Program Guidelines
This document supplements the Montana State University Graduate Catalog.
The Ph.D. program in statistics at Montana State University prepares students for academic, industrial, business, or government employment. To earn a Ph.D. in statistics, a student must pass the Ph.D. qualifying exam, pass the Ph.D. comprehensive exam, and write and defend a Ph.D. dissertation. The exams are described below. The dissertation must be an original contribution to statistical science and must include new material worthy of publication. There is no departmental foreign language requirement for the Ph.D.
A Ph.D. student typically takes at least 24 credits of statistics in courses numbered 500 and higher and six credits of mathematics (MATH 547 & MATH 586). Additional course work in statistics and/or mathematics may be necessary, depending on the candidate's chosen area of specialization and background. For instance, a Ph.D. student is expected to have completed all courses required for the M.S. degree in statistics and may need to make-up one or more of these courses. Also, it is expected that a Ph.D. student will take seminar or directed study courses (STAT 500 or STAT 570) in his/her area of specialty.
Ph.D. Qualifying Exam
ThePh.D. qualifying exam is identical to the core course portion of the statistics M.S. comprehensive exam except that the exam must be passed at the Ph.D.level (i.e., Ph.D. pass). A student who earned an M.S. in Statistics from MSU need not take the PhD qualifying exam if the M.S. comprehensive exam was passed at the Ph.D. level. Other students are expected to take the Ph.D. qualifying exam during their first post-master's semester at MSU or as soon as course work in the M.S. core has been completed. Two post-master's attempts to pass the qualifying exam are allowede.
Statistics Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam
The structure of the written part of the Ph.D. comprehensive exam in Statistics is currently under revision. Once a final version is completed, it will be posted on our departmental website.
In general, the exam will consist of several components. These will typically include:
- A general review/summary related to the proposed research area.
- Reading and critiquing a journal article related to the proposed research area.
- Performing a data analysis with a written summary. The data analysis will be related to coursework taken by the student.
- A component related to Bayesian statistics.
The requirements associated with each component are flexible. That is, the Ph.D. committee will determine the exact details of each component with the goal of assessing the student’s potential for performing independent research in the proposed research area. The student will be given several days to submit her/his written summaries.
Updated: 12/19/2012 |
