A Future in Statistics...Possibly?

[aka_anon]

I completed a BA in Psychology at a small liberal arts school in the Midwest in 2005. I graduated summa cum laude with a GPA of 3.96. Good right?.... well, not really.

I only did 1 internship an it was a stretch to connect it to my field of study. I was a research assistant for only 1 semester. I didn't take the most challenging classes possible and I have forgotten almost everything I learned for my minor (Spanish). I haven't kept in touch with my professors at all.

I have been working for the past 7 years in a job I do not particularly like and that doesn't even require a degree. Why am I still there? Because I am an idiot. Okay, not really, but I feel like one. I dealt with some (thankfully mostly resolved) health problems and I was paralyzed by a complete lack of direction.

I was finally triggered to do something by my youngest sibling graduating from college and getting an awesome job making 3 times more than I currently do.

So, I am taking an introductory statistics class at a local junior college, along with an accelerated pre-calculus class. I am not set on a career path, but I picking statistics at least for now because I enjoyed it when I took it previously, and I hope that I will be good at it.

If you have made it this far, thank you. Here are my questions:
1. If I would like to get a masters degree in statistics, how should I proceed? Am I okay to take Calc I-III at a junior college and maybe some more advanced math at a university before applying for the masters?

2. It is going probably going to take me a few years to even get to the point of even applying for the masters degree and I will need to work. Are there any jobs that would be good to target?

3. What kind of financial aide do people in statistics masters programs get? Is it mostly loans, or are there assistantships, etc..

4. Am I better off getting a 2nd bachelor's degree in math/statistics first?

5. Any other suggestions?

[derksheng]

Are there any jobs that would be good to target?

One you can go for is research assistant for applied econometrics academics. Although I'm not sure anyone outside of psychology would give you a go. You might have to demonstrate that you're able to program well before they will (e.g. turning a dataset into nice latex tables of actual results). Of course you will use R to do this.

That's what I did ... except in financial econometrics. (Although I was invited without needing to demonstrate that I could program).