GE Requirements and Other Department Requirements
Thank you for requesting information regarding the graduate program in Statistics. To apply for admission requires that you submit the UCLA Application for Graduate Admissions together with the UCLA Statistics Department Supplemental Application. Applicants must apply electronically using the applications on the World Wide Web (see addresses below) since there are no longer paper applications.
Applicants can ONLY apply to one program at UCLA each quarter. Hence, if you are applying to UCLA's Biostatistics Program in Fall, you cannot also apply for UCLA's Statistics Program that same Fall.
Also, you can only apply for one of our degrees at a time. Thus, you cannot submit an application to both our M.S. Program and Ph.D. Program for the same quarter.
| Requirements & Qualifications for Consideration |
 Ph.D. and M.S. students are admitted only in the Fall. |
Deadlines to apply for entry into the next Fall term are:
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GRE - The Official General Test from ETS. |
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Three (3) letters of recommendation. Letters should emphasize the applicant's level of preparation for graduate study in Statistics.
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Submission of the Department's supplemental application1 1. http://student-services.stat.ucla.edu/graduate/applications/supplemental.pdf |
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Statement of purpose.
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A bachelor's degree in statistics is not required for the M.S. or Ph.D. programs, but applicants should have taken at least 12 quarter courses (or eight semester courses) in substantial upper division quantitative work, including, but not limited to, courses in statistics, mathematics, computer science, and electrical engineering.
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M.S. applicants must have a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.2 in their upper division courses.
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Ph.D. applicants must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 to qualify for direct admission to the doctoral program. Applicants who have already obtained a master's degree must have maintained an average of better than 3.5 in graduate study.
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Applications must be completed online. There are two applications to apply to our program, one controlled by UCLA's Graduate Division and one from our Department.
Both must be submitted.
| ITEMS TO BE RETURNED TO UCLA GRADUATE ADMISSIONS |
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A $60.00 (for U.S. citizens and Permanent Residents) or $75.00 (for all other applicants) application fee must be submitted either on line by credit card, or by check or money order, before the application can be processed
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| ITEMS TO BE RETURNED TO UCLA STATISTICS DEPARTMENT |
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Statistics Department Supplemental Application
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Transcripts (2 originals for each school)
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Official GRE scores from ETS
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Fellowship Application
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Part B: Supplementary Information
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Part C: Statement of Purpose (UCLA seeks to achieve a diverse student body which is inclusive of individuals from cultural, linguistic, geographic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. If applicable, please reference these in your statement.)
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Part D: Letters of Recommendation (3 letters from academic faculty)
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Foreign applicants must send these additional items:TOEFL scores or IELTS ScoresConfidential Financial Statement |
All International applicants must submit a Confidential Financial Statement with their application. Non-US Citizens whose first language is not English are required to take either the TOEFL or IELTS exam. The exam should be taken in November, but no later than January. If you have received a degree from a University in the United States, you need not take the TOEFL.
Non-US Citizens (including Permanent Residents) who would like to serve as a Teaching Assistant are recommended to UCLA's SPEAK exam. Before our Department can offer a Teaching Assistantship to any student, they must have passed UCLA's SPEAK exam.
Almost all of our doctorate statistics graduate students receive financial support in the form of Teaching Assistants, Research Assistantships, and University and Extramural Fellowships. The support, which goes primarily to doctorate students, is usually for 4 years and may include registration fees and non-resident tuition. Students are generally provided a fifth year of support if they are advanced to candidacy by that time. United States citizens and permanent residents who receive non-resident tuition for their first year are expected to establish California residency by their second year.
All applicants are strongly encouraged to apply for fellowships from outside sources (NSF, Javits, etc) and UCLA special fellowship (listed with the application) that they qualify for.
Due to our limited funds, Master's students are not guaranteed funding or assistantships. There is a chance that they can get some, but it is not guaranteed.
The vice chair for graduate studies is the chief graduate adviser and heads a committee of faculty advisers who may serve as academic advisers. The research interests of the members of this committee span most of the major areas of statistics. During their first quarter in the program students are required to meet with an academic adviser who assists them in planning a reasonable course of study. In addition, the academic adviser is responsible for monitoring the student's degree progress and approving the study list each quarter. After the student identifies a thesis topic, the chair of the thesis committee becomes the student's academic adviser.
