Five-Year BS-MS Program

Five-Year BS-MS Program in Statistics and Operations Research

The Statistics and Analytics Program, STAN, offers a special program for outstanding STAN students who desire to pursue graduate study in Statistics and Operations Research focused in Data Science and Analytics. By taking certain STOR undergraduate and graduate courses by the end of their senior year in lieu of the corresponding undergraduate courses, the student can obtain the Bachelor of Science in Statistics and Analytics degree and then, with an additional year of graduate study, obtain the Master’s degree in Statistics and Operations Research. Successful completion of this program cuts a year off of the standard time required to obtain an MS degree in Statistics and Operations Research from UNC.

Eligibility

To be eligible for this program the potential student should, by the end of his/her junior year:

• Have credit for at least 97 hours of coursework, including courses received through placement or transfer.
• Have a GPA of at least 3.2, both overall and for the STAN major required courses.
• Have met with Dr. Sayan Banerjee and received approval to continue in the program.

Requirements:

In addition to the STAN degree requirements, the potential student needs to complete STOR 455 and 4 out of the 7 MS core courses listed below by the end of the senior year. Some of these courses may count towards certain STAN requirements. A total of at least 129 credit hours must be completed for the undergraduate career.

MS Core Courses

• Data Science (STOR 520 or BIOS 611)
• Machine Learning (STOR 565) or Advanced Machine Learning (STOR 767)
• Applied Statistics (STOR 664)
• Optimization (STOR 512 or STOR 612 or STOR 614)
• Stochastic Modeling (STOR 545* or STOR 641)
• Theoretical Statistics (STOR 555 or STOR 654)
• Probability (STOR 535 or STOR 536** or STOR 634)

The fifth year requirements include

• Including the 4 MS core courses taken by the end of the senior year, complete 5 MS core courses by the end of the 5th year.
• Take and pass 12 additional credit hours of STOR-related coursework either inside or outside the STOR Department; outside courses need to be approved by the STOR program’s Director of M.S. Studies.
• Take at least 3 credit hours of STOR 992, MS essay.
• Students must complete an MS essay. See details here.

Admission to the program

1. Junior year: Meet with Dr. Sayan Banerjee to secure approval of schedule
2. Fall semester of senior year: Complete and submit application for graduate study in Statistics and Operations Research to the UNC Graduate School
3. End of senior year: Successfully complete requirements for Bachelor’s degree.

Notification of acceptance into the graduate program in Statistics and Operations Research is normally received in the second semester of the senior year.

*: In Spring 2025 only, this course is offered as STOR 590 with title “Stochastic Modeling & Decision Analytics.”
**: In Fall 2024 only, this course is offered as STOR 590 with title “Advanced Methods of Probability.”