MSc Co-op Option

A Co-operative Education Option is available for MSc students in Statistics. The option is intended to help prepare interested and qualified students for careers in statistics and involves 8 months of work placement supervised by practicing professionals. Faculty advisers also visit students at their place of work and provide advice on technical reports required of all students in the Program.  MSc students apply for this option after they have been accepted into the Statistics MSc program.

There is NOT a citizenship status requirement.

For further information or to apply for the Statistics Graduate Co-operative option, please contact the Science Co-op office or contact the gradadv [at] stat.ubc.ca (subject: Query%20re%20MSc%20Co-operative%20Education%20Program) (Departmental Graduate Program Advisor).

Requirements and Sample Programs

Co-op placements are for the eight month period from May (at the end of the first year in the MSc program) until the end of December. Students must apply by the beginning of October of the first year. However, since course planning is important, students interested in the program should let the Graduate Advisor know at the start of the MSc program. Students holding teaching assistantships must notify the Department of their co-op plans several months before placement (e.g. in September of the first year).

When the work placement is made, the student is assigned a UBC faculty member mentor. The role of the faculty mentor is to visit the co-op student at the work place, if feasible, and to provide feedback on technical reports required of all students in the program. No thesis or project is required of students in the Co-op option. However, students may wish to pursue an interesting problem that has arisen during the co-op placement. With approval of the employing organization and the Department of Statistics, this pursuit could develop into a project or thesis.

The student must satisfy the usual Statistics MSc non-Biostatistics requirements, except that STAT 551 is NOT required.   The Co-operative Work Placement courses (STAT 598 and 599) can NOT be counted towards  academic credits. Students in the Co-op option are required to make a formal departmental seminar presentation of their Co-op work (or part of the work) or a presentation of their Co-op work experience.

The student should have completed most of the following courses either before entering the program or during the first year of the program: an advanced probability course approved by the Graduate Advisor (eg STAT 547C), STAT 560 and 561 (mathematical statistics), and part of the applied statistics sequence. In addition, the student must complete the consulting course STAT 550.  Co-op students are not required to take STAT 551.

Here is a  sample program.  Note that six credits of the STAT 5XX courses can be replaced by STAT 4XX courses and that some STAT 5XX courses can be replaced by courses in another department, with pre-approval of the Graduate Advisor.