Continuing students should meet with either the vice chair for graduate studies or their academic adviser at least once each quarter and a record of this interview is placed in the student's academic file. Each Spring a committee consisting of all regular departmental faculty meet to evaluate the progress of all enrolled M.S. degree students. This committee decides if students are making satisfactory progress, and if not offers specific recommendations to correct the situation. For students who have begin thesis work, the determination of satisfactory progress is typically delegated to the academic adviser. Students who are found to be consistently performing unsatisfactorily may be recommended for termination by a vote of this committee.
The strengths of current and prospective faculty dictate the specific fields of emphasis in the department: computational and computer-intensive statistics; applied multivariate analysis; bioinformatics; social statistics; computer vision; pattern recognition; and machine learning. (Note: when graduating, transcripts and diplomas will not show the area of study).
Forty-four units of coursework are required for the M.S. degree, of which at least 32 units must be graduate courses, while the remaining 12 units may be approved upper division courses. With consent of either the vice chair for graduate studies or their academic adviser, students may take up to 20 units of the required 44 units in other departments provided that these courses are in professional or scientific fields closely related to research in statistics. All courses must be passed with the grade of B or better and students must maintain an overall grade-point average of 3.0 or better. Students may enroll in Statistics 596 any number of times and may apply up to two four-unit 596 courses toward the 44-unit requirement for the M.S. degree, provided a B- or better (not the grade of S) is received in these courses. Students are required to enroll in Statistics 290 each quarter, and are strongly encouraged to take Statistics 200ABC, 201ABC, and 202ABC in their first year.
Students with gaps in their previous training are allowed to take undergraduate courses offered by the department with the approval of their academic adviser. However, Statistics 100A-100B-100C, 110A-110B, 120A-120B, and 161 may not be applied toward course requirements for a graduate degree in the department. Students who need a basic refresher course are encouraged to take Statistic 100A-100B (not 110A-110B).
All courses must be passed with the grade of B- or better and maintain overall GPA of 3.0 to count towards their degree.
Not required. In order for a student to serve as a teaching assistant in Statistics, they must also have taken or are currently taking Statistics 495A, 495B and 495C.
This plan is for terminal master's degree students only. Students must find a thesis adviser, who approves the topic and form of the thesis. Students must nominate a thesis committee consisting of the adviser and at least two other faculty members who are eligible to serve on thesis committees, and the committee must be appointed by the Graduate Division. The final thesis must be approved by the thesis committee. More information on the thesis process can be found at www.gdnet.ucla.edu.
Students are expected to complete the requirements for the M.S. degree in seven quarters of full-time study. In order for a student to complete their degree, they must complete an exit interview with the Vice Chair of graduate studies which includes giving a hard copy of the final thesis to the Vice Chair and submitting an electric version of the final thesis to our computer support area.
A committee, consisting of all regular faculty, meets in the spring and discusses ALL M.S. students. They make the judgment if a student is making satisfactory progress or not, and they make specific recommendations for individual students. Students who are not making satisfactory progress are in danger of losing financial support. Usually, for senior students, the "satisfactory" judgment is delegated to the M.S. advisor, but there is a possibility to discuss problem cases. The same committee also votes to make termination decisions for students who are too far off-target. Given the Graduate Handbook text, this means the regular faculty serves as the graduate studies committee.
The vice chair for graduate studies is the chief graduate adviser and heads a committee of faculty advisers who may serve as academic advisers. The research interests of the members of this committee span most of the major areas of statistics. During their first quarter in the program students are required to meet with an academic adviser who assists them in planning a reasonable course of study. In addition, the academic adviser is responsible for monitoring the student's degree progress and approving the study list each quarter. Students are encouraged to begin thinking about their research interests as early as possible. After the student identifies a dissertation topic, the chair of the dissertation committee becomes the student's academic adviser.
Continuing students should meet with either the vice chair for graduate studies or their academic adviser at least once each quarter and a record of this interview is placed in the student's academic file. Each Spring a committee consisting of all regular departmental faculty meet to evaluate the progress of all enrolled doctoral students. This committee decides if students are making satisfactory progress, and if not offers specific recommendations to correct the situation. For students who have begin dissertation work, the determination of satisfactory progress is typically delegated to the academic adviser. Students who are found to be consistently performing unsatisfactorily may be recommended for termination by a vote of this committee. Doctoral students normally are considered to be making satisfactory progress if they take the written qualifying examination in the summer following their first year of study and the University Oral Qualifying Examination by the end of their second year.
