<p>Hey guys I am a junior year math undergrad majoring in mathematics who hasn't thought enough about graduate school! I want to study statistics in graduate school but would like to know more about the difference in marketability between a Masters and PhD in this field. Would the PhD only be worth it if I want to work in academia? For example, would it be necessary over a masters if I want to work in industry? I don't yet know if I want to work in industry or academia but I think I'll receive some great insight from starting research and being a TA soon. The PhD would be mostly funded and the Masters would not be funded right? I only have a 3.1 GPA but I am at a top public university and am trying to get out some research publications so I think I can still get into a (bad) graduate school. How does going to a bad graduate school limit my future? Does it mean I'll likely find better success doing industry than academia? Thanks!</p>
<p>Depends on the kind of industry. Generally speaking, a master’s level degree will be fine for working as a statistician in most industries.</p>
<p>But if you want to work in some research-heavy industries (like pharmaceuticals, technology development, think tanks, etc.) you may find a PhD is desirable/preferable - even if you don’t technically need one by the job ad, you may be competing primarily with PhD-trained statisticians and/or the company may prefer a PhD-trained statistician. Also, if you decide you want to work in academia, a PhD will become necessary.</p>
<p>My suggestion to you is do your research assistant stuff and see how you like it. If you love research for research’s sake and you decide you want academia, then great, your choice is made - you need a PhD, so go get one.</p>
<p>If you’re still unsure which one you want to do and you need more time, you can either try to get a job right out of college (not a bad idea, honestly, with a BA in mathematics) or you can try to get into an MA program in statistics. Most MA/MS programs in statistics are 30-credit programs that take 1-1.5 years full-time. You can attend a flagship public university, get the degree and get some research experience and maybe a paper while you are getting the MA. While you’re in the MA, you can decide whether you want to apply to PhD programs.</p>
<p>If you <em>still</em> can’t decide, well, go work as a statistician. If in a few years you’re content with your career prospects and feel like you don’t need the PhD to get where you want…there’s your answer. If you change your mind, PhD programs aren’t going anywhere.</p>
<p>For the funding question: sometimes it can be worth it to pay for a degree you need. Sometimes, a paid-for master’s is preferable to a “free” PhD. This is because PhDs are NOT free - they cost your time. If you went to do a master’s that took you 1.5 years, even if the program was $50K a year you would come out with $75K in debt. Ouch, right? But if you go do a PhD and it takes you 5.5 years, you come out with no debt. Better, right?</p>
<p>Except that if you got the master’s degree instead, you spent 4 years working instead of in school making pretty much nothing. Even if you just make the median salary of $73,000, that’s $292,000 over two years. And yeah yeah - maybe you make $30,000 a year in the program as your stipend and you have to subtract the loans ($150K + $75K = $225K). You still come out $67,000 ahead if you get the master’s.</p>
<p>And that’s assuming that you go to an expensive private school at $50,000 a year. If you got a statistics degree from, for example, CUNY Hunter even as an OOS resident it would probably cost you about $35,000 ($10,000 tuition + $25,000 living expenses for one year). Or you could go to your local public university’s MA program to save money.</p>
<p>As to your second question, going to an actual BAD graduate school can lead to you not getting hired or not getting accepted to a PhD program. Academia is a prestige-focused enterprise, and a low-ranked or unranked PhD program means you won’t get a competitive tenure-track job. But there’s a difference between “bad” and simply “not prestigious” or mid-ranked. A good mid-ranked program coupled with some achievements (better postdoc, good publications, grant funding) can get you a decent job in industry and maybe an academic position.</p>
<p>Thank you for your response! It was very helpful! I am going to try to meet with the head of the graduate statistics department at my school to also gain more insight.</p>