<p>so i am an asian american studies major at ucla. i was wondering if it is worth it to stay an extra year to complete a statistics minor. what do you think?</p>
<p>edit: title should've been stats minor. sorry</p>
<p>Unless you’re on a huge scholarship, I don’t think it’s worth the loans (or the money for that matter if you can afford it) to get a stats minor. If it were for a stats major, then maybe the case could be made for you to stay the extra year at UCLA. Look to see if local community colleges offer a decent amount of stats classes.</p>
<p>Are you aiming for a career that makes heavy use of statistics? If not, don’t stay an extra year. If yes:</p>
<p>Have you taken enough math classes to be prepared for a Master’s program in statistics after four years? If so, use that fifth year to get a Master’s degree in statistics instead of an undergraduate minor. If not:</p>
<p>Yes, it might be worth to stay for a fifth year if you think that’s your best option after a cost-benefit analysis.</p>
<p>Borium, he probably isn’t prepared for a Masters in Statistics (especially at UCLA). The prerequisites for most grad Statistics programs are usually the equivalent of a math minor. Calc I-III, linear algebra, etc.</p>
<p>I’ve seen various schools allow people to obtain a stats minor without having to take the calc/theory heavy stats classes. </p>
<p>I thought it would be worth if for him to stay the extra year to complete a Stats MAJOR, but he probably doesn’t have the math prereq’s complete (calc sequence). The Calc sequence would take him 3 semesters if he hasn’t taken Calc I.</p>
<p>FWIW, I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay an extra year just to complete a minor.</p>
<p>As useful as some stats courses are, I also don’t think a minor is worth an extra year. Knowing why is the OP interested in the minor in the first place could help formulate a more appropriate course of action though.</p>
<p>As a quick aside: if you are not going into a quantitative career, than a single statistics class will probably teach you all that you ever need to know. Consider taking a statistics class specifically targeted at social science or business majors rather than the general math stats class. Those usually pay more attention to methodology and applications than the mathematical underpinnings of statistics.</p>
<p>well i was thinking stats would be practical. i would like to do the major but i wouldnt complete it within the 216 unit max ucla has. i was hoping it would help land a job in the corporate world. i dont know what to do with my major if i dont go to grad school</p>
<p>Statistics are practical, but minors don’t make that big a difference for job applications, I don’t think it would be worth spending an extra year for that. Along the lines of what b@r!um suggested, perhaps it would be more efficient to maximize the amount of statistics courses you can take without having to do an extra year, assuming it’s not too late for you to do that.</p>
<p>Since you’re at UCLA, you should use your opportunity to make friends with rich and powerful people. It doesn’t matter how good you are if you have the right friends.</p>