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Updated 08/12/09—Please note
that our Guide has been significantly rewritten in this update.
General Information
Which Degree: M.S. or Ph.D.?
The Application
The
Transcript
Letters
of Recommendation
Graduate
Record Examinations
Test
of English as a Foreign Language and the International English Language Testing System
Personal
Statement
Fee
Financial Information
Financial
Aid for Ph.D. Students
Financial
Considerations for M.S. Students
Will
We Consider You for Financial Aid?
Timetables
The
Council of Graduate Schools Agreement concerning April 15th
For More Information
General
Information
Applying for admission to a graduate program is
not a routine or simple activity and matching the best graduate school with your abilities and aspirations is
an important step in your career. These guidelines are intended to aid you in preparing an application so you
will know what our admissions committee looks for in an application, which items are of importance, when to start,
when to expect replies, and the like. Whether or not you decide to apply to the
University
of
Chicago
, we hope these notes will assist you in this mostly once-in-a-lifetime process.
Not every graduate program in statistics will be
well suited to you, nor will you be well suited to every graduate program. Before you apply, learn as much as
you can about the programs you are considering: browse their web pages, leaf through their course catalogs, read
the fine print about their degree requirements, and talk to your undergraduate instructors and advisors about
their relative strengths and weaknesses. Make sure your background in mathematics and statistics is appropriate
for the programs you are considering. Some departments expect strong preparation in mathematics, while others
prefer candidates with experience in statistical data analysis and computing, and others, such as ours, expect both.
Just as you attempt to find departments that are
suited to your background and interests, our department tries to find students whose preparation and interests
match the requirements and strengths of our own program. Our admissions committee bases its judgment on information
about you supplied in your application and supporting documents.
Which
Degree: M.S. or Ph.D.?
Which degree should you pursue—the Master's
degree or the Ph.D.? Here are some guidelines.
If your career goal is to conduct independent statistical
research in an academic, government, or industrial setting, you should probably pursue a Ph.D. degree. For many
jobs not involving independent research, a master’s degree suffices.
It is not necessary to have an M.S. degree before
entering our Ph.D. program. In fact, most of our entering Ph.D. students do not have an M.S. degree when they
arrive. On the other hand, after earning their M.S. degrees here, approximately one-quarter to one-third of our
graduates go on to other doctoral programs, typically in applied or quantitative disciplines in statistics, economics,
finance, business, and other fields.
If you are fairly certain but not positive you
want to obtain a Ph.D., you probably should still apply to the Ph.D. program. Entering a Ph.D. program is not
a prison sentence. If you enroll in our doctoral program and then later decide that independent research is not
for you, you may leave the program and receive the M.S. degree if you have fulfilled all of the requirements
for that degree.
Our Ph.D. program is much more selective than our
M.S. program. Applicants to the Ph.D. program are expected to have strong undergraduate records and high scores
on the Graduate Record Exams, both the General Test and the Mathematics Subject Test.
Applicants to the M.S. program are also expected
to have strong undergraduate records; they should have good scores on the General GRE Tests but are not required
to take the Mathematics Subject Test.
If you are not sure which program you are best
qualified for, you may apply to both programs simultaneously—check the third option of the "Create
an Application Account" page of the online application. We will then consider you for the Ph.D. program,
and if we do not deem you to be ready for the Ph.D. program, we will consider you for the M.S. program.
The prerequisites for the master’s program
are calculus through Jacobians and multivariate integrals, linear/matrix algebra,
and a year of elementary probability and statistics. Applicants to the doctoral program should have that background
solidly, plus additional courses in advanced mathematics, such as real or complex analysis, and/or in other disciplines
such as computer science, economics, and the natural sciences.
Most students admitted to the Ph.D. program are
awarded an assistantship, which pays full tuition and a stipend for living expenses.
Master’s students do not receive departmental
assistantships or fellowships but generally receive a reduction in tuition cost. See “Financial Considerations
for M.S. Students” for more information.
Our admissions target for the Ph.D. program is
six to eight students per year. Our small class sizes mean that our Ph.D. students may establish a close working
relationship with the professors easily and that no particular faculty member is likely to be overloaded with
advisees.
