Applicable only to students admitted during the 2024-2025 academic year.

Biostatistics

School of Public Health

Graduate Degrees

The Department of Biostatistics offers the Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Biostatistics.

Admissions Requirements

Master’s Degree

Advising

An adviser is appointed for each new master’s student by the department chair. Student and adviser together agree upon a study list for each academic quarter and any subsequent alterations must be approved by both the adviser and the Associate Dean of Student Affairs. Students are expected to meet with their advisers each quarter. A departmental guidance committee is established when the student has completed approximately half of the program for the master’s degree. Members of the departmental guidance committee are nominated by the department chair after consultation with the student and the student’s adviser.

An adviser is responsible for the student’s academic progress. Progress is evaluated on an ongoing basis. At the end of each quarter, the Associate Dean of Student Affairs reviews academic listings of students and notifies them and the advisers when the cumulative grade-point average is below 3.0. Advisers review each case with their advisees and make recommendations to the Associate Dean of Student Affairs for continuance or academic disqualification. Students who wish to change advisers must file a petition that must be approved by the new adviser, the department chair, and the Associate Dean for Student Affairs.

Areas of Study

Consult the graduate adviser for the areas of specialization. Typical course plans are listed below.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

The M.S. degree requires 18 graduate and upper division courses (70 units), of which at least five must be graduate courses (200 and 500 series). The following courses are required: Biostatistics 200A, 200B, 200C, 202A, 202B, 216, 244, 402A, 402B, 596; one 4-unit course in Epidemiology; one 4-unit course in broad Public Health such as PH 150/PH201 or HPM M242; and 24 units of special topics elective courses selected from Biostatistics 202C, 203A, 203B, 212, 213, 214, M215, Biostatistics 230-241 series, Biostatistics 406, 410, 411 and 413.

No more than one 4-unit course from the 400 series can count towards the minimum 24 units of electives for the degree. Students can apply a maximum of two 500-level courses (8 units) toward the total graduate course level requirement for the M.S. Other courses in biostatistics or mathematical statistics, or in related areas such as biology, physiology, public health, management, or mathematics, are selected with the adviser’s consent and approved by the chair.

Students may petition the department to substitute any of the above required courses with elective courses, if they have previously taken the course at UCLA or its equivalent at another institution.

Students wishing to continue to the Ph.D. program are required to take Mathematics 131A as a prerequisite, unless previously taken at UCLA or elsewhere. This math course can be taken any quarter during year 2.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Field Experience

Not required.

Capstone Plan

Students are required to submit a written report and pass a written comprehensive examination administered at the beginning of the second year of study that covers the content of the first year core coursework. No more than one reexamination after failure is allowed. Failure to secure a passing grade in at most two attempts in the MS Comprehensive examination will result in the department recommending the student to the Division of Graduate Education for Academic Disqualification. Students who do not take the reexamination at the time specified by the department forfeit their right to reexamination.

Thesis Plan

None.

Time-to-Degree

From graduate admission to award of the degree (depending upon the program), normative time is six quarters, including quarters enrolled in previous graduate study at a UC campus prior to admission to the School of Public Health. Maximum time allowable from enrollment to graduation is nine quarters (three years).

DEGREE	NORMATIVE TIME TO ATC (Quarters)	NORMATIVE TTD	MAXIMUM TTD
M.S.	5	6	9

Doctoral Degree

Advising

A faculty adviser is appointed for each beginning doctoral student by the department chair. The adviser meets with the student each quarter to discuss academic progress. When the student advances to candidacy, the chair of the dissertation committee becomes the student’s adviser.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

Consult the graduate adviser.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

Students must complete the following courses: Biostatistics 216, 250A, 250B, 250C, M257, one 4-unit course in Epidemiology course; one 4-unit course in broad Public Health such as PH 150/PH201 or HPM M242; and six 200-level, 4-unit special topic elective courses from Biostatistics 202C, 210 and above. To fulfill the six elective courses, students may formally petition to enroll in courses in Statistics and Biomathematics. Students who entered the doctoral program with an M.S. in Biostatistics from UCLA may waive up to three special topic elective courses (12 units) based on prior completion of 200 level. Biostatistics courses from Biostatistics 210 and above, or other suitable equivalent courses. Students must enroll in Biostatistics 409 for two consecutive quarters and Biostatistics 245 every quarter Students must also enroll in two quarters of Biostatistics 246 in their second and third year.

