Complete a set of core courses with a grade of B or better including  STAT 661, 662, 767, 768, and 764 or 874 .  Most of these courses will be completed during your M.S. degree.  Without permission, a maximum of two of the courses can be used to count on your plan of study.  Complete an additional 30 semester credits of statistics courses at the 600- to 800-level (does not include  STAT 711, 712, 713, 714 , 725 or 726 ).  At least 15 credits must be at the 700- to 800- level. Upon approval by the adviser and supervisory committee, up to 9 hours may be taken in Mathematics or Computer Science. It is recommended that a student have knowledge of real analysis at some level such as  MATH 650  Real Analysis I  and  MATH 750  Analysis . Pass a written comprehensive exam. This exam consists of two sections. Exam 1 covers STAT 767 and STAT 768. Exam 2 covers STAT 661, STAT 662 and STAT 764 or STAT 774. Exam 1 is two hours and Exam 2 is three hours. These exams are offered during approximately the fifth week of each semester (fall and spring). A maximum of two attempts is allowed. STAT 899 research credits can not be taken during the first two semester in the graduate program at NDSU. Summer does not count as a semester. 

Students hoping to earn the certificate must take 12 semester credit hours consisting of graduate level courses in statistics.  STAT 725 Applied Statistics   needs to be the first course taken for students with little or no prior knowledge of statistics. No credit will be given for STAT 725 for the certificate if it is not the first course taken. Statistics courses numbered 700-724 do not count towards this degree.  Students in the certificate program cannot receive credit for both STAT 661 Applied Regression Models and STAT 726 Applied Regression and Analysis of Variance STAT 726 is recommended.  Students in this program cannot receive credit for both STAT 670 Statistical SAS Programming and STAT 671 Introduction to the R Language . Students need to apply to the graduate certificate program in Statistics at least one semester prior to completion. After completing the requirements for the certificate, please contact the Department of Statistics to verify completion.