<p>Ok first i will begin to illustrate my situation. </p>
<p>I have graduated with a degree from the University of Southern Cal in International Relations and have decided to pursue a doctorate in Statistics. I am in a predicament where as i do not have the quantitative background to be competitive for admissions at the moment but am left with a few options. </p>
<p>Option 1: Second Bachelors, (USC allows students to receive a second bachelors, even after the first has been received) </p>
<p>-- If i choose this route i would pick up the bachelors of arts in Mathematics w/ a Minor in Statistics. The issue is it would run me upwards of 50 thousand dollars and i'd either have to fund this personally or take out a private loan. I do not have 50 thousand at the moment and am skeptical about private loans. </p>
<p>Option 2: Community College courses in Mathematics</p>
<p>-- This is economically safer but am unsure if it would make me as competitive as option 1. I know of one Community College allowing students to complete up to ODE, but none of the elective courses such as Stochastic Processing and such are available at junior colleges. </p>
<p>My question to the community is which of these two would grant me the competitiveness of good PhD programs in statistics? What do you propose or advise i do in my goals of obtaining the degree?</p>
<p>You don’t need to do a second bachelor’s - especially not at USC - but you should take your math courses at a four-year college. You need to take the calculus sequence (cal I-III), linear algebra, ODE, perhaps real analysis - not necessary, but helpful, and some undergraduate statistics classes that are almost never offered at community colleges (I would say at least 3-4). There are also some applied math classes you may want to take like optimization depending on your research interests.</p>
<p>Consider earning an MA in statistics first. In fact, if you’ve never done any coursework or research in statistics, you are probably not competitive for a PhD and will need to do an MA in stats first. No need to go somewhere fancy and expensive; you can take the classes and/or get the master’s at a Cal State (or a UC if you can afford it - that would be great, but unnecessary). You can get into an MA in stats with as little as the three calc classes and linear algebra, which should take you three semesters to get.</p>
<p>No, because I don’t think a second bachelor’s will remedy that problem any more than classes will. If you get good grades in your new classes, it won’t matter whether you earned a new degree or not.</p>
<p>However, if you do choose to do a second bachelor’s (which I would only do if the classes you need to take would earn you a second bachelor’s anyway, and it weren’t significantly more expensive), do it at an inexpensive public university. CSULA has a BS option in applied mathematics which would suit your needs, for example.</p>
<p>But also, a lot of schools (especially the oversubscribed CA state schools) don’t allow second bachelor’s degree candidates, but they will allow non-degree students to take a certain amount of credits, usually up to 24 or 30. The 8-10 classes you can take non-degree should be enough to prepare for this PhD in statistics, and then you won’t have to take general eds at a place like USC.</p>
<p>But thinking about it, you should really consider going the MA route first. The reason is because you’ll also need research experience, and it will be difficult to get that as a non-degree student.</p>
<p>what would be the better route, phd in mathematics or phd in statistics…i’d love to be a statisticians but becoming a mathematician is also intriguing…</p>
<p>any further input would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>sorry for being naggy but would the same apply to a PhD in Mathematics, or should i just get the B.A in mathematics and get some good research done there and jump right into the PhD program?</p>