Masters in statistics. Degree of difficulty - starting over at age 30.

I don't see how people can make decisions like this based on job availability. It seems like you don't have a clue what the field is like (neither do I), how can you say you're getting a masters already? I would take baby steps before committing at all to this.

I'm not enrolled in a Masters program yet, I haven't paid any money. Starting this summer I'm taking a few classes - intro statistics, then calculus, etc. in order to have the appropriate classes and grades on my transcript when I do apply. To me that feels like the baby steps. No?

You'll have a lot of math to make up... that will be your biggest challenge. Linear algebra is absolutely necessary and was actually quite interesting (for me anyway). I don't think your age has anything to do with your likelihood of success, in fact it's probably a benefit that you're at a more mature age. My girlfriend was an anthro major who got an engineering degree in her 30s. She said there was no way she could have handled the engineering curriculum right out of high school, and she's glad she waited. I say go for it. I'm not a statistician, but I use it a lot in my work. It's a valuable skill, especially coupled with your background in the sciences.

I returned to school at 28 to start my PhD in Engineering. I hadn't used significant math in 7 years, but I brushed up on my own, and by my second semester received the highest scores on the PhD qualifying exam, which had a significant math component. Because my research involved statistical pattern recognition it was very heavy in math (measure theory in particular), I wound up taking the complete graduate level analysis sequence in the math department.

Despite being a little rusty to start, I had a significant advantage over my peers who had gone straight through: I knew why I was there. It wasn't to screw around and find myself. I even finished before some guys who went straight through.

I would probably advise against going back to school. Yours is a common enough situation. Go to school, get a job, dislike job, go back to school, lather, rinse, repeat.

It does sound like you know very little about your new target field, beyond that it is not like your current job. Grass is always greener.

You mentioned biostats. Given your bio background, would you really even need another degree to get a job in that? I'd think you could probably land something relying mostly on your bio background with maybe a stat class or two thrown in.

Resist the urge for another degree. They're expensive, time consuming, and at the end of the day, a Masters probably won't improve your prospects much, if at all. I got my MSME almost three years ago and while it was fun, it was also kind of a waste of time. Just my $0.02.

Lame post. You sound like a dud.

Good perspective though. I need to hear both sides of this.

A little more info about me - though I was biology major, I now work in commercial real estate. So I can't envision a path for myself into a different field other than by getting some background education in that field.

As for me not knowing what I'm getting into - that may be correct. This is what I think a statistician does, please tell me whether this is right or not:

Research - scientists need someone to tell them when the results of a study are statistically significant; how do we attribute a result to the one specific variable we're testing as opposed to normal fluctuation; they will also provide insight at the outset of the study into which data should be collected, which populations to focus on, which other factors to exclude, etc.

Politics - polling seems to be a mix of art and science; how do you predict nationwide trends off of sample sizes of 8000 people?; how do you factor in things like polling was done by phone, polling was only done in one state, polling was done during normal business hours of 9 am to 5 pm, and created models to then project this limited information to the entire country which is extremely heterogenous

Insurance - where is the balance point between what you charge and the risk you take on; this may be more what an actuary does, but that's still heavily based on statistics

Business, government, economics, sports, etc. Seems like there's a place in any field for someone who is qualified to analyze data, make predictions, factor out background noise or anomalous data.

And it seems like you also have to be able to communicate your point to laymen. Can't just show up with hundreds of charts and graphs.

Any and all of this seems appealing to me.

I agree that Freefall is an idiot.

My story: degrees in math and physics. Worked as an engineer, programmer, and school teacher. Hated my job (and life for that matter) and went back for grad school in stats at age 34. Finished PhD at age 39 and got the job that I currently hold. I'm an industrial statistician working for a big company in foods R&D. It is a nice job, pays well, and has good benefits. One of the best decisions that I made was going back to school.

I wouldn't go overboard on classes to get up to speed in math. My program had the first year students take an advanced calc class in the first semester. Linear algebra was over the summer after the first year. Most of the stat classes don't get math beyond those two classes.

There are lots and lots of jobs for statisticians, and with a biology degree the big pharma companies would really be interested.

It does sound like you need to go back to school. You might only need an undergraduate degree to match with your biology degree to get where you want to go. Or at least to find a job that would help pay for your Masters.

Stay away from the new fad online places. I saw a Frontline on them last night and you end up paying 2 to 4 times as much as you would if you went to your local state school.

Going back to school now is not a bad idea. It buys you time for the economy to recover so that when you do look for work, a job will be available. Good luck and best wishes.

