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Home > Undergraduate Programs : BA/BS Requirements

BA/BS Requirements

The University of Minnesota offers two different programs leading to a bachelor's degree in statistics. The College of Liberal Arts (CLA) offers a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Statistics, while the College of Science and Engineering offers a Bachelor of Science in Statistics (BSStat) degree.

The School of Statistics

Both the BA and BS degrees are administered by the School of Statistics, an internationally recognized group of about 18 permanent faculty. Besides bachelor's degrees, the School offers MS and PhD degrees with about 60 graduate students currently enrolled. Students are advised to acquire a knowledge of a second academic area. Typical examples are industrial engineering, computer science, health science, business and economics, social science, or actuarial science. General information on employment will be found in the brochure "Careers in Statistics" which is available from the Undergraduate Advisor (inquire at 313 Ford Hall), or from the American Statistical Association, 806 - 15th Street,N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005.

Comparison of BA and BS

The University of Minnesota offers two different programs leading to a bachelor's degree in statistics:

• the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) offers a bachelor of arts (BA) degree in statistics;
• the College of Science and Engineering (CSE) offers a bachelor of science (BS) degree in statistics.

The major differences between the degrees are the differing college degree requirements between the College of Liberal Art and the College of Science and Engineering.. CLA students have a foreign language requirement; and CSE students must take an extra scence course and 3 courses of technical electives that are not required in CLA.

Second Academic Area Recommendation

We advise our undergraduate students to acquire a knowledge of a second academic area. Typical examples are industrial engineering, computer science, health science, business and economics, social science, or actuarial science.

The BA Program

Candidates for the BA must meet all CLA requirements as listed in the CLA Bulletin. This includes 120 total credits, liberal education requirements, etc. In addition, the Statistics major requires:

• Math 1271-1272 (calculus)
• Math 2243 (or 2373) (linear algebra and differential equations)
• Math 2263, 4242 (analysis and linear algebra)
• CSci 1103 or 1107 or 1113 (programming)
• Stat 3011 or 3021 (introduction to statistics)
• Stat 3022 (statistical analysis)
• Stat 4101-4102 or 5101-5102 (theory)
• Stat 4893 (senior paper)
• 10 credits of statistics electives

For more detail consult the Undergraduate Catalog or the undergraduate adviser in the School of Statistics.

The BS Program

Candidates for the BSStat must meet all CSE requirements listed in the Undergraduate Catalog. This includes having 120 total credits and fulfillingthe liberal arts requirements. The statistics major requires:

• Math 1271-1272 (calculus)
• Math 2243 (or 2373) (linear algebra and differential equations)
• Math 2263, 4242 (analysis and linear algebra)
• CSci 1103 or 1107 or 1113 (programming)
• Stat 3011 or 3021 (introduction to statistics)
• Stat 3022 (statistical analysis)
• Three courses with lab from physics, chemistry and biology
• Stat 4101-4102 or 5101-5102 (theory)
• 10 credits of statistics electives
• 3 courses of technical electives chosen from one area such as computer science, engineering, mathematics, etc. The electives can be used to emphasize such interests as industrial engineering, operations research, computer science or actuarial science.

For further details consult the Undergraduate Catalog or the undergraduate adviser in the School of Statistics.

Employment of Graduates

General information on employment is available from the American Statistical Association at http://www.amstat.org/careers/. We also encourage students to use the resources in the CLA Career Services office.

Our graduates are widely employed in the Twin Cities metropolitan area and throughout the U.S.