Department of Biostatistics

Courses for a PhD Student Starting Without a Relevant Master's Degree

This program does not assume any relevant course work for a student entering the PhD program. In practice, students with a relevant Master's are likely to have had some courses that are equivalent to requirements in this program. Therefore, prior to registering for courses the student should discuss with his/her advisor the specific courses that should be taken.

A. Core courses (34 credit hours)

* Or another advanced probability course.

B. Electives (15 credit hours)

At least 15 credit hours of electives are required. They may be selected from Biostatistics at the 600/800 level, from Statistics at the 500/600 level, or with approval of the Candidacy Committee, from courses taught in other Departments. At least 12 of these hours should be in formal courses, 9 of the 12 hours should be at the 800 level in Biostatistics or 600 level in Statistics. A formal course is defined to be a graded course that is taught in a lecture format.

C. Epidemiology Requirement

All students in the School of Public Health are required to demonstrate competency in biostatistics and epidemiology. The epidemiology requirement may be satisfied in any one of the following ways:

1. Completing Epidemiology 503 (Winter) or Epidemiology 601 (Fall).
2. For students with a background in epidemiology, completing Epidemiology 601 (Winter).
3. Taking and passing the Epidemiology 503 exemption examination.
   
4. Completing Epidemiology 516 and any necessary prerequisites to that course.

The fourth option (Epidemiology 516) is available to MS student but not to MPH students.

D. Cognate Requirement

PhD students must complete at least 9 hours of course work in a cognate area. This should consist of a coherent set of courses in an area (or in related areas) of application of biostatistics; the courses should be approved for graduate credit and may be from more than one department. Cognate courses should be primarily applied as opposed to mathematics/statistical in nature. For example, courses in areas such as mathematics, statistics, operational research, computer science, econometrics and psychometrics would most likely not qualify as cognate courses. Courses from other departments in Public Health or in areas such as genetics, biology, psychology, economics and many other similar areas will likely qualify as cognate courses. Courses in Bioinformatics that are biological or experimental in nature would typically count toward the cognate, whereas those that are more quantitative or technical would not. Courses taken to satisfy the epidemiology requirement count toward the cognate requirement. Faculty advisors can provide guidance and recommend approval of cognate courses. If questions arise on review by Student Services, the Curriculum Committee will make the final decision.

Waivers of cognate requirements .   It is possible to have cognate courses taken in a graduate program elsewhere recognized and to receive a partial or complete waiver. It should be noted, however, that if the previously taken courses were applied toward a degree, the required credit hours for the UM degree will not be reduced. A waiver of cognate requirements should be discussed with your advisor and must be approved by the Curriculum Committee and all requests must go through the Department's Student Services office.

In Table 4 we present a possible sequence of courses and examinations for students entering without a relevant Master's degree.

TABLE 4: A sample sequences of courses* for a PhD student entering without a relevant Master's degree.

Spring/Summer Year 2: Qualifying Examinations  

* This represents a minimal program of study for the PhD degree. The timing of electives and of cognates may be freely interchanged. These courses also allow a student to receive a Master's degree at the end of the second year. Three additional electives would be taken in year 3 for a total of 15 credit hours of electives. BIOS 820 or 990, which are individually-tailored reading courses in the area of biostatistics in which the student would like to do his or her literature review, are particularly recommended.