Some Observations on Undergraduate Programs for Statistics Majors

Abstract

Recently, a conference on the preparation of students for graduate study in statistics was held at the request of the Statistics Panel of the Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics (CUPM). In addition to seven members of that panel, there were 13 participants or resource persons in attendance, most of whom were statisticians, although there were also representatives from mathematics, operations research, and computer science. My particular assignment at this conference was to review the present status of the undergraduate program for statistics majors and to make some comments about the importance and the direction of these programs. Several of the other participants thought that this particular aspect of our conference should have wider distribution among statisticians than it might receive through a report of the CUPM panel. As a consequence, I have written this article. In order to get some facts about the present status of the undergraduate programs for statistics majors, several Departments of Statistics were contacted for information about their programs as of the academic year 1967-68. Departments of Mathematics and Statistics and Departments of Statistics which do not have an undergraduate major in statistics were not included in this survey. Thus Departments of Statistics which award undergraduate degrees in the Mathematical Sciences were not included. Although all eligible departments may not be represented in my list, certainly it is complete enough to get an accurate idea of the requirements for an undergraduate major in statistics at universities in the United States. The replies from the departments varied from copies of their respective catalogues to rather detailed reports. Accordingly, in some instances, it was necessary to read between the lines; and, in doing so, I hope that I did not completely misrepresent the situation. I take some comfort from the fact that each department on my list was given a copy of the summary which is presented in the next section, and in no case did I receive a response indicating that the report was in error.