PhD Degree in Statistics

Teaching

All doctoral students should have a background in certain mathematical topics usually presented in advanced calculus courses. At K-State, these would be Math 633 and 634. Students who do not have this background upon entering the PhD program should discuss with their major professor, provisional advisor, or graduate program directors the best way to quickly acquire this background after entering the program.

Course Requirements

Students are required to have 90 semester hours of course work and research credit.

Up to thirty hours from a master’s degree program may be applied toward the 90 hours.
The remaining credit hours may include the courses required below, elective courses approved by the student’s major professor in consultation with the student’s graduate committee, and research credits.
Elective courses may be selected from courses offered by the Department of Statistics or by other disciplines.

Required Courses: All doctoral students are required to include the following courses in their programs of study.

STAT 842 Probability for Statistical Inference (3 credits)
STAT 843 Statistical Inference (3 credits)
STAT 860 Linear Models I (3 credits)
STAT 861 Linear Models II (3 credits)
STAT 870 Analysis of Messy Data (3 credits)

and at least 7 credit hours of 900 level Statistics classes selected from

STAT 903 Statistical Methods for Spatial Data (3 credits)
STAT 904 Resampling Methods (3 credits)
STAT 905 High-Dimensional Data and Statistical Learning (3 credits)
STAT 907 Bayesian Statistical Inference (3 credits)
STAT 940 Advanced Statistical Methods (3 credits)
STAT 941 Advanced Statistical Inference (3 credits)
STAT 945 Problems in Statistical Consulting (1-3 credits)
STAT 950 Advanced Studies in Probability and Statistics (1-3 credits)

Ph.D Qualifying Exam

The purpose of the PhD qualifying exam is to assess the students’ readiness for the coursework required for the PhD. The exam is designed so that students who possess an MS Degree in Statistics from Kansas State University or have a comparable academic background can take the exam immediately following admission into the PhD program. As part of the PhD program, all students are required to pass the qualifying exam.

The PhD qualifying exam is offered twice per year. The exam will be offered during the week before the Fall Semester (the Fall Exam) and the week before the Spring Semester (the Spring Exam). The qualifying exam is comprised of two sections: a 4-hour theoretical statistics exam and a 2-hour applied statistics exam. Each section is offered on a different day. The two sections are described below.

Statistical Theory: This exam covers topics taught in STAT 770 and STAT 771.
Applied Statistics: This exam covers topics taught in STAT 713.

Both exams are written exams, and the use of a computer is not permitted.

Definition of an attempt at the qualifying exam

A student attempts the qualifying exam if they sit for at least one section of the exam. Students who are scheduled to sit for a section of the exam but fail to do so without providing proof of a verifiable emergency are considered as sitting for that section.

First attempt at qualifying exam

Students with sufficient backgrounds may attempt one or both sections of the qualifying exam prior to their first semester as a full-time student. Students who do not pass this attempt and/or forgo this attempt at the qualifying exam are expected to take department coursework at the graduate level in their first full academic year to mitigate deficiencies in their background. This attempt counts towards the total number of attempts allowed on the qualifying exam.

For course placement purposes, all incoming students with MS degrees in Statistics or a related field are strongly encouraged to sit for both sections of the qualifying exam prior to entering their first semester as a full-time student.

Deadline for first attempt at the qualifying exam

All PhD students who have not yet attempted the qualifying exam must take the Fall Exam prior to beginning their second full academic year in the program. Students who have not taken the qualifying exam by the beginning of their second full academic year are subject to dismissal from the program.

Passing the exam

A student taking the exam receives a pass or fail grade separately for each section attempted. A student is granted a pass for the qualifying exam after earning a passing grade on both sections. If a student receives a passing grade on only one section out of the two, this section is considered completed and does not need to be retaken. A student must earn a passing grade on both sections to proceed in the program.

Deadline for passing the exam

Students must receive a passing grade on both sections of the exam prior to the spring semester of their second full academic year in the program. The Spring Exam of a student’s second full academic year is the last exam for which the student is eligible.

Total number of attempts of the exam

PhD students are granted two attempts at the qualifying exam. The last attempt must occur no later than the Spring semester of their second full academic year in the program.

Failure to pass exam

PhD students who fail to pass the qualifying exam within their first two attempts and/or fail to pass the exam before the Spring semester of their second full academic year of the program are subject to dismissal from the program and/or may have their assistantships revoked. These students are encouraged to discuss with the Department Head and/or their major professor about their future plans. Students who wish to appeal to continue with the PhD program are recommended to go through the appeals process outlined in the “Appeals process for the qualifying evaluation period” section of the Department Handbook.

Preliminary Exam

The Ph.D. Preliminary Exam consists of two components: a dissertation proposal and a public seminar.

Students must enroll in at least one credit hour during any and all semesters in which they are actively engaged in the preliminary examination process.

Dissertation Proposal

The doctoral preliminary examination will consist of a substantial thesis proposal. It will be judged on how well the candidate has located a problem, searched the literature, read relevant material, and sufficiently refined the problem so that the candidate has a reasonable chance of writing an acceptable dissertation. The proposal will be presented to the candidate's supervisory committee in written form, and to the department and the supervisory committee in a public seminar. A candidate may take the preliminary examination at most twice. If the candidate fails the preliminary examination a second time, he or she will be dismissed from the Statistics graduate program.

The candidate must provide a complete written copy of the proposal to each member of the candidate's supervisory committee two full weeks before the anticipated date of the public presentation. At the same time, the candidate must provide a short (less than one page) summary or abstract to all faculty in the Department of Statistics, and arrange for a seminar. The candidate will provide faculty not on the supervisory committee a copy of the complete proposal at their request.

Public Seminar

The candidate will present the public seminar at a date mutually agreed upon by the candidate, the candidate's supervisory committee, and the department head. The candidate must notify the Graduate School one month before the scheduled date. At the conclusion of the presentation, there will be a time for general questions from the audience. After the general questioning period, the general audience will be dismissed, and a second questioning period will begin with the candidate's supervisory committee and other interested Department of Statistics faculty members in attendance. The candidate should be prepared to answer questions that address specific points in the proposal, courses on the candidate's program of study, and general statistical knowledge.

At the conclusion of the second questioning period, the candidate will be asked to leave the room, and any Department of Statistics faculty members still in attendance may stay to advise the candidate's supervisory committee as to the candidate's ability to pursue Ph.D. work. After providing advice, those who are not members of the candidate's supervisory committee will be excused. The candidate's supervisory committee will then discuss and vote on the candidate's performance, with a three fourths majority of favorable votes needed to pass the preliminary exam.

Details regarding the evaluation of the preliminary exam may be found in the Department Handbook (PDF) .

Timetable for Taking the Preliminary Exam

The preliminary examination must be taken within five semesters of passing the departmental qualifying examination. The semester in which the candidate passes the qualifying exam is counted as semester one, and summers do not count toward the time limit. After passing the qualifying examination, the candidate should start preparing for the preliminary examination as soon as the supervisory committee determines that the candidate is ready.

Additional information about the PhD degree in Statistics is available in K-State’s Graduate Catalog