Our admissions target for the master’s program
is 20 to 25 new students per year. Typical students in the master’s program include a mix of (1) people
who come to the University just for an M.S. in statistics, (2) doctoral students from other departments within
the University who are augmenting their education with an M.S. degree in statistics, and (3) undergraduates at
the University who are earning a joint BA/MS degree.
The
Application
The admissions committee reads your application
and, based on the information provided there, assesses your preparation in mathematics, statistics, and computing,
your interests within statistics, and your potential for original research. The committee tries to answer for itself questions
such as
1. Is the Department suited to the applicant's
interests?
2. Is the applicant
sufficiently well-prepared mathematically?
3. How likely is it that the applicant will complete
the degree?
The
various parts of your application shed light on these questions.
How to Apply
Applying electronically promotes the timely process of your application. To do so,
you will need access to a web browser. Please visit our web page at
http://www.stat.uchicago.edu/admissions
and click the link marked "Apply Online" to begin. Send all supporting
materials directly to:
Admissions Committee
The Department of Statistics
The
University
of
Chicago
5734
South University Avenue
, E108
Chicago
,
Illinois
60637
With a few exceptions, we strongly advise all supporting
materials be sent together in one package to avoid delays in processing; the exceptions are your final transcripts,
TOEFL and GRE scores to be sent by ETS, and Letters of Recommendation that will be sent directly to us by your
recommenders if they choose this option.
The Special Tracks of the M.S. Program
The master’s program has a number of areas
of specialization, referred to as Special Tracks. In your Personal Statement
you may indicate what Special Tracks you are interested in (we encourage you to do so). Nonetheless, one applies
to the M.S. program per se, not to any particular Special Track. The Special Tracks largely influence what electives
you take and what topic you write your Master's paper on.
Students Currently at the
University
of
Chicago
If you are a doctoral student in another department
within the University who wants to augment your education with a M.S. degree in statistics or an undergraduate
at the University who wants to earn a joint BA/MS degree, then you must apply to our M.S. program and your application
will be reviewed in the same manner applied to all applicants. Doctoral students should read and consider the regulations which apply to them prior to applying.
Undergraduates who are interested in an BA/MS should discuss their plans with the
Department's undergraduate advisor, Professor Michael Stein, no later than the Autumn Quarter of their 3rd year.
Of course, any student at the
University
of
Chicago
is welcome to apply to our Ph.D. program or to our regular M.S. program.
The Transcript
An official copy of your transcript from each undergraduate
or graduate institution you have attended is required. Your transcript and grades indicate the depth and breadth
of your interests, as well as your performance in each of your courses. We have no minimum grade average for
admission to our programs, but we do not view poor grades favorably, especially those obtained in Statistics
and Mathematics courses.
It may be unclear from your transcript whether
you have met the prerequisites for our program. For example, your transcript might show that your math courses
were "Mathematics I" and
"Mathematics II"; such uninformative course titles leave us in the dark about your math background. In such cases,
we recommend that you include, in addition to your transcript, a list of the topics covered in each course that would be
relevant to our program. The other schools to which you are applying may also find these syllabi helpful.
Important Note to Foreign Applicants: If
the original language of your transcripts is not English, you must obtain an official translation and submit
official transcripts both in the original language and in English. This requirement is strictly enforced by the
University’s Office of International Affairs, which will not issue the necessary documents for obtaining
a visa without the transcripts. If the schools you attended are no longer in existence or if it is impossible
to obtain official documents from a school, please ask the Ministry of Education of your country to furnish an
official statement testifying to the impossibility of obtaining records and include this with your supplemental
materials.
Letters of
Recommendation
Letters of recommendation provide insight into
abilities, strengths, and weaknesses that cannot be reflected in grades and test scores alone. You should select
references who know your work well and will write a frank and detailed letter of appraisal of you and of your
likely success in our graduate statistics program. Letters that speak to your mathematical or statistical abilities,
any special experience that you might have (in statistical applications, for example), or your potential for
research are particularly welcome.
