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Finance Major considering graduate study in Statistics


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Hello,

I am currently pursuing a finance major and mathematics minor at a small Midwest U.S. liberal arts University. I came into college thinking I wanted to be an actuary and structured my 4 year plan around that potential career path. I am currently working as a P/C actuary intern at an insurance company for the summer and am coming to find that insurance doesn't really interest me a whole lot. That does not necessarily mean I no longer am considering a career as an actuary, however I don't think u want to work in insurance. 

Another thing I have very recently been considering is pursuing a graduate degree in Statistics. Statistics is what peaks my curiosity about actuarial science. Really Statistics is my passion, not actuarial science. As a finance major, my background and interests lie much more in financial analysis and business data analytics I think than actuarial science. But I am not sure if I have a good enough Statistics background to pursue those fields.

To give you a good idea of my background, I just finished my second year as an undergraduate. I have taken Calculus 1,2 and 3, a mathematical statistics and probability course, and an Advanced statistical methods course. This past semester I also studied for and passed the actuary probability exam. In the next academic year I am planning on taking a mathematics of finance course (also potential studying for and taking the FM actuary exam), a linear algebra course, and a programing course where I will be learning python. This summer I am also trying to start teaching myself SQL while also becoming more familiar with Excel and Access. All of this will be on top of my Business courses and the fact that I am a student athlete. My GPA is 3.97.

You probably wondering if there is a question in all of this so here they go:
How useful is an MS in Statistics? How about a PhD? What are the differences in required qualifications? Do I meet either criteria? If not, what else do I need to do? What types of schools should I be looking at applying to given my credentials? What type of industry work can you get with either of these degrees? What types of companies can you work for? What is the difference between the work you can get after.one or both of these graduate programs compared to the bachelor's degree I would have? What types of internships should I be looking to try and get next summer to build my resume, experience, and knowledge?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

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