This section details the academic requirements for receiving M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Statistics. For more information on department or university policies, consult any of the department graduate advisors. For generic advice regarding the first year, see also section 6.2.2 (Ph.D.) or 6.2.3 (M.A.). In addition, we recommend that you talk with fellow graduate students about courses and professors.
Towards the end of each semester, the Department of Statistics produces
descriptions of all the courses that are going to be offered within the
department in the coming semester. This will be sent to incoming students.
In addition, the general course catalog can be purchased at the student union;
see Associated Students of UC on page 
.
In order to obtain the Masters degree in statistics, you must either have at least 24 units of upper division and graduate courses and pass a comprehensive written examination or have at least 20 units and submit a thesis.
Whether you take the written exam or write a thesis, course work includes at least 18 units in upper division and graduate courses in the Statistics Department, of which at least 12 units are in Statistics courses numbered 205 or higher. Programs might emphasize applied statistics, probability theory, or theoretical statistics. Students with special interests are encouraged to devise programs which emphasize their interests. In all cases the program must be approved by the M.A. advisor.
The written examination is given once a year near the end of the spring semester. Under exceptional circumstances, an oral examination is available. You need to be a registered student at the time of the examination. However, if you have completed the unit and course requirements and need only to take the examination or to file your thesis, you may apply for filing fee status and pay a fee equal to half the current university registration fee.
To elect the thesis option, you must find three faculty (preferably with one from outside Statistics) to be on your thesis committee. You and the chair of the thesis committee must agree upon the topic of the thesis.
The oral examination is available only under exceptional circumstances when undue hardship would result from waiting until the time of the written examination. You need the approval of the vice-chair for graduate affairs. The M.A. advisor will appoint a committee of three. You assemble a list of questions from which the committee will choose at the time of the examination. Past question lists are available for inspection through the graduate assistant.
Students who are interested in acquiring an M.A. in statistics as well as a doctoral degree in another department are encouraged to consult the graduate advisor for the M.A. in this regard.
Students who do not already have a Masters degree in Statistics may obtain the M.A. after completing 24 units in appropriate courses and passing the Ph.D. comprehensive examination.
Students in the M.A. program often consider entering the Ph.D. program. For a reasonable chance of success in the Ph.D. program, a student needs to have a strong mathematical background (e.g., in real analysis), and to be among the top students in M.A.-level courses such as 200AB; the student should also take one of the entry-level Ph.D. courses (205/210/215).
For a Masters student who seeks to enter the Ph.D. program, the following strategy is recommended. The decision to try to change programs needs to be made early in the first year. If the decision is made early enough and the student's background is sufficient, and entry-level Ph.D. course may be appropriate during the first year in the M.A. program.
Otherwise during the first year, take Masters-level statistics courses, such as Stat 200AB, and some math courses, such as Math 104 and 105. And then, during the second year, take two of the Ph.D.-level statistics courses (205/210/215). Students who perform well in these Ph.D. courses will have a good chance of being accepted into the Ph.D. program; but they must take the written qualifying exams the fall of their third year. Students with below-average performance in the Ph.D. courses are advised to complete the M.A. program or, if still interested in pursuing a Ph.D., apply to other universities.
The Ph.D. program requires four semesters of residence rather than a certain number of credits. As a matter of policy, the department has set a timetable for Ph.D. students to complete the work necessary for their degree; adherence to this program constitutes satisfactory progress. The discussion following the timetable lays out the details of each requirement.
Graduate advisors. The department has graduate advisors for probability, theoretical statistics, and applied statistics. The head graduate advisor officially represents the dean of the Graduate Division within the department; she or he oversees matters concerning admission, advancing students to candidacy, filing fee status, withdrawal, and readmission.
The graduate advisors are jointly responsible for monitoring students' progress toward the Ph.D., and making recommendations on financial support. The advisors will review each student's progress in the middle of spring semester. A student who has not advanced to candidacy will be reviewed primarily on course grades and preliminary exam results. All faculty members are free to participate in the review process. Once decisions are final, the advisors will notify all students of the faculty's view of their progress. Students will be informed whether or not their progress is satisfactory.
A student making unsatisfactory progress will be informed in writing of (i) the reasons for this decision, (ii) the requirements and timetable for return to satisfactory status, (iii) the consequences of failing to meet this timetable, and (iv) the approximate date of the next review of the student's progress. In particular, any student deemed to be making unsatisfactory progress in spring of Year 1 will be informed that support in spring of Year 2 will be conditional on passage of the preliminary exam in fall of Year 2.
Coursework requirements. Students are required to take for credit a total of 24 semester hours of courses in the department numbered 205-282 inclusive, or courses at a comparable level in mathematics. The graduate advisor may consent to waive all or part of this requirement. The department requires every registered graduate student to take at least one math or statistics course for credit each academic semester. Exceptions may be made during the final stage of thesis writing. This program does not require a foreign language.