It is now possible to submit electronic letters
of recommendation. You will find full instructions as you fill out your online application. Choose the people
who will write letters of reference for you with care and observe the protocols of courtesy by letting them know
that you will submit their contact information with their permission, and that they will receive instructions
via email from our Department.
Once you have submitted the contact information
of those who agree to write references for you on your online application, they will receive an email informing
them that you have applied to the Department of Statistics at The University of Chicago and that you are requesting
a letter of recommendation. Included in the email will be the recommendation deadline date, information pertaining
to your right of access to view their recommendation, and a link that will lead the letter writer to his or her
personal online evaluation for you. The authors of your letters of recommendation will have the following options:
·
complete a letter of recommendation online;
·
choose to send a printed letter of recommendation directly to us by standard mail
or courier service.
Letters completed online or uploaded will be printed
out in the department. If your reference decides to send a letter by mail, instructions on how and where to send
the recommendation will be provided once this option has been chosen.
A minimum of three letters of recommendation are
required. Two additional letters may be included if you think the circumstances warrant it.
If you have any questions regarding the submission
of electronic letters of recommendation, feel free to contact the department.
Graduate Record Examinations
We normally require the GRE General Test of all applicants; in addition, it is strongly encouraged
that applicants to the doctoral program take the GRE Mathematics Subject Test. If you have not already done so, you should make
arrangements to take these exams as soon as possible. We occasionally admit students with otherwise exceptional
records who have not taken these exams, but this is unusual.
The GREs are offered several times a year by the Educational Testing Service (ETS).
Arrangements with ETS must be made several weeks in advance of the date of the examination, and it takes another
six to eight weeks after the exam for the scores to reach us. Consequently, we encourage applicants to take the
GREs no later than December and to take them earlier if possible. It is now possible to take computerized forms
of some sections of the GRE tests online in some locations. Scores on these exams reach us more quickly than
those obtained by taking the traditional GRE exams.
The ETS code for the
University
of
Chicago
is 1832. The code for the Department of Statistics is 0704.
While we do not require a minimum score on the
GREs for admission to our programs, GRE scores are the only measure common to all of our candidates; thus, low
GRE scores not offset by evidence of strength in other areas would make admission unlikely, especially for the
Ph.D. program.
To be official, GRE scores must be sent to us directly
from ETS. It is helpful to the admissions committee reviewers, however, to have self-reported scores prior to
receiving the official results. State your scores separately for each part of the exam and indicate when and
where you took the exam.
Official GRE scores are valid for up to five years
past the test date. As a practical matter, if your scores are more than three years old, we encourage you to
retake the exam(s) to provide a more up-to-date assessment of your abilities.
Test of English
as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the International English Language Testing System (IELTS)
International applicants to the Statistics Department
must demonstrate an adequate command of both spoken and written English.
We will assume you have an adequate command of
English if you grew up in the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, or the United
States, OR if, in the last five years, you completed one academic year of full-time study at an institution in
one of these seven countries that uses English as the language of instruction.
Otherwise, you are required to take the internet-based
test (iBT) version of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International
English Language Testing System (IELTS). It is necessary to take all parts of the TOEFL/IELTS. Poor TOEFL/IELTS
scores are grounds for denial of admission, regardless of the strength of other parts of your record.
Applicants whose total score on the four-part iBT TOEFL
falls below 90, or below 7 on the IELTS, normally are not admitted unless other demonstrable evidence of proficiency
in English is available.
Even if the minimum totals above are met, we may
require you to provide additional evidence of your English proficiency at some later stage in the admission process.
If you are a foreign student who is excused from
the TOEFL by virtue of the "full-time academic study"
clause in the first paragraph, we nonetheless ask you to provide us with a TOEFL/IELTS score or other evidence
of ability in English, such as recommendations from faculty members for whom you have served as a teaching assistant.
For the TOEFL exam, our University's Institution
Code is 1832, and our Department Code is 59. If you are taking the IELTS, request that the scores be sent to
the
University
of
Chicago
, Office of International Affairs, Attn: Admissions,
1414 E. 59th Street
, Room 291,
Chicago
,
IL
60637
.
The University's Office of International Affairs
requires that official score reports be sent directly to the University by the testing agency. Photocopies are
not accepted.
