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Applied Statistics and Analytics, M.S.

Minimum Totals for Graduation: 30 - 36 hours

Admission Requirements, Retention & Termination Standards

Admission Requirement Snapshot

GPA: 3.0

See Admission Requirement Details Below

Admission Requirements:

  1. Applicants must meet all CMU Graduate Studies admission requirements. International students should take note of any special admission considerations required by the College of Graduate Studies, including TOEFL requirements.
  2. Applicants must have completed a minimum of 12 semester hours of mathematics and/or statistics courses that include the following: MTH 133 (Calculus II) or the equivalent, one course in linear algebra, and one course in statistics or probability. A grade point average of 3.0 in mathematics and statistics course work is required.
  3. Applicants must submit a Statement of Purpose of at least 100 words and not to exceed two pages. The Statement of Purpose should explain their relevant academic and professional experiences, discuss motivation for applying to the program, and describe their goals after completing the program.
  4. Both admission to the program and awards of Graduate Assistantships are competitive. Applicants interested in a Graduate Assistantship position must submit a Graduate Assistantship Application along with General GRE scores and three letters of recommendation directly to the Department of Mathematics. Evaluation for Graduate Assistantships is based on the nature of previous coursework, grades, general GRE scores, and letters of recommendation. The deadline for applying for a Graduate Assistantship is February 15. Application materials received after February 15 are considered on a rolling basis until all positions are filled.

Transfer Credits:

Students may transfer into the degree program up to nine credits of course work from another similar graduate degree program, provided that the student earned a grade of B or better in the course and the course content is equivalent to the course taught in the degree program and approved by the program advisor. The university policy provided by the Office of Research and Graduate Studies supersedes the program policy, if any conflict occurs.

Program Requirements

Required Prerequisite Courses (0-6 hours)

STA 580Applied Statistical Methods I

3(3-0)

STA 584Mathematical Statistics I

3(3-0)

Note: Students who have not taken courses similar to STA 580 and/or STA 584 with comparable contents and textbooks are required to take the pre-requisite courses.

Required Courses I (15 hours)

STA 575Statistical Programming for Data Management and Analysis

3(3-0)

STA 591Data Mining Techniques I

3(3-0)

STA 675Advanced Statistical Data Management and Simulation

3(3-0)

STA 686Multivariate Analysis

3(3-0)

STA 695Practicum/Internship

3(Spec)

Note: With the approval of the program advisor, students who have taken courses similar to STA 575 and/or STA 591 with comparable contents and textbooks may be allowed to replace the course(s) with elective course(s).

Required Courses II (3 hours)

Select one of the following:

STA 585Mathematical Statistics II

3(3-0)

STA 684Theory of Statistical Inference

3(3-0)

Required Courses III (9 hours)

Select one of the following tracks:

Track 1: Applied Statistics

STA 582Experimental Designs

3(3-0)

STA 590Applied Statistical Methods II

3(3-0)

STA 678Categorical Data and Survival Analysis

3(3-0)

Track 2: Analytics

ITC 510Software and Data Modeling

3(3-0)

ITC 686Big Data Analytics

3(3-0)

STA 691Advanced Data Mining Techniques

3(3-0)

Electives (3 hours)

Select from the following:

GEO 501Principles and Applications of Geographic Information System

3(2-2)

MTH 586Operations Research I

3(3-0)

STA 583Nonparametric Statistics

3(3-0)

STA 587Statistical Theory and Methods for Quality Improvement

3(3-0)

STA 588Sampling Techniques

3(3-0)

STA 589Time Series Forecasting

3(3-0)

STA 592Six Sigma: Foundations and Techniques for Green Belts

3(3-0)

STA 595Introduction to Bayesian Statistics

3(3-0)

STA 682Linear Models

3(3-0)

STA 696Special Topics in Statistics

1-6(Spec)

STA 697Independent Study

1-9(Spec)

Note 1: Graduate level courses in any discipline different from Mathematics or Statistics with approval of the program advisor may be used as elective courses.