For students who have not completed a master’s degree or equivalent in Biostatistics, the following additional courses must be included in the degree program: Biostatistics 200A-200B-200C, 202A, 202B.

Teaching Experience

Teaching experience is recommended but not required.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass university written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy. Also, under Senate regulations, the University Oral Qualifying Examination is open only to the student and appointed members of the doctoral committee. In addition to university requirements, some graduate programs have other pre-candidacy examination requirements. What follows in this section is how students are required to fulfill all of these requirements for this doctoral program.

All committee nominations and reconstitutions adhere to the Minimum Standards for Doctoral Committee Constitution.

Before advancement to candidacy, students must pass one written examination (Ph.D. Preliminary Examination) and the University Oral Qualifying Examination.

Students without a prior master’s degree or equivalent in Biostatistics must take the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination by the fall quarter of their second year. Failure to secure a passing grade in at most two attempts in the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination will result in the department recommending the student to the Division of Graduate Education for academic disqualification.

Students with a prior master’s degree in Biostatistics from UCLA are exempt from taking the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination, as it was taken during their MS study.

The University Oral Qualifying Examination is taken after successful completion of the Ph.D. Preliminary written examination. The Oral Qualifying Examination is administered by the doctoral committee and usually consists of a preliminary defense of the dissertation proposal. Passing of this examination is required for students to officially advance to candidacy.

Students without a prior master’s degree or equivalent in Biostatistics are expected to take Oral Qualifying Examination within the first three years of the PhD study.

Students with a prior master’s degree in Biostatistics from UCLA are expected to take the Oral Qualifying Examination within the first two years of their PhD study.

A failed examination (written or oral) may be repeated once. The timing of the reexamination is specified by the department in the case of the written examination or by the student’s committee in the case of the oral examination. It is recommended that the oral examination is repeated within a year of a failed attempt. Students who do not take the reexaminations at the specified time forfeit their right to reexamination.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are advanced to candidacy upon successful completion of the Ph.D. Preliminary Written Examination and Ph.D. Oral Qualifying Examination.

Doctoral Dissertation

Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student’s ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of the Dissertation)

Required for all students in the program.

Time-to-Degree

It is expected that doctoral students entering the program without a master’s degree normally will complete the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination by the fall quarter of their second year (four quarters); advance to candidacy within nine quarters; and complete the dissertation and defense within six quarters of advancement to candidacy. Normative Time-to-Degree is fifteen quarters from graduate admission to award of the degree. The doctoral program is usually shortened by one year if students enter with a master’s degree. Maximum allowable time for the attainment of the degree is twenty-four quarters of enrollment (eight years). This limitation includes quarters enrolled in previous graduate study at a UC campus prior to admission to the doctoral degree program.

DEGREE	NORMATIVE TIME TO ATC (Quarters)	NORMATIVE TTD	MAXIMUM TTD
Ph.D.	9	15	24

Academic Disqualification and Appeal of Disqualification

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for academic disqualification from graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing academic disqualification of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

Master’s
In addition to the standard reasons outlined above, a student may be recommended for academic disqualification for failure to complete the required course work within seven quarters of matriculation.

Doctoral
In addition to the standard reasons outlined above, a student may be recommended for academic disqualification for failure to maintain a 3.0 grade point average for two consecutive quarters following matriculation into the doctoral program; a second failure ofthe written qualifying examination; a second failure of either oral examination; or exceeding enrollment time limits.

A student may appeal a recommendation for academic disqualification first to the departmental chair, then to the Associate Dean of Student Affairs, then to the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and finally to the dean of the school.