It is helpful to the admissions committee, however, to have self-reported scores before the official score reports reach us. State your
scores separately for each part of the exam, and indicate when and where you took the exam.
TOEFL/IELTS results from tests taken more than
two years prior to our application deadline of February 1 are considered to have expired.
For more information about the University's English
language requirements, please visit https://internationalaffairs.uchicago.edu/students/prospective/toefl.shtml.
Personal
Statement
The short essay provides you with an opportunity
to tell us what interests you about Statistics, what your goals are, and what you hope to accomplish in your
graduate studies. There is no need to tell us more about your grades, test scores, and course work in your essay—your
transcript and other supporting material will provide this information. Instead, you should use the Personal
Statement as an opportunity to tell us about aspects of yourself that are not apparent from your transcript,
such as extracurricular projects you have completed, work experience you have had, and so on. If you have completed
graduate work elsewhere, your statement should include your reasons for wanting to change institutions or degree
programs. This part of your statement is essential if you have completed more than two years of graduate study
at other institutions.
Fee
The application fee is $55 and nonrefundable for
domestic and foreign applicants. A waiver of the fee can be considered for domestic applicants only; see "Instructions
for Applicants to the Graduate Divisions" for further information. University regulations forbid us from
admitting students who have not paid the fee or who have not obtained a waiver; no exceptions are permitted.
If you cannot pay the application fee at the time you apply but may be able to pay it at a later date, we urge
you to apply and then pay the fee when you can.
If you are applying both to Statistics and to another
University
of
Chicago
program, please note that you need to provide a complete application and set of supporting documents to each program.
The only exceptions are official score reports of standard exams such as the GRE and TOEFL. In addition, you must
pay the $55.00 application fee for each application submitted.
Financial
Information
Financial
Aid for Ph.D. Students
In recent years our department has been able to
provide full support (tuition plus a stipend) for most of its Ph.D. students, and we expect to do so for the
foreseeable future. Ordinarily, students are supported for at least four years. Support is not tied to working
with a particular faculty member. At present, most fifth-year students receive full support, and most Ph.D. students
receive summer support.
Decisions on departmental financial aid are made
by the Statistics Department, not by the University. Assistantships are awarded on the basis of our assessment
of your scholarly promise and are subject to the availability of funds.
We adhere to the policy of the Council of Graduate
Schools concerning offers of financial support in the form of a scholarship, assistantship, fellowship, or traineeship.
Under that policy, acceptance of such an offer from any institution does not become binding until April 15. Complete
details are given in the CGS resolution, a copy of which accompanies any offer of a scholarship, assistantship,
fellowship, or traineeship.
You should also investigate other possibilities
for financial support for graduate study. In particular, the National Science Foundation (Write: The Fellowship
Office, National Research Council,
2101 Constitution Avenue
,
Washington
,
D.C.
,
20418
) offers several fellowship programs for graduate study. We strongly encourage all of our applicants who are eligible
to apply to these programs to do so. Since the application deadlines are quite early in the fall, we suggest that
you contact NSF http://www.nsf.gov as early as possible.
If you might receive a fellowship or grant that
would allow you to attend our Ph.D. program without full support from us, please bring that to our attention
in the Financial Data section of the application form. Also, please repeat that information in your Personal
Statement.
Financial
Considerations for M.S. Students
This section discusses how long it takes to complete
the M.S. program, what it costs, and job opportunities for M.S. students on campus.
Our Ph.D. students perform almost all teaching
and research assistant work in our small department; thus, assistantships or fellowships are not available for
M.S. students. We do not offer departmental financial support to incoming master’s students, although they
are typically eligible for a reduction in tuition by 25% for the first year (nine courses); subject to satisfactory
performance in classes and consulting, most continuing master’s students receive a reduction in base tuition
of 40% after that.
Our master’s program has a nine-course requirement,
plus an M.S. paper and seminar presentation. We are on a quarter system, with no summer classes. Master’s students from abroad must be registered full time as
a condition of their visa (a
U.S.
government regulation), which means 3 courses per quarter (except Summer). Domestic students can register for fewer than three courses per quarter; some of our domestic
students do enroll in the M.S. program on a part-time basis by taking one or two courses per quarter while working
at their regular job.
