[Answer] As an undergraduate at a regular second-tier university majoring in Statistics, I’ve been torn between the finance industry and engineering (mainly fields like communications engineering and automation) for graduate school. How should I choose?

[Answer] As an undergraduate at a regular second-tier university majoring in Statistics, I’ve been torn between the finance industry and engineering (mainly fields like communications engineering and automation) for graduate school. How should I choose?

In my personal opinion, it would be quite difficult for a Statistics undergraduate to apply for a graduate program in Automation. Although there are many foundational courses at the undergraduate level, Automation still involves its own basic training and specialized coursework. Without several years of undergraduate preparation in that field, it would probably not be easy to adapt.

I’m not very familiar with Finance, but coming from a Statistics background, it may be a relatively easier option.

Besides these two choices, I think Statistics is naturally quite close to areas like big data and data analysis. You might want to consider directions such as Data Science. I’m not sure whether it is usually classified under Computer Science or another discipline, but at the moment it seems to be a promising field and is also highly relevant to your current major.