Requirements
Coursework
36 Credits:
- 24 Graded STA Credits
- 3 to 6 Credits, Graded or Ungraded, in STA
- 6 to 9 Graded Credits in STA or Non-STA Courses
Out of the total required 36 credits for the program, 19 credits are dedicated to core courses. The remaining 17 credits offer various choices, encompassing internal and external electives to provide students with a comprehensive and flexible educational experience.
For MSS Electives, we offer a broad selection of in-house STA courses and provide opportunities for cross-listed courses with other departments at Duke University. These collaborative offerings span departments such as MATH, ECE, CS, B&B, and MIDS (Master's of Interdisciplinary Science.)
External Electives are graduate-level courses that align with a student's interest and are provided by various academic departments at Duke University. These courses can be taken by students with the approval of the respective course instructors. Some of the most sought-after external courses include those related to Natural Language Processing and Deep Learning, which are offered by the ECE and CS departments. Please refer to our electives page for a comprehensive list of available external courses.
Required Core
The MSS Core consists of six mandatory 3-credit courses covering models, methods, theory, computing, practice, and a 1-credit pro-seminar. If a student possesses substantial prior coursework in one or more of these areas, they may request approval from their advisor and the Master's Director to substitute an alternative, more advanced course prior to registration.
STA 521L Predictive Modeling and Statistical Learning (Fall, 1st year)
STA 523L Programming for Statistical Science (Fall, 1st year)
STA 581 ProSeminar: Becoming a Professional Statistician (Fall, 1st year)
STA 532 Theory of Statistical Inference (Fall, 1st year)
STA 602L Bayesian and Modern Statistical Data Analysis (Spring, 1st year)
STA 663L Statistical Computing and Computation (Spring, 1st year)
STA 610L Multilevel and Hierarchical Models (Fall, 2nd year)
Completion Exercise
The MSS program provides exceptional flexibility in completing exercises tailored to individual student interests. As part of the MSS completion requirements, students can choose from three options to showcase their comprehension and mastery of statistical methods, practical application, and computational skills.
Other Departmental Requirements
- Attendance at the one-week in-person summer boot camp and one-week orientation, usually scheduled during the second and third week of August before the start of the semester.
- Submission of the First-Year Progress Report
- Attendance at departmental events, including Orientation, the Alumni Dinner (held each Spring), and the Departmental Career Fair (held each Fall)
- Participation in the exit interview/exit survey process
Graduate School Requirements
- All master’s students are required to complete four hours of RCR training during their orientation and an additional two-hour RCR forum before graduation.
- International students who are required to take English for International Students (EIS) courses must receive grades of “CR” (credit) for those courses to be certified to graduate.