While it is possible to write the paper during
the first three quarters and then graduate in the Summer Quarter, most of our M.S. students find they are too
busy with the coursework to do that. Often they work on the paper over the summer, finish it during the Autumn
Quarter of their second year, and then graduate that quarter or in a later quarter during the second year.
Some M.S. students choose to stay more than four
quarters. Students who do not have an extensive statistics background typically get much more out of the advanced
data analysis courses (34300, 34500, 34700) by taking those in the second year, after
having taken the basic theory courses and several electives the first year. Master’s students who wish
to go on to a doctoral program also may stay more than four quarters. The reason is one of timing. Applications
to Ph.D. programs are typically made in the Autumn Quarter or very early on during Winter Quarter. But at that
point, in your first year, you would not have firmly established your record here. Entry to Ph.D. programs is
typically very competitive, and you would want to build as strong a case as you can. In particular, it would
be good to have the faculty supervisor for your M.S. paper as one of your referees.
After the first three quarters, foreign students
have the option to apply for a reduced course load for one quarter (via a request to the University's Office
of International Affairs) and may take only one course. This is a condition of the student’s visa status.
Be aware that if something keeps you from graduating that quarter (e.g., you don't get your M.S. paper submitted
in time), you will be obligated to register for three courses for each subsequent quarter until you have completed
your degree requirements.
As an example of the first-year costs of the program,
here are amounts based on twelve months including the 2009-2010 academic year for a student without any dependents
taking the normal full-time load of three courses per quarter for three quarters (Autumn,
Winter, and Spring). Tuition (for nine courses) is $39,276; the required Student Life Fee is $714; for a total
of $39,999 in tuition and fees. The University's Office of International Affairs estimates a foreign student
must be able to afford an additional $25,216 in living expenses for the first year: $2,066 for health insurance,
$1,650 for books, $16,125 in general living expenses, and $5,375 for miscellaneous expenses. The grand total:
$65,206. The departmental tuition reduction of 25%, or $9,819, reduces that total to $55,387. These amounts are
likely to increase slightly for the 2010-2011 academic year.
It may be possible to live more cheaply than stipulated
in the Office of International Affairs budget, which is established to meet the Federal government’s requirements
for obtaining a visa. If we offer you admission, we will provide you with the names and email addresses of some
current M.S. students who may ask, among other things you would like to know about, how they economize their
resources to achieve the best possible living experience in
Chicago
as a student.
Depending on our Department's need for graders
and your qualifications, you may earn some money by working as a grader. Typical grader pay is $600–$800
per quarter for 5–7 hours of work per week. With rare exceptions, M.S. students are not hired as graders
during their first quarter in the program. During most quarters, one or two experienced graders are allowed to
take on a high-level course for pay of approximately $1,000 to $1,200; however, this is not to be expected for
an M.S. student at any time during their first year in the program.
Many M.S. students check the University's web site
for student jobs, which is an active list of available
student positions (in the Graduate School of Business, Economics, and other departments) for research assistants,
data analysts, office assistants, student technicians, the like. Sometimes researchers
from other departments let us know about their openings and ask us to recommend some students for the job. Research
assistants in these positions mostly assist in data entry and validation, data analysis, programming, and model
simulations. Although the above-mentioned jobs are not guaranteed, they are generally not very hard to find.
Most of the time, our students decide not to take part-time jobs on campus because of their heavy course load,
not because such jobs are not available.
If you are a foreign student here on a student
visa, the rules and procedures you must follow regarding employment as a student are both specific and strict.
Ignoring the rules can jeopardize your visa status and right to remain in the country. Foreign students should
always consult with both the Office of International Affairs and with our department administrators regarding
how a particular student job does or does not fit with the visa regulations that apply to your individual status.
For more information about finances, please visit
the University's site Financing Your Education. There you will find further discussion and related links on
the topics Annual Estimated Expenses, Financial Aid in Your Academic Area, Employment Resources and Opportunities,
and more.
