UNDERGRADUATE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Frequently asked questions for undergraduate statistics programs and courses have been arranged in several categories below.

The first 5 categories are relevant for those who want to do a Major or Minor in Statistics, and include information on careers in statistics. The sixth category is for transfer students from other universities who want to match their previous statistics/probability courses with UBC-V courses. For registration issues in Statistics courses, see the FAQ page available at https://www.stat.ubc.ca/contact-us.

There are many more students considering a Major or Minor in Statistics than we can accommodate within the constraints of classroom size, lab space and instructor availability.  If Statistics is one area of study that you are considering, we advise you to start with the introductory courses in statistics, probability and data science, together with the prerequisite math courses.  After completing these courses, you will have a better idea if you really are interested and capable in further study of Statistics and Data science.

The information under "Careers in Statistics" will give you an idea of courses in other subjects that can be useful for a career in statistics or data science. For more details, please see https://students.ubc.ca/career/your-degree/science/statistics. The application instructions for Major or Minor in Statistics are explained in the relevant sections. For those applying after some courses in years 2 or 3, the success of an application depends on grades in courses in (a) introductory statistics, (b) introductory probability, and (c) second year Math (multivariable calculus, linear algebra).

Becoming a statistician requires adeptness in statistics, mathematics, computer science (writing code) and at least one application area. Hence, Statistics is a challenging major to succeed in.  Because it is competitive to get into a Statistics major program,  we provide some tips for study habits in math that might help in achieving the grades needed for a statistical career.  An introductory statistics course mainly provides an introduction to statistical vocabulary and commonly used statistical methods.  In upper level courses, the background mathematical theory for the statistical methods are developed, as well as more in-depth applications and statistical software usage.

The last category "Stat courses from elsewhere" is for transfer students who want to match their statistics courses taken at another university or college. Please look here if you think that you were given incorrect transfer credit for a previous statistics course.  If you have further questions on Statistics advising on topics that are  not covered here, you can try to contact ugradadv at stat dot ubc dot ca, or go to a drop-in advising hour listed in the "Contact Us" page https://www.stat.ubc.ca/contact-us.

If you are applying at the end of year 1 and hope to be a Statistics major with year 2 standing, please follow the procedure at http://www.science.ubc.ca/students/degree/apply.
You should list Statistics among your top 3 choices. If you ask for Statistics as a top choice and didn't get this choice, please go to the next item.