Ph.D. students incoming in fall, 1995 will be required to complete all three prelim course sequences (205AB, 210AB, 215AB) before graduation.
Grades. Grades from coursework are intended to be a significant measure of a student's performance, especially in the first year. A+: excellent work, deserving of consideration for fellowship; A: good work; A-: passing work, but room for improvement; B: work of marginal quality; C: fail. The grade of B or C should signify to both student and advisors that the student is at or below the margin of satisfactory progress.
The written preliminary examination. The examination is given early in the fall semester of each year, in three parts, lasting approximately three hours each. One part is on probability, one on theoretical statistics, and one on applied statistics. A student passes the examination by passing two of the three parts. The examination covers material in Statistics 205, 210, and 215. Material not covered explicitly in these courses can be on the exams, but there is usually a strong connection between the questions asked and the content of the course given during the previous academic year. The applied statistics part consists of the three-hour written exam and a laboratory part. The graduate assistant can provide copies of syllabi and past exams.
Passing the written exams. Most students find the preliminary exam difficult, and good students have been known to need two chances. Most students pass it on their first try. These exams are graded A+, A, A-, B, C. In an individual subject, a grade of A+, A, or A- is a pass, and a B is a low pass. To pass the prelims, a student must have a grade of A- or better on one of the exams, and B or better on the other part. In other words, two B's or a C and anything else is an overall fail. Failing the exam on the first attempt counts as unsatisfactory progress, and might influence your financial support (see the beginning of this section). If you pass one part and fail the other, you will be required to repeat the entire exam. However, if you repeat the preliminary exam, you are permitted to choose any two parts.
In recent years the department has been willing to adjust the exact schedule of the exams to the wishes of the students taking the exams, provided that there was a consensus among these students.
For students whose program differs substantially from the usual or for students who face extraordinary circumstances, it is possible to substitute an oral preliminary examination for the written preliminary examination. The oral Ph.D. preliminary exam is extremely rare, and requires special permission from the department chair.
The oral qualifying examination.
This examination is meant to determine whether the student is ready to enter the research phase of graduate studies. It consists of a 50-minute lecture on a topic selected jointly by the graduate advisor and student, and approved by the Graduate Council. The examination committee consists of four faculty members approved by the Graduate Division, at least one of whom is not in the Statistics Department. The student's prospective thesis advisor cannot chair the examination committee.
The doctoral thesis. The Graduate Division offers various resources, including a workshop, on how to write a thesis, from beginning to end. Requirements for the format of the thesis are rather strict. For more information, contact the graduate assistant and the Graduate Division. To read more about finding a thesis advisor, see section 2.1.3 and 6.3.2. The Ph.D. degree is granted upon completion of an original thesis acceptable to a committee of two departmental faculty and an outside member. The thesis is usually presented orally at a seminar in the department prior to filing with the dean of the Graduate Division.
Here we list the Ph.D. thesis titles from the past few years. The format is Title (Author; Advisor).
Here is a list of faculty in the Department of Statistics, including a brief description of individual research interests. A faculty member's listing includes date of doctoral degree followed by the date of first ladder appointment or higher at UCB.
The department technical reports are good way to get to know where faculty research interests lie. Most faculty members regularly produce technical reports. Often they are pre-prints of articles which will appear in some journal. Reading a faculty member's technical reports should give you a good indication of what she or he is interested in. Technical reports can be obtained from the main office (room 367) at $1.00 each, or ask the faculty member who wrote it for a free copy.
As a graduate student, you will often need to work with the administrative staff; when in doubt about whom to consult, see Sara Wong.
Sara Wong (373 Evans) coordinates many of the services to graduate and undergraduate services by handling administrative aspects of admission, enrollment, fee waivers, GSR- and GSI-ships and payroll, the MacArthur loan, office assignments, archives of past written exams, degree requirements, student visas, graduation, career opportunities, and many other matters.
Here are other staff duties of primary concern to graduate students; these lists certainly do not exhaust all of their responsibilities!
Jane Muirhead (367 Evans) handles contracts and grants, tracks the department's textbook library, and handles accounts for the photocopy and fax machines.
Pat Hardy (367 Evans) schedules courses, assigns GSIs and readers, and processes teaching evaluations.
Norma Hernandez (367 Evans) coordinates office and building keys and handles travel vouchers and reimbursements.
Debbie Haaxman (377 Evans) is the assistant to the department chair. She organizes matters relating to academic personnel and coordinates visiting scholars.
Judey Miller (369 Evans) is the business manager for the department; she coordinates graduate student financial support packages.
The staff of the Statistical Computing Facility is listed in section 5.2.1.