Advising
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 fall 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 begun 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.
Areas of Study
The strengths of current and prospective faculty dictate the specific fields of emphasis in the department: applied multivariate analysis; bioinformatics (Center for Statistical Research in Computational Biology); computational and computer-intensive statistics; computer vision; cognition; artificial intelligence; machine learning (Center for Vision, Cognition, Learning, and Autonomy); social statistics (Center for Social Statistics); experimental design and environmental statistics.
Foreign Language Requirement
None.
Course Requirements
44 units of course work are required for the M.S. degree, of which at least 32 units must be graduate courses (200 series), while the remaining 12 units may be approved upper division (100 series) 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 eight units of 596 courses toward the 44-unit requirement and the 32-unit graduate course 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 for at least three quarters, and are strongly encouraged to take Statistics 200A-200B-200C, 201A-201B-201C, and 202A-202B-202C in their first year.
Students with gaps in their previous training are allowed to take, with the approval of their academic adviser, undergraduate courses offered by the department. However, Statistics 100A-100B-100C, 101A-101B-101C 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.
Teaching Experience
Not required. Students who wish to serve as teaching assistants in the department must have taken or be currently enrolled in Statistics 495A-495B-495C.
Field Experience
Not required.
Capstone Plan
This plan is not available to master’s degree students.
Thesis Plan
Every master’s degree thesis plan requires the completion of an approved thesis that demonstrates the student’s ability to perform original, independent research.
This plan is for 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.
Time-to-Degree
Students are expected to complete the requirements for the M.S. degree in six quarters of full-time study. In order for a student to complete their degree, they must submit an electronic version of the final thesis to support@stat.ucla.edu.
For Students Who Entered Before Fall 2022
Please click this link. Then navigate to “Program Requirements” in the tab that opens and select the academic year when you matriculated.
Timeline to Filing Your Thesis
- By Fall of your 2nd year, choose your Faculty Adviser and discuss with your faculty adviser who will be on your committee.
- Complete and submit the Nomination of Master’s Committee Form at least the quarter before you Advance to Candidacy.
- Submit the Master’s Advancement to Candidacy Petition Form along with a copy of your unofficial transcripts by week 2 of the quarter you expect to graduate.
- File thesis. Before you file your thesis, Committee members will approve your thesis before you file online. You must send your complete draft to all committee members at least three weeks before the thesis filing deadline.
- If you still need more time and after you’ve advanced choose to do a Filing Fee instead, you must read this website carefully: https://grad.ucla.edu/academics/graduate-study/filing-fee-application/
- You must also complete the Filing Fee application found here: https://grad.ucla.edu/gasaa/etd/filingfee.pdf
- Important dates and workshops are found here: https://grad.ucla.edu/academics/calendar/thesis-dissertation-filing-deadlines-and-workshops/
- Should you choose the Filing Fee for a specific quarter, you must be registered and enrolled the quarter before AND you must submit a complete first draft of your thesis to all committee members at the time you submit your filing fee application. (In order to apply the filing fee, students must be registered and enrolled in at least 2 units the quarter before.)
Please bookmark the following links for the school’s more detailed calendar and deadlines:
https://www.registrar.ucla.edu/Term-Calendar
https://grad.ucla.edu/academics/calendar/
Termination of Graduate Study and Appeal of Termination — University Policy
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.
Termination of Graduate Study and Appeal of Termination — Special Departmental / Program Policy for the M.S. Program
A student who does not complete all the requirements for the M.S. degree within nine quarters of full-time study is subject to a recommendation for termination. The graduate vice chair decides in each case whether a recommendation for termination is warranted. A student may appeal a recommendation for termination to the Graduate Studies Committee, which makes the final departmental decision.
Faculty Research Interest
See the faculty directory listing for current members and their interests at https://statistics.ucla.edu/index.php/people1.
Articulated Masters Program
Applications are accepted once a year. All students who are interested in articulated M.S. degrees must apply online by the deadline Feb. 1 as all other M.S. applicants do (same requirements and the same procedure). You must apply as a “new” student and not “continuing”. The admission committee will then make recommendations in the M.S. admission process.
Please note that the Articulated Degree Program should not be confused with a Concurrent Degree Program. The UCLA Graduate Division explains the difference between the two at this link. For more information please carefully read the section entitled Individually Designed Articulated Degree Program at this link.