Important note: The admission application
form includes a section entitled “FINANCIAL DATA.” It is crucial for M.S. applicants to complete
this section, especially the list of Income Sources and associated amounts. (Some common sources are parents,
family, savings, loans, grants, employment.) We cannot consider your application unless the total of your income
sources indicates you will be able to cover the cost of our program for one year. You do not have to document
your income sources for the purposes of the application, but please list your amounts in good faith. If you are
a student from abroad, are admitted to the program, and accept our admission offer, you will have to provide
official documentation to the University's Office of International Affairs showing that you have funds sufficient
to cover the budget that they stipulate for the purposes of obtaining the necessary visa.
Will
We Consider You for Financial Aid?
The “Financial
Data”
section of the application form asks if you would like to be considered for financial aid. How you answer that
question (if at all) doesn't matter. We automatically consider each Ph.D. admittee for
financial aid but take into account any outside grants or other funding the student may have. The department does
not provide financial aid to the M.S. admittees other than the tuition reduction offered and described above in “Financial
Considerations for M.S. Students.” All students are encouraged to visit the links listed in the “Resources” section
of our “Admissions” site and to do so early on to determine what sources of external financial aid
they may qualify for.
Timetables
We admit students for starting the program in the Autumn Quarter. We do not allow
admits during the rest of the academic year because of the structure of our course sequences.
We have a soft deadline of February 1. The recommendation
forms in your
University
of
Chicago
application packet may say that the deadline is the preceding December 28th. That date does not apply to Department
of Statistics.
The admissions committee begins reviewing applications
to the Ph.D. program around the beginning of February and begins reviewing applications to the M.S. program are
reviewed toward the end of February. Because we get hundreds of applications, both review processes can go on
for many weeks. We continue to accept applications after February 1 and to process still incomplete applications,
until such time as our program slots are filled or are judged as likely to be filled by applicants who have been
wait-listed. That typically happens by mid-April, though it can happen several weeks earlier. When we close admissions,
we post a notice to that effect on our web page and no longer accept either paper or online admissions applications.
We strongly recommend you submit your application
by February 1, or earlier, so it will be certain to receive review. If your school is on a semester system, your
fall semester grades may not be available until some time close to February 1. In that case, you can submit your
application earlier with a preliminary version of your transcript; you will need to submit an updated transcript
after your fall grades are available.
An application is complete when we have received
the application form and fee and when all letters of recommendation, transcripts, and GRE scores (and TOEFL scores
if required) have arrived. Applications are not considered until they are complete. One of the most common causes
for delay pertains to the reporting of GRE (or TOEFL) scores. Results reports from the December examination usually
arrive in mid-February, and January exam reports may not arrive until mid-March. Consequently,
it is important to take the GREs early, preferably in December or before.
You should expect to hear from us at the following
times:
1. Shortly after we receive your application, we
will send an email or a letter acknowledging receipt.
2. If we do not receive all supporting materials
within a reasonable amount of time, we may contact you indicating what item(s) are missing. If you have provided
us with an email address, we will notify you via email.
3. If your application is complete on February 1, we would hope to get news to you
by mid-March. If you apply after February 1, or if your application is incomplete on that date, we would hope
to get news to you approximately four to six weeks after your complete application is received.
If any of the notices listed above fails to reach
you within a reasonable amount of time, please be certain to contact us. Occasionally things do go astray. As
soon as it is clear that there may be a problem, we can take action to remedy the matter.
The Council
of Graduate Schools Agreement concerning April 15th
Applicants to the doctoral program should please
note that by the terms of the Council of Graduate Schools agreement, to which the University of Chicago
and many other universities in the United States are signatories, Ph.D. applicants are not required to make a
final decision about acceptance of financial aid (e.g., assistantships) until April 15th, nor is any commitment
on their part binding until then. This agreement is not applicable to students admitted without scholarships
or assistantships, such as those admitted to our M.S. program with tuition reduction. For more information concerning
the agreement, visit the Council of Graduate Schools web site and select "Resources
for Students" on the navigation bar to the left, then click on "April 15th: Resolution Regarding Graduate Scholars."
For More
Information
If you have any questions about the application
process, you may contact Professor Michael Wichura,
Chairman of the Admissions Committee, by fax at 773.702.9810, or by mail.
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