16 Changes
This page tries to provide important changes that have occurred. For a complete change log, please see the repository commits.
16.1 2025
16.1.1 Written qualifying exams
The Department has changed the written qualifying exam structure. Starting in Fall 2025,
- MS degree has no written qualifying exam
- PhD degree has a written qualifying exam covering first-year core courses.
16.2 2024
16.2.1 STAT 6430 becomes an elective
Starting this year, the Department changed 643/6430 from a required PhD course to an elective PhD course.
The university started using Workday as the underlying system for student records. This resulted in the following changes:
- Course Renumbering
- Wording Updates
- Process Changes
- Graduate Handbook Update
16.2.2 Course Renumbering
All courses at the university were converted from 3 digits to 4 digits by adding a 0 to the end of the course number, e.g. STAT 542 is now STAT 5420. It is expected that the Department will have a mass renumbering of courses soon to take advantage of the 4 digit numbers.
16.2.3 Wording Updates
Many of the terms used in graduate education at ISU have changed. Perhaps the two most important are
- Program of Study (POS) -> Academic Plan (AP)
- Program of Study Committee (POSC) -> Academic Plan Committee (APC)
16.2.4 Graduate Handbook Update
The Graduate Handbook has been updated to reflect wording changes.
16.2.5 Process Changes
Essentially all student processes, e.g. registration, payroll, etc, are now in Workday.
16.3 2018
In 2018, the university changed a rule that resulted in courses intended for graduate students outside Statistics to be renumbered from a 400-level course to a 500-level course. The result of this is that there are many 500-level (now 5000-level) courses that CANNOT be used for the Statistics MS and PhD degrees. These courses include the following statement:
May not be used for graduate credit in the Statistics MS and PhD degree programs.