I am in a similar position as you, Feeling Old Now. I want to get a masters in Stats. I'm a bit younger with a B.A. in History. I don't have much of a math background, but I took Diff Calc and Intro Stats recently. The hardest part for me is finding a way I can take all the prerequisite calculus/linear algebra at night. They are usually available only during the day and 3-4 times week. I think you should go for it if its your passion. There are tons of jobs that would open up to you with a Stats Masters. Anyway, I'm kind of stalled right now trying to find the time to take all the prereqs, but good luck to you. Feel free to contact me if you want someone to commiserate with.

feeling old now wrote:

Good perspective though. I need to hear both sides of this.

A little more info about me - though I was biology major, I now work in commercial real estate. So I can't envision a path for myself into a different field other than by getting some background education in that field.

I finished my M.S. at age 38, and at the end couldn't want to be done. There was so much theoretical bull sh|t that it was a total waste of my time and money, plus a lot of ass kissing. If you didn't buy into the crap then it would come back. For example on one of my first exams I scored the highest including 30 points above someone else who got an A. The jackass professor gave me a B, and said there were other things to consider besides how I did on the test - meaning me asking pertinent and probably embarrassing questions in class. Anyway I managed to do well and got the degree, in the meanwhile reassessing my objectives.

Due to all the politics and hypocrisy, yes the same that exist in the professions and all of society, I found that what I though I had wanted to do, was not, and that I really wanted to do something else, which was to find out about owning real property for myself. I went into real estate and have done that for the last several decades, now retired. There were many things that I liked about real estate. I set my own hours, I made my own decisions, my work was completely up to me, I got paid based on my own efforts, and there were things that I did not like about it too, mainly things that were out of my control, like other agents, and waiting for lenders to approve people's loans. But that wasn't too bad as I did both sides of the transactions for more than half of the houses, and invariably the loans were approved.

My advices, based on my experience, is to keep improving what you are doing, most of all to do it YOUR WAY. Maybe you're not happy because you're not doing your business your way, so change it. When I started, people told me to dress up when knocking on doors, which I did but hated it because I got soaking wet in the heat. Eventually I went around dressed neatly in shorts and comfortable shoes. The convention was to sit, do floor time and put ads in the paper. I learned to contact people directly and to do all my advertising myself. Anyway that's just a sample.

Remember the saying - there are three kinds of falsehoods, lies, damned lies, and statistics - and don't waste your time.

Does anyone know much about data mining programs/certificates or have experience in the field? I have many years of programming experience and have been looking to add some new skills. Probably would have to take some refresher classes in basic stats and calc, and maybe linear algebra. Thanks.

Check out the actuary sciences. Actuaries command pretty good salaries, are almost always in demand, generally have high degrees of career satisfaction and are a typical route for those inclined towards statistics.

You are older than you used to be, but you are younger than most people with technical and professional jobs. We continually learn things on the job, long after 30, and in many fields, have to get additional classwork to keep up with developments, advances, and changes in our fields.

Get all of the rigor you can and take as many preparatory math classes as you need in order to be able to take the best courses in your discipline. Even within the statistical field, there are differing levels of expertise along quantitative lines. It makes sense to have the best training you can obtain, as I heard both statistical PhDs I know, tell young people such as yourself asking for advice.

You should be able to find some good free resources through UC Berkeley and UC Berkeley extension. I'd also check the SAS website. Data mining is not that complicated.

Anyway, to the OP, by all means go back to school. A biostats graduate degree would open up many meaningful possibilities for you and the biology/physiology background will make you all the more useful.

I took engineering for my first undergrad. I was totally lost in the workload--I passed, but I had no idea what I was doing, particularly in calculus. I couldn't tell you exactly why my answers were either right or wrong.

I switched fields, did another undergrad, and went to law school, took my bar exams, etc..

I then wanted to have my EIT certification, which required passing the FE exam. I was dreading the math, especially after basically 10-15 years of not doing any.

IT WAS A BREEZE! I aced it.

All of a sudden, with all the noise of school removed, I understood for the first time! It was like in the Matrix when Neo sees everything in code. It was so incredibly transparent and easy! PDE's, Lorentz transforms, Bessel functions, z-transforms, Hamiltonian operators, EASY!

By "noise of school", I of course mean girls, sports, partying, and pranks. All of which I was able to control much better later in life.

Re-learning that stuff, or really learning it for the first time, was one of the best feelings I've ever had. Do it.

If you liked biology and have an aptitude for math/stats, consider the burgeoning field of genomics/bioinformatics for graduate school. Lots of opportunities. Almost went this route myself after studying genetics as an undergrad.

Another possibility is to become an actuary rather than starting grad school. You'll be studying math, stats, and risk management to complete the exams anyway, and you only need to get one or two under your belt to get the career started. With all of the overzealous regulatory reform coming down the pipe on top of the healthcare reform, risk management and statistical, demographical, risk analysis positions will be in demand. It's a technical career, but the pay is solid, especially after a decade. Lots of career switchers in this field, generally former math or stats teachers who got burned out by 40 and made the switch. 30 is young man...

http://www.beanactuary.org/