Requirements
Degrees Conferred: M.S.
Pre-Requisites to Degree Programs
In addition to the requirements of the Graduate School, applicants for admission to the M.S. program in Statistics and Analytics must submit: a) three letters of recommendation from persons familiar with the applicant’s previous academic and professional performance; and b) official test scores as specified for the applicant’s area of interest. Admission to the program requires admission to a concentration and must be approved by the admission committee for that concentration.
Requirements for the Master of Science Degree
A candidate must complete a minimum of 30 hours of graduate credits that will include a minimum of one course (three hours) in each of the following areas: Regression I or Decision Support Analytics; Statistical Methods; Multivariate Analyses; and Experimental Design. Specific courses that will meet these requirements will be chosen from a list developed by the program faculty and approved by the student’s advisory committee in consultation with the student. A candidate must also either pass a comprehensive examination or successfully defend a master's thesis.
Any undergraduate deficiencies (unless waived by the concentration advisor) should be completed within the first year of studies. The 18 concentration-specific hours are listed below for each concentration:
Statistics Concentration
- Undergraduate deficiencies: Calculus II, Data Structures, Linear Algebra
- One course from each of these areas as approved by the student’s advisory committee: Theory of statistics (probability); statistical inference; analysis of categorical responses; statistical computation
- Six additional hours of electives OR six hours of thesis credit and submission of an acceptable thesis
- Pass comprehensive examination (non-thesis) or successful defense of master's thesis
- Download the advising checklist here
Business Analytics Concentration
- Undergraduate deficiency: Calculus I
- One course each from these areas as approved by the student’s advisory committee: data analytics fundamentals, data management systems, seminar in business intelligence. practicum
- Six additional hours of electives OR six hours of thesis credit and submission of an acceptable thesis
- Pass comprehensive examination (non-thesis) or successful defense of master's thesis
- Download the advising checklist here
Operations Analytics Concentration
- Undergraduate deficiencies: Calculus I, Linear Algebra and Basic Probability and Statistics
- One course each from each of these areas as approved by the student’s advisory committee: Simulation; optimization I; data mining
- Nine additional hours of electives OR three additional hours of electives, six hours of thesis credit and submission of an acceptable thesis
- Pass comprehensive examination (non-thesis) or successful defense of master's thesis
- Download the advising checklist here
Computational Analytics Concentration
- Undergraduate deficiencies: Calculus I, Linear Algebra and Data Structures
- Database management systems and two courses from data mining, machine learning, or artificial intelligence
- Nine additional hours of electives OR three additional hpours of electives, six hours of thesis credit and submission of an acceptable thesis
- Pass comprehensive examination (non-thesis) or successful defense of master's thesis
- Download the advising checklist here
Educational Statistics and Psychometrics Concentration
- Undergraduate deficiencies: Calculus I and Linear Algebra
- One course each from the areas of measurement, research methods, and item response theory, as approved by the student’s advisory committee.
- Nine hours of electives as approved by the student’s advisory committee OR three hours of electives or six hours of thesis credit and submission of an acceptable thesis
- Successful defense of master's thesis
- Download the advising checklist here
Quantitative Social Science Concentration
- Undergraduate deficiencies: Calculus I, Linear Algebra and Statistical Probability
- One course each from each of these areas as approved by the student’s advisory committee: Generalized linear models and extensions; multivariate techniques; time series analysis; panel data analysis
- Six hours of electives to include two of the following: cost benefit analysis; GIS and spatial analysis; multilevel modeling; social network analysis OR six hours of thesis credit and submission of an acceptable thesis
- Successful defense of master's thesis
- Download the advising checklist here
BioAnalytics Concentration
- One course each from each of these areas as approved by the student’s advisory committee: Cluster Computing; Programming for Biologists; Advanced Multivariate Analysis
- Nine hours of electives chosen in consultation with, and approved by, BioAnalytics concentration advisor or six hours of thesis credit and submission of an acceptable thesis
- Pass comprehensive examination (non-thesis) or successful defense of master's thesis
- Download the advising checklist here