Information for Admitted Distance MS Students

Continuous Registration: Once you have been formally admitted into the Distance MS program, you will need to be registered for courses every fall and spring semester until you graduate. If you are not able to take courses during a given fall or spring semester, you will need to sign up for Continuous Registration through RamWeb. Failure to sign up for a course or Continuous Registration during a fall or spring semester will result in your admission being dropped. In this case you would need to re-apply for admission before taking any more courses.

GS-6 Form: The GS-6 Form (Program of Study) must be submitted before the time of the fourth regular semester registration after admission. This form is only a plan, and does not need to be followed exactly, but it must align with our course requirements. If you do not complete this form on time, a hold will be placed on your student account, and you will not be allowed to register for classes. Note: All courses taken prior to Fall 2007 must be listed with an ST prefix. For committee assignments, you will need to contact the Statistics Department Distance Office.

Course selection: Whenever possible, we highly recommend that you take all of your Group I courses, except STAT 699, prior to starting on your Group II and Group III courses. Course requirements are the following:

• Group I: You must take STAT 501, STAT 520, STAT 530, STAT 540, STAT 586, STAT 640, STAT 699.
• Group II: You must take at least one course from STAT 521, STAT 525, and at least one course from STAT 605, STAT 650.
• Group III: You must take three additional courses; the two remaining courses from Group II may be used as a choice, as well as any course from STAT 522, STAT 523, STAT 526, STAT 560, STAT 570, STAT 600, STAT 645, STAT 675A-L.

Prerequisites: Prerequisites are important. Always check the Distance STAT Course Descriptions prior to registering for a course to make sure that you have taken the prerequisites. You can also find the textbook and software requirements for each course at this site.

Notes:

• STAT 501, STAT 520, STAT 530, STAT 540, STAT 640 should be taken first, if possible.
• STAT 520 must be taken before STAT 530; and STAT 540 must be taken before STAT 640. We highly recommend that students complete STAT 520, STAT 530 and STAT 540 before taking STAT 640.
• Except for STAT 501 and STAT 586, which are one-credit courses, we strongly recommend that no other courses be taken simultaneously with STAT 520, STAT 530, or STAT 640.

MS Project (STAT 699): During your studies, you should keep your eyes open for professors and topic areas which appeal to you. Although STAT 699 is not typically taken until the final semester (or more often spread out over 2-3 semesters), you should have already obtained an advisor at that point, and ideally a topic. You enlist an advisor through direct conversation (i.e. phone/email) with that professor. Many students take several semesters to complete the project, so it does not hurt to start early by identifying interesting topics as they arise in your classes. It's a good idea to start trying to find an advisor during a free summer after the 3rd or 4th year and possibly even beginning preliminary work under his/her guidance. Students defend their project on campus at the end of the program. Video conferencing may be an option for those who cannot travel to CSU for their defense.

Graduation Requirements: During the term that you intend to graduate, you will need to submit form GS25 (Application for Graduation) and GS9A (Petition for Committee Member Changes). Keep in mind, the committee that you are given for the GS6 form (above) is not intended to be a permenent selection. Our distance office will assist you in completing these forms. Please be sure to contact our Distance Program office at the beginning of your graduation term.

Deadlines for turning in the GS25 and GS9A can be found here.