Quant Methods

[ezri24]

Hi everyone, this is my first to this board (apparently a few months late aren't I?)

Anyway, I'm starting a PhD in Political Science this fall but I figured this question could be posed to many areas...

What are you guys doing to prepare over the summer if you are starting a heavy quant program?

I'm a little nervous and was hoping I could find a book to read/work through before the fall so I don't feel like I'm drowning and so I could actually feel like I'm on top of things, you know?

I have about zero background in methods but this program is definitely a heavy quant program...so anyone have some suggestions or facing a similar situation come this fall?

[polisciphd]

Two options, first you can buy an intro to stats with calculus book and start reading or if you know what statistical package your school uses buy one that is geared towards that program, like stats for stata or R, second option is to not worry about it, enjoy your summer, and just be prepared to hit it hard when you start in the fall (i went with the latter and I was fine, also at a very heavy stats school)

[Stories]

I took a quick gander at my textbooks that were biostatistics and epidemiology. It all came back pretty quickly. Just needed a small reminder.

[Politicalgeek]

No joke: if you have absolutely zero quant background I would recommend the Cartoon Guide to Statistics. It was a recommended book in my intro stats class at HKS. I used it to study for my final and it was really helpful. Also, if you have no experience with regression analysis, you might want to read Freakonomics, which won't teach you any quant, but gives you a really good idea of how powerful statistical analysis can be. It actually got me really excited to study regression analysis.