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Stats course at an undergraduate level

MFE wannabe

Joined
2/6/14
Messages
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Hello.

I am a sophomore at one of the U.S. colleges double-majoring in econ and math.

As I started to plan out the courses that I am taking before I graduate, I realized that I'm not gonna end up with much stats background.

Here are the stats courses that I will be taking for the next two years:

Intro stats (took it)
Basic Probability (calculus based)
Stats (calculus based)
Econometrics

I guess I will be fulfilling the 'minimum' stats requirement for MFE, but I just feel like I should take more stats courses to give myself an edge.

If I do plan on taking more stats courses, I have to minor in math, and I really don't want that.

Are Upper-level stats courses such as multivariate stats and time series analysis really important in the admissions?
 
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Your stats background is fine - since you're majoring in math you should have a reasonable quantitative background going in.
 
Don't run away from math or stats. It's only gonna get harder, and those who took more classes in undergrad will have a significant advantage. Also, the admissions process looks at how rigorous your courseload was. Your math courseload should be more rigorous than the minimum imposed by your school, and by what top tier schools say on their website. That is a much larger factor than gpa. I know lots of people with high undergrad gpas, but unimpressive transcripts that didn't even get an interview.

Also, you will want to take some heavy duty comp sci courses. Quants these days get into schools for their math, but get jobs for their programming. 10-20 years ago, no one knew the math, so they hired quants to just do math all day and pass their ideas on to a programmer for implementation. Nowadays, everyone knows Black-Scholes--even those non-quantitative MBAs are learning it. Also, there is consolidation in the market because of regulations. The result: quants need more than just math these days (unless you're a god-given genius). That means implementation: aka programming, data analysis, big data algorithms, trading, and other kinds of stuff. That will make you more employable. Every single employer that has contacted me in the past year has been looking for programming quants. It's less of an edge these days as a norm.

Also, look into taking graduate level courses in math, and finance, and statistics. These will help immensely on your transcript, and can help you snatch up a really good recommendation. It will also really help you in your learning. The trick for you is to not focus on minimum requirements, or "getting an edge," but to learn for the sake of learning something useful. If you can develop that sort of mentality, it will pay off. Take more classes because you want to: not because you feel like you have to.

Also, I don't understand something: how can you be a math major, but then be forced to drop to a minor by taking more stats classes? That doesn't make sense.
 
Thank you for the input!

I'm not running away from math.

I have about 23 courses (including Liberal arts graduation requirement courses) to take in two years in order to double-major in math and econ with concentration in stats.

So If I'm taking additional stats courses, I have to be forced to most likely minor in math since I can't manage more than 23 courses to take in 2 years since I will be doing internship/research during two summers remaining and have to take courses during the semesters.

Nowhere in my post I said I'm running away from math or stats. I love to take more stats and math classes but just I don't have enough time to take more than I planned on taking.

My question was whether I should take more classes in stats or focus on math for the next two years with minimum stats background to get into programs.

I took classes in python, C, matlab and took some objected-oriented course during first two years of college.
 
I have about 23 courses (including Liberal arts graduation requirement courses) to take in two years in order to double-major in math and econ with concentration in stats.


23?? Any math topics in there?
 
Yeah... 23 courses that include math, stats, econ that would allow me to double major in math and econ with concentration in stats by the time I graduate. I can fit in 1 or 2 stats courses in there, but no more than that..

I can't take any more than 6 courses per semester... Course load would be too heavy for me.
 
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