u/Iamthatguyoverthere

I’m planning on applying this fall and would love to get some insight into these programs and how you feel about them.

I graduated with my MS in statistics in 2023, and have been working as a machine learning engineer essentially since then. Over this time my role has moved further and further from statistics and into infrastructure where I rarely get to actually touch stats.

I genuinely miss statistics, it’s such a beautiful field and I have been just studying and working on personal projects after work. I’m considering a PhD, but also want to see what the path forward with an industry job would be.

I want to get as close to research as possible, ideally working in the biological/clinical/health sector.

I know the market as a whole is terrible right now, and the worry of AI automation is real. So, I want genuine feedback and actionable insight on what this pivot would look like.

I have an MS and work in the industry, but am heavily considering going back for my PhD. One of my main worries is that AI is moving at a pace that large swaths of analysis, reasoning, etc. will be so able to be automated that a PhD will have limited value.

Even more than future value, the main reason I want a PhD is to actually learn deeply on a topic I love and to add to further the field. I’m worried that I’ll be shorted there because the expectation will be to use whatever tools get the best:fastest result.

What are the thoughts of those actually in their PhD or who have one?