After working for pharmaceutical company for 3 years, I am thinking to change my career-path. I have BS in Biomedical Sciences and I am thinking to go for Graduate School either in MS in Statistics-Biometry Focus or MBA with focus in finance or simply general professional MBA degree.

I just do not want to get back to lab environment when I come back from school. Questions for folks who have been in graduate school or have some sort of similar experience please have your say...

1.) MBA or MS in statistics ? Is MBA really worth it with 3 years of work experience?
2.) MS in statistics- how difficult is grad school? I have taken 3 college level calculus courses and am taking statistics and linear algebra as preparatory courses.
3.) How is the scope of MS degree in Stat? I have heard people with SAS programming can make over 100k is it true? How is the job market? if anyone out there has been to grad school for stat, share your story.
4.) Is it possible to go to full time grad school and work full-time in the meantime. The reason I ask this is my company reimburses for grad school. But I am simply not sure if it is "doable" without over-stressing myself. I would like to hear from those who have done both-full time grad school+ full-time work.

Thanks for your input.

graduate students in MS in stat or MBA?

I would go for MS in statistics unless i can get into top program ( top 20 or even top 50) in business school. 

Well, thanks AAAA for your thought. I have already been accepted to UCLA, SF State for MBA. I am sure they fall within top 50 business schools. The only problem is for MS in stat my chances for getting TA/RA is higher. I am indecisive in which path to choose.

NO doubts. go for statistics.

NO doubts. go for statistics. UCLA without GA? what are you thinking man. Can you survive?

Yes, for MBA its tough to get funding. UCLA is tough choice with resident tuition of $35,673.

Due to funding availability, I am also leaning towards MS in stat. Lets see.

Do MS first and MBA 5-7 years later. I think you can always do MBA but with all the money you'll have to pour in, are you really sure you want to go that route?  A good MBA with MS will be deadly combination…

UCLA Hayward, East bay offer MS in Bio Stat around Bay area and their session start from fall so you do not have much time left, hurry up. They will stop taking application soon. Write down a good statement of purpose letter some recommendation letter will help and go see….

Eric A. Suess, Ph.D.
Chair and Associate Professor
Department of Statistics and Biostatistics
California State University, East Bay
25800 Carlos Bee Blvd.
Hayward, CA 94542

 

 

Thank you Aug25. I was even thinking CSU-East bay. I am wrapping up my application within few weeks. Thanks again for the insight.

Amplified,

It is interesting you wanna change career field from Biomedical science to something else! If you compare to other fields, health sector is never going to slack- I mean even in any sort of ecenomic downturn, people need health care. Since people are living longer, health sector as always has a bright future.

Having said all that- and given my experience in public health, stat seems reasonably better compared to general MBA. However if you are really smart and can prove that during your MBA, chosing MBA may be the best option interms of securing financially better future. As we all know, if you are smart, everybody want you, money will never be a problem in this country- if you check successful Indians or Chinese. And most importantly money is with the business.

If you decide to do biostat, with MS, I am pretty sure you will get a job. However onc eyou are in the program you may feel more pressure to do PhD to stand out in the crowd. Also, with MS biostat, the salary is decent but not that great- check out the web.

If I were you, I would consider furthering in biomedical science or heading to biomedical engineering.

Just my two-cents, Sorry for writing a whole para,

Whatever you decide, Good luck bud,

Dharan 

 Ms first then MBA. Good luck.

Thanks Dharan bro. I appreciate your thoughts. Well, there is so many reasons that I am changing my career from biomedical science to something else. But in gist, it is due to average pay and being in the lab most of the time. I dont see myself working in the lab in years to come, believe me, its not as much fun as it used to be at the beginning. Also, I started with 32k 3 years ago with biomedical sciences, now i make little over 50k w/ full benefits(research and pharmaceutical doesnt pay well). Not necessarily, doing my master's in something else mean that I will totally be away from healthcare/ biomed industry, it just means when I get back I get to do something that might be more interesting and appreciated for and paid lot higher. I know you are right, even I were to stay in my present company, I doubt I will ever lose this job. I mean its pretty good and I could probably become manager 6 to 10 years (around 80k) down the road.

As for MBA vs MS in stat. Very tough to decide for me. Even though, I m leaning more towards the MS in Stat from beginning but yet to totally decide on which one. It would be nice if they had MBA with stat concentration in CA but I havent heard about it.

 

 Hi guys, I'm planning to go for bio statistics too for my masters. I was wondering to see if you gurs know any other decent school that gives RA or TA. Your help would be highly appreciated.

Thanku

 

 

 

Definitely go with MS in Statistics or given that your background in Bio Med it is even better to go with Bio-Statistics. People with Stats degree are more likely (high probability ) to get job even in this bad economy.

Good luck!

"People with Stats degree are more likely (high probability ) to get job even in this bad economy"...haha I like that "high probability" and I say "Probably you are right".