The strengths of current and prospective faculty dictate the specific fields of emphasis in the department: computational and computer-intensive statistics; applied multivariate analysis; bioinformatics; social statistics; computer vision; pattern recognition; and machine learning. (Note: when graduating, transcripts and diplomas will not show the area of study).
Students are required to pass, with a grade of B- or better, 54 units of approved graduate coursework and to maintain an overall grade-point average of 3.0 or better. At least 40 of these units must be in courses from this department; the remaining units may be from courses in related departments. Students are strongly encouraged to take Statistics 200ABC, 201ABC, and 202ABC. These courses contain core material for the qualifying examination. All doctoral students are required to take Statistics 290, and 296 and/or 596, 498, or 599 during each quarter of enrollment.
Students with gaps in their previous training are allowed to take undergraduate courses offered by the department with the approval of their academic adviser. However, Statistics 100ABC, 110AB, 120B, and 161 may not be applied toward course requirements for a graduate degree in the department. Also, Statistics C236 will not count towards a graduate degree for Ph.D. students. Students who need a basic refresher course are encouraged to take Statistics 100A-100B (not 110A-110B).
All courses must be passed with the grade of B- or better and maintain an overall GPA of 3.0 in order to count towards degree.
Students are required to complete at least one quarter of service as a teaching assistant for a minimum of 25% time appointment. Students who serve as teaching assistants in the department must have taken or be currently enrolled in Statistics 495A-495B-495C. International students for whom English is a second language must pass the UCLA SPEAK examination before they may serve as teaching assistants.
Each year, the department offers a written qualifying examination that covers material in the core sequences 200ABC "Applied Probability and Theoretical Statistics", 201ABC "Data Analysis", and 202ABC "Statistical Computing". The examination is offered towards the end of the Summer Sessions and is divided into three separate sections, each related to a different course sequence. Students must select and pass TWO of the three sections; the choice of which two is left to the student and should depend on their ultimate research goals. After passing the written qualifying examination, students select a doctoral committee that administers the University Oral Qualifying Examination, required for advancement to candidacy. Students are encouraged to begin thinking about their research interests as early as possible and to seek out faculty members who might serve on their doctoral committee. Students making satisfactory progress are expected to take the written qualifying examination in the summer following their first year of study and the University Oral Qualifying Examination by the end of their second year.
Students are advanced to candidacy upon completion of the written and a preliminary oral exam. The Candidate in Philosophy (C.Phil.) degree is awarded in the quarter the student is advanced to candidacy.
A final oral exam is required.
Completion of the doctorate degree normally takes no more than five years. . In order for a student to complete their degree, they must complete an exit interview with the Vice Chair of graduate studies which includes giving a hard copy of the final dissertation to the Vice Chair and submitting an electric version of the final dissertation to our computer support area.
A committee, consisting of all regular faculty, meets in the spring and discusses ALL Ph.D. students. They make the judgment if a student is making satisfactory progress or not, and they make specific recommendations for individual students. Students who are not making satisfactory progress are in danger of losing financial support. Usually, for senior students, the "satisfactory" judgment is delegated to the PhD advisor, but there is a possibility to discuss problem cases. The same committee also votes to make termination decisions for students who are too far off-target, or who have been off-target for two or more years. Given the Graduate Handbook text, this means the regular faculty serves as the graduate studies committee.
In the normal course of events, Ph.D. students are making satisfactory progress if they take the written exam at the summer after the first year and the preliminary oral exam at the end of the second year.
A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for termination of graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing termination of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.
A student who does not complete all the requirements for the M.S. within seven quarters of full-time study is subject to a recommendation for termination. The Graduate Vice Chair decides in each case whether termination is warranted. A student may appeal a recommendation for termination to the Graduate Studies Committee, which makes the final decision on this matter.
A student who does not take the written qualifying examinations and advanced to candidacy within seven quarters of full-time study is subject to a recommendation for termination. The graduate vice chair informs a student of such a recommendation and the student is asked to submit a written appeal to solicit letters of support from members of the faculty. There is a chance that students receiving funding and have not advanced to candidacy after seven quarters may have the funding lessened. The appeal is considered by the Graduate Studies Committee, which make the final decision by vote as to whether the student is allowed to remain in the program.
See the faculty directory listing for current members and their interests at http://directory.stat.ucla.edu/index.php#faculty