I have been thinking of studying this and have an offer to study for a diploma over the next two years. The course is for people with no previous exposure to the subject and has pre-course math classes built in. I thought it could be a good way to pivot my career out of law, just not sure into what exactly. I would like to do an MSc eventually (economics , stats or even programming) but they require previous quant based qualifications and the diploma would fill that gap in my skills / knowledge. Has anyone done this or something similar or is this a rubbish idea in your 30s? It just felt like a manageable thing to do to build up some new skills in something interesting while continuing to work before taking the more drastic step of hopefully leaving law once and for all when the course is over - something that is kind of unthinkable in the current economy but might be more do-able in two years.
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Laz has done this.
Also, if you already have a degree in law or similar, why would you waste 2 years on a diploma. You could get yourself degree fit in under 6 months.
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Sounds interesting but rather long given that you plan to take an MSc in something else afterwards. If you want quantitative skills it seems like there might be quicker ways to achieve this - perhaps with a more direct maths-focused course?
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Thanks for the responses. Do you mean something like an access course or Cert HE in maths? I looked into them but they didn't seem to be widely accepted by universities. They also seemed too intensive to do alongside a full time job even if the classes are in the evenings. The diploma I am looking at is a graduate diploma kind of conversion course in econ and I thought it would be both interesting and useful - albeit it doing it part time does mean it is two years but it's really all I can manage alongside work.
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That's fair enough - yes, I was thinking along the lines of a specific pre-university qualification. I think your rationale is sound, not a rubbish idea at all.
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you could do OU maths modules to get some maths under your belt
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Wot the gentlemen above said...
...forget economics, focus on the maths specific area that interests you. I would suggest statistics because it is interesting and links neatly with where our data driven society is going...
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Wot fluffy said.
Assuming I dont win the lottery, the only thing I would consider going back to school for would be to learn properly how stats work.
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Thirded on the statistics thing. Medical school m7 is now doing a biostatistics PhD. He always was a lot smarter than me.
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The other alternative is to do a sector specific masters that includes an element of economics and stats. I did mine in real estate and that covered the specific economics of real estate and basic statistics. Back then Cass also did an alternative real estate masters which was more quants based and I don’t think needed specific maths qualifications.
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Thanks again for the responses. I guess I'm also thinking about what job opportunities could be available at the end of it for someone in their 30s. If I did an MSc in something like econ / stats I think I'd be too old to join a grad scheme as an analyst or something and to be honest, I'd like to think that 8 years of law wasn't a total waste career wise and I could use that previous experience to find an interesting job. Or would it be a case of starting from scratch again given the change in discipline?
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Depends a bit. My masters was essentially the LPC for surveyors and a few late 20 and early 30 somethings went on to retrain as surveyors and I considered it but didn't fancy having to do another profession exam and of course the pay cut by becoming a new graduate again.
I did move out of law for a bit but worked somewhere where they thought it would be useful to have someone with a legal background but hadn't really thought about how to use me best. I ended up doing stuff that I had no experience of with people complaining I was doing it slowly whilst another colleague would be struggling with setting up a data room which I could do in my sleep. Would almost have been better going in as a graduate and starting again.
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