Prospective Students FAQ

For more information about applying to the Department of Applied Statistics and Research Methods graduate programs, please contact Raphael Xavier, Graduate Recruitment Specialist, at raphael.xavier@unco.edu, phone 970-351-1772.

You can find answers to commonly asked questions about admissions and the program here:

• Are Spring 2025 Applications still open?

  Applications for assistantships for Spring 2025 are closed. All current applicants will be notified of assistantship positions by the second week of October 2024. If you are applying for Spring 2025, please note that no further assistantships will be available. Applications for Fall 2025 will not be considered until March 2025.

• Questions about applying

  In general: If you want to apply to the ASRM department, you must first apply to the university at https://www.unco.edu/apply/. When all of your paperwork is in and you have met the university requirements, your information will come to the ASRM department to see whether or not you can be admitted into our department. The faculty in the department will check your transcripts, especially looking at your mathematics and statistics course grades. The faculty will also examine your recommendations and your statement about why you want to be in this department, so please be specific, and if you have any grades that are low in mathematics and statistics, please tell us why and what your plan is to overcome those grades so you can be successful in your pursuit of a Master or PhD program. After the faculty has made their decision, the department chair will make the final determination, and you will be informed by the graduate school as to whether or not you will be accepted.​​

  Transcripts: Transcripts should go to the graduate school as part of your admissions information, NOT to the department chair, who is last in determining whether or not you should be accepted. Please do not send transcripts to the department, because we cannot make decisions based on transcripts sent to only one of us.  Transcripts are not required for assistantships; so far, assistantships are not granted through competition, although there may be a time when admission may be more competitive. If it becomes competitive, we will assess your chances for assistantships based on the transcripts, letters of recommendation and your purpose statement that you give to the graduate school. ​

  Statement of Goals: There are no limitations in your statement of goals; however, I urge you to be concise so we can better understand and help you meet your primary goals. See the advisor section below for more information.​

  GPA: You can apply for an ASRM Master or PhD degree regardless of your Grade Point Average (GPA); however, the university requires at least a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale on the most recent degree earned.  If  you have less than a 3.0 GPA, especially in mathematics and/or statistics courses, you may either be denied admission or asked to take some basic mathematics and statistics courses before you can be admitted to ASRM.​

  GRE: The GRE is not a requirement for admission to either the ASRM Master of Science or PhD degrees as of Fall 2023. If you want to share your GRE scores with us to offer additional evidence as to your ability to succeed, you are welcome, but it is not necessary; your previous grades and statement of intent are more heavily weighted in our decision to admit you.​

  Application deadline: The deadline for applying to the department to is March 1, As of January 1, 2025, we will only accept applications for Fall terms.​

  Other questions about applying: The admissions office can answer questions about applying to the university. Whether you are a U.S. citizen or an international student, you can ask for more information at https://www.unco.edu/apply/ ​

  TOEFL or IELTS: Questions about TOEFL or IELTS should be directed to the International Admissions office at international@unco.edu. This is another university requirement that is not handled in our department.​

  Application waiver: application fees can sometimes be waived by the graduate school in cases of hardship. Please ask the admissions office for information.

• Questions about assistantships

  If you are admitted to our program, we try to fund our students for at least ½ time assistantship (which would include ½ of your tuition costs plus a monthly stipend), and if we have enough funds for the semester for which you're applying, we will try to fund you more fully. Determination of your funding from the department will occur in April for Fall terms. As of January 1, 2025, we will not be accepting applications for spring terms. We will let you know what we can do for you as soon as possible when we know how many students are enrolled and how much funding we have. Assistantships are not competitive at this time; you should not send your transcripts directly to the department, but through the graduate school application process.​

  Assistantships can be offered in four different ways:​

  1) You can be a research consultant in our Research Consulting Lab (RCL; see https://www.unco.edu/cebs/research-consulting-lab/);​

  2) You can teach our STAT150 class and/or be a statistics tutor in our Statistics Study Center (SSC). All instructors of STAT150 must also tutor at least one hour in the SSC.​

  3) You can work in our new Evaluation Research Center (ERC). However, this is a very selective process that will probably not occur until you have been in our department for a while and have had some experience in the RCL and/or the SSC.​

  4) You can act as a graduate teaching assistant (GTA) or research assistant (GRA), working with an ASRM faculty member to teach courses or conduct research.

• Questions about advising/mentorship

  You do not need to pick a particular instructor to work with at the beginning of your program, but we urge you to get to know our faculty as soon as possible so you can pick a research advisor to guide you through your registration and dissertation/masters  processes.  You will work with your research advisor to plan the courses and experiences you want to have to meet your primary goals while you are here. These experiences include working in our research consulting center as a consultant (RCL), working in our statistics study center (SSC) as a tutor, working in our evaluation research center (ERC) as an evaluator of non-profit programs, and/or working with a professor as a research or teaching assistant, besides planning an internship in a local, national or international company and writing articles for publications. 

• Assistantship Application link
  
  • https://unco.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eW1sTdYfaBpBNfE 

If your question is not answered in this list, please email please email Raphael Xavier at raphael.xavier@unco.edu, and we will try to answer all of your questions. ​

The bottom line is, if you want information about the department, please feel free to ask, but if you want information about applying to the university, please write to unco.edu/apply/ (the best place for international students to begin is by visiting https://www.unco.edu/international-admissions/).