Started off double majoring in physics and math at UIUC. After not making it to many of the huge lecture sections in physics during the first two semesters I switched to just math, although the grades were ok (in that physics way where a score well under 50% might still be a B). Two years into my courses in the Ph.D. program in math I saw a seminar in statistics and thought "wait, we can work on problems directly related to the real world?". Not sure if I would have been able to pass the other qualifiers in math anyway, but didn't need to since I jumped ship to stats. First job out was a tenure track job in stats, and have been plugging away at the holy trinity of teaching, research, and service ever since. Not much influence on my ttrpging from it. (If Gauss was a 3rd gen antediluvian then I'm 12th generation. Even counting for dilution, this apple has fallen far from the tree.)
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