<p>I'm a junior atm, and I was going down the pure math/algebra route. Yesterday I realized all these classes are a little much for me and that even though I like math, I'm probably not going to be able to survive grad school in pure math. I might want to switch to statistics, but I don't really know what statisticians do, besides machine learning and probability theory. Here are some semi-relevant classes I've taken, to give you an idea of where I am at.</p>
<p>Math 185, 202a, Math 250a
CS 188
Stat 134</p>
<p>So what classes are the best to take in order to get a good idea of what it's like to be a statistician, and which classes are important for getting into grad school for stats (assuming that I decide I'd actually like to do it)? I'm nearly done with required classes, so I have about ~4 empty class slots at my disposal.</p>
<p>I’m not a stats major, but some of my friends are stats grad students at Harvard/Yale/etc and they mention “measure theory” a lot, which falls under probability theory (Stat C205A).
Also, “stochastic processes” (Stat C206A) should be pretty important.</p>
<p>You’ve already taken analysis (graduate-level at that) so it seems like the math portion of statistics will be a breeze for you, assuming you did well.</p>
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<p>Generally speaking, graduate school admissions has no magic formula. At least to get into a PhD program, they just check to see your potential for independent research, which boils down to:
- GPA + GRE scores (aka are you a ■■■■■■ or not)
- Instructor recs (are you legit or not, did you struggle to get an A or did you breeze by…did you bring your own ideas to the research project or did you just get by, etc)
- Research/w.e experience…obviously, since they’re checking your potential, the more experience you have the better. A published paper is ideal but not necessary. Many of the people I know who basically sweeped graduate school admissions had a healthy number…like 6-10… publications before they graduated. Even for math, most had at least two (erdos number less than or equal to five with some being as low as an impressive three) publications. However, there are people who have never published anything but sweep admissions anyway.</p>
<p>Most, if not all, have had some sort of research experience for probably at least one full year.</p>
<p>Back to your point…just get the degree and that should suffice.</p>
<p>no… 
you were my online support! please stay in the math dept :((((((( </3</p>
<p>If you took 202a then you should definitely take Stat 205a if you’re planning to go to grad school. Also, there are very few undergrads with 6-10 publications in math/stats prior to entering grad school. I would concentrate on getting relevant research experience with professors that will eventually write you letters of recs.</p>
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<p>Correct. This is consistent with the low number of undergrads being accepted to top schools. And I believe you misread my point…</p>
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<p>I explicitly state a different infimum for the set of students in math who SWEEP graduate school admissions. With so many competitive applicants these days, it would be in your best interest to publish a couple of papers IF you want to go to a top 10 graduate school.</p>
<p>Point is, if you want a good shot at schools like Harvard, Berkeley, MIT, etc publish as many papers as you can in the more prestigious journals, or so I’ve been told.</p>
<p>As an undergrad or even a first year grad student you don’t know enough math to be able to publish in a prestigious journal. Most of my stat/math phd friends at berkeley came in without anything more than a senior thesis along with research. I’m sure there are superstars out there that have done it but even looking through the C.Vs of people like terrence tao or noam elkies, they are not even close to having 6 publications prior to starting their phds so i wouldn’t worry too much about it. It certainly helps to have multiple publications but its not the end of the world either even for many top programs.</p>
<p>@crowslayer91: I’m flattered, lol. What did you end up taking this semester?</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully I don’t get killed in c205/206.</p>
<p>I meant more intrinsically, like the nature of the study of statistics. Reading the wikipedia page/job descriptions doesn’t really give that good of a picture, I feel.</p>