess

[lidon]

My guess is that it's reflective of the fact that companies want to hire interns that will subsequently become full time employees, not those that are jumping to PhD programs after the summer ends.

 

As has been suggested above, if money is your primary concern, you could spend a very rewarding summer doing something non-statistics related: camp counselor, working at a national park, etc.

[Andy C.]

There are many opportunities fitting your description in the Bay Area. Alternative, you could try looking into Financial Analyst positions that involve financial modeling.

[clurp]

I would use 'data science', 'data scientist', and maaaybe 'analytics' as a keyword in your search if you have any experience with R/Python/SQL/etc. 

 

Maybe you've already done that ... 

Edited February 23, 2014 by clurp