I was surprised to see that South Dakota State has an on-line program in statistics. I had never seen this one before but knew about all the time-honored programs at CSU, RIT etc. Does anyone have any experience with the South Dakota State Univ. on-line programs in general and the program in statistics in particular? It is fairly reasonably priced compared to the other options out there. Thanks in advance for any advice....
http://learn.sdstate.edu/statistics/ http://maverick.sdstate.edu/users/cogswelk/DepartmentWebsite/MathMastersProgram.htm The tuition is less than $300 per credit hour.
BTW, a visit is required at the end, which is a good thing, IMHO: And the GRE is not required: http://catalog.sdstate.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=1&poid=200&bc=1
Regarding the non-thesis option, this may apply: They don't seem to be very clear on their website, however. What I find interesting, besides the low tuition, is that they don't seem to list math prerequisities for admission.
I have been looking for opportunities like this for a long time. I knew about all the other options out there. Colorado State was expensive and really, really difficult. RIT was way expensive. Macquarie in Australia has a nice program but I am worried about the acceptance here in the states. I thought those were my only options other than a few certificate programs. This one flew under my radar at least. Like you the tuition is extremely attractive, the program seems to be mostly based on applications of statistics instead of heavy theory. But you really, really have to dig on their website to figure things out. The visit in the end is a good thing - I have family not too far from there so it will be an excuse to go home for awhile. I didn't see anything about a comprehensive exam at the end. I will have to check into that.
If you look at this page, go past the course listing to "1. Admission Requirements": This means that a good 2+ years past Introductory Calculus.
Their expected requirements seem to be greater than Colorado State and some other statistics departments by asking for a Real Analysis course. I would expect they admit students who haven't taken Real Analysis.
Hmmm…follow on plans to the DSc? Just kidding…I just want to finish my current degree program someday. Keep in mind that this is an MS in mathematics with a specialization in statistics. Colorado State's program is an MS in statistics. I would expect that they would admit students without a real analysis course as well. Here is SDSU's distance learning page. http://distance.sdstate.edu/Programs.htm
Texas A&M also has a new MS in statistics. I think it's also pretty expensive. However A&M has one of the better stats departments in the country.
Just as an update (or a note to myself), the cost of DL tuition at TAMU (Texas A&M) for graduate statistics courses is expensive as Tom said, specifically $1800-$2000 per course: http://www.stat.tamu.edu/dist/Tuition%20and%20Fees.htm This is more than twice the cost of South Dakota State.
Just as an update, I found the following (internal) 14-page document about South Dakota State's new (and exciting) M.S. in Statistics program: http://www.sdstate.org/ClassLibrary/Page/Information/DataInstances/19322/Files/50335/ST_New_MS_Statistics_091107.pdf