Note 2: Students who are exempted from STA 575 and/or STA 591 under Required Courses I will take a total of 6 or 9 hours under electives.

Total: 30-36 semester hours

Accelerated M.S. in Applied Statistics and Analytics

Advanced undergraduate students majoring in Mathematics, Actuarial Science and Statistics may want to consider the option by which they can obtain Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science or Bachelor of Science in Statistics and their Master of Science in Applied Statistics and Analytics in five years. The accelerated program requirements are stated in the Admission Requirements section below. It allows students to apply 12 credit hours of graduate coursework toward both Bachelor degree and the Master of Science degree.

Admission Requirements, Retention & Termination Standards

To be eligible for the accelerated program, a student must

  • Have completed a minimum of 15 credit hours of mathematics, including Calculus III and Linear Algebra with at least a B in each of the mathematics courses taken.
  • Have completed at least 9 credit hours of statistics including STA 580 (or equivalent) and STA 584 (or equivalent) with at least a B+ in each of the statistics courses taken.
  • Have a grade point average of 3.0 overall, a 3.0 in mathematics and a 3.3 in statistics are required.
  • Have completed at least 97 credit hours of undergraduate coursework, including all competency requirement and all but 9 credit hours of University Program requirements.

Degree Requirements

The Accelerated Master of Science in Applied Statistics and Analytics is a 30 hours program (27 hours of coursework and 3 hours of Practicum/Internship).

  1. Prior to the fourth year, students will complete the pre-requisite courses STA 580 and STA 584.
  2. There are two tracks in the M.S. program, one in Applied Statistics and the other in Analytics. During the fourth year, students must select one track.
    • Students in the Applied Statistics track must complete STA 582, STA 591, STA 675, and STA 585, which will be counted toward both the undergraduate and graduate degrees.
    • Students in the Analytics track must complete ITC 510, STA 591, STA 675, and STA 585, which will be counted toward both the undergraduate and graduate degrees.
  3. Students will complete the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree requirements by the end of the summer term of the fourth year.
  4. Students will complete the coursework and the Practicum/Internship for the Masters of Science degree requirements by the end of the summer term of their fifth year.

A sample curriculum for a student who has completed 97 credit hours of undergraduate coursework is given below:

Year 4 - Fall (15 hours)

Applied Statistics Track: Undergraduate courses (9 hours), in addition to STA 582 (3 hours) and STA 591 (3 hours).

Analytics Track: Undergraduate courses (9 hours), in addition to ITC 510 (3 hours) and STA 591 (3 hours).

ITC 510Software and Data Modeling

3(3-0)

STA 582Experimental Designs

3(3-0)

STA 591Data Mining Techniques I

3(3-0)

Year 4 - Spring (15 hours)

Both Applied Statistics and Analytics Tracks: Undergraduate courses (6 hours), in addition to STA 675 (3 hours) and STA 585 (3 hours), and an elective for graduate requirement (3 hours).

STA 585Mathematical Statistics II

3(3-0)

STA 675Advanced Statistical Data Management and Simulation

3(3-0)

Year 5 - Fall (6 hours)

Both Applied Statistics and Analytics Tracks: Courses must include STA 686 (3 hours) and an elective (3 hours).

STA 686Multivariate Analysis

3(3-0)

Year 5 - Spring (6 hours)

Applied Statistics Track: Courses must include STA 678 (3 hours) and an elective (3 hours).

Analytics Track: Courses must include ITC 686 (3 hours) and STA 691 (3 hours).

STA 678Categorical Data and Survival Analysis

3(3-0)

STA 691Advanced Data Mining Techniques

3(3-0)

ITC 686Big Data Analytics

3(3-0)

Year 5 - Summer (3 hours)

Both Applied Statistics and Analytics Tracks: STA 695 (3 hours)

STA 695Practicum/Internship

3(Spec)

(M.S. degree conferred)