Statistics Major and Requirements

College Majors
1

I am currently an undergraduate sophomore in college and I’ve recently switched from pre-med to statistics. I realized that being a physician is not the job for me. I want to be one of those statisticians that designs surveys, questionnaires, experiments, polls as well as designing studies to test whether drugs or other methods successfully cure diseases. Are these statisticians just simply biostatisticians or is these another name for them?

Other questions I have are:

A) I have recently taken Biology 1 and 2 each with a lab. Do I need to take more science courses? If so, which classes would you recommend? Would it also be okay to just minor in Biology or even maybe Chemistry for the sciences?

B) I have already taken Calc 1 and I know that I need to take Calc 2 and 3 as well. Are there any other math requirements I would need to fullfill in order to be a Statistics major?

C) I would like to use my statistics in a non-academic clinical research environment. Right now, I’m focusing on getting my Bachelor’s degree, and in graduate school I plan on getting a Master’s degree. Do you think this is a good idea? If not, what is your advise?

2

Those are generally biostatisticians.

  1. You don’t have to take more biology or chemistry classes. It may be useful for you given your interest is in biostatistics, but it’s not necessary. More useful actually would be some computer science courses: learn a programming language and take a class in machine learning and database management if you can.

  2. Linear algebra will be required. Differential equations might be helpful but probably won’t be required.

  3. Yes, that sounds like a good idea. There are several types of master’s degrees you could get - a regular MA in statistics; an MA in statistics at a program that has a concentration in biostatistics, or an MS or MPH specifically in biostatistics (usually at a school of public health). It probably doesn’t matter too much what you get, but the degree in the school of public health will expose you more to how medical and clinical research goes, and you’d also be able to take classes in epidemiology as well which can be really useful in that field.