Which statistics courses to take for investment analysis
Hi everybody,
I'm a rising freshman majoring in business administration with a double concentration in financial management and accounting. I have planned out my schedule and I am on track to graduate in just over three years, so I have decided to minor in statistics. I wanted to ask anyone with experience in applying statistics to investment analysis which statistics classes would be the most useful for investment analysis. I am selecting out of the following course:
STAT 305 Introduction to Probability and Simulation 1
STAT 323 Design and Analysis of Experiments I
STAT 324 Applied Regression Analysis
STAT 330 Statistical Computing with SAS
STAT 331 Statistical Computing with R
STAT 405 Applied Probability Models
STAT 410 Statistics Education: Pedagogy, Content, Technology, and Assessment
STAT 416 Statistical Analysis of Time Series
STAT 417 Survival Analysis Methods
STAT 418 Analysis of Cross-Classified Data
STAT 419 Applied Multivariate Statistics
STAT 421 Survey Sampling and Methodology
STAT 423 Design and Analysis of Experiments II
STAT 425 Probability Theory 1
STAT 426 Estimation and Sampling Theory
STAT 427 Mathematical Statistics
Thanks!
First, good job in deciding to minor in statistics.
If I were in your shoes I would take the most advanced classes in that list. The relatively easy topics (e.g., regression analysis) you can pick up on your own.
Assuming you already know the fundamentals of statistics (e.g., statistical tests, distributions, etc..) I would take some of these (in order):
Applied Probability Models Mathematical Statistics Statistical Analysis of Time Series Applied Multivariate Statistics
Thank you, pl_lp !
I notice from your other post that you worked for an MBB for a while. How did you enjoy your time in consulting? I'm hoping to get a job as a mutual fund analyst out of college but I realize that getting a job on the buy side so young is pretty unlikely, so if that doesn't work out I'm torn between IB and consulting and I was wondering if you could tell me about the workload and if consulting is as problem-solving oriented as people make it out to be.
PM me.
Good choice! I wish I had the same opportunity where I come from! I can only say, you are privileged so its nice you take advantage of it! Good job
BS! have you ever looked at online education websites? they have all these courses and much more for free.
Not in my area no..
Since you're only a freshman, definitely take:
STAT 331 Statistical Computing with R
The earlier exposure you get to programming the better
You have to take the Probability and Mathematical Statistics classes IMO, regardless of what type of analysis you want to do. You need a basis in distributions, probability theory, CLT, LLN, expectation, estimation, Cramer-Rao, Fisher Information, MLE, MVUE, confidential intervals, etc, before you do the more complicated electives.
I'm majoring in Statistics and have the option to take these courses can anyone give some thoughts if any of these would be useful for Real Estate / IB?
Probability Theory Linear Models I Inferential Statistics Linear Models II Time Series Multivariate Analysis Applied Statistical Modelling Models - Survival Models Models - Stochastic Models Actuarial Statistics I Nonparametric Statistics Monte Carlo Inference Statistical Data Mining Actuarial Statistics II1) I don't see how any of these courses apply even remotely to the work you do in investment banking (maybe with the exception of probability for brainteasers). 2) Take the first 4 then decide if you want to do statistics. If you haven't take Probability Theory or Inferential Statistics you have no idea if you'll even like the coursework.
I know it is easier said than done, but I would load up and take as many of those classes as possible. I work in IB and am not in IA, so I cannot speak from experience on which classes would be most beneficial, but I do know I wish I had taken better advantage of the opportunity to learn more of the technical subjects while I was in college. Accounting and Finance might seem foreign and difficult to someone not in the industry, but they are incredibly basic subjects. You can easily teach them to yourself/will learn on the job. However, it's much more difficult to teach yourself high-level math, computer science, or any other STEM subject. So I would follow what has been mentioned above and, in addition to that, push yourself by either taking other math courses or take some CS classes--those are incredibly valuable skills to have and will only make you that much more versatile in whatever you decide to do.
just take as much as you can. Think beyond finance and start looking at the bigger picture. Analytics is huge value add to any industry and talent is in extremely short supply. Most BBs are trying to augment their classic IB groups with some sort of data science work.
I would rather see the course descriptions before answering, but here are my personal thoughts:
Some of these classes might be more theory and proof based. I took a Mathematical Stats course and it was 100% proofs. Although interesting and useful to boost your brain, nobody in the industry will hire you to prove something, especially since all you will cover has obviously already been proven. So instead of getting actual data and running it through a model to try to make some sense out of it, you would mathematically prove why the estimators in that model are Uniformly Minimum-Variance Unbiased estimators. That’s really not everyone’s cup of tea.
Regression Analysis and Time Series Analysis are not the same but are both based on the same theory (which may be covered in the Mathematical Stats course). So taking both might be redundant to some extent. A lot of what I have seen in Investment Management is factor based analysis, which basically means regressions of different flavors. That being said, I am not in that field.
A solid Probability course is paramount, and will prep you for Stochastic Processes/Calculus, which is also very useful in finance because that’s where simulations come from.
The courses that I have found to be the most useful are Numerical Analysis (not necessarily statistics), Nonparametric Stats (you would probably cover some of this in any of the sampling courses), Time Series Analysis, and any solid course on Simulations. For all of these you need to know R, MatLab, Python or at least VBA, which would make Statistical Computing with R important.
That's my 2 cents. Hope it helps.
Am I the only one who thinks 2-3 classes in statistics will provide almost 95% of what you need to know?
Numquam autem tempora alias officia. Provident quibusdam quod veritatis ut facere eligendi. Aut nesciunt molestias non excepturi quibusdam et.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...