Statistics Major Advising and Registration FAQs

• Your academic advisor is someone who can help you graduate with a statistics major on time. They can help you choose courses you need to take in order to satisfy your degree requirement. You are required to meet with your academic advisor at least once every semester to discuss the upcoming semester’s course selections, get your registration hold lifted, and to talk in general about your NCSU experience and plans. You should talk to your advisor whenever you have any questions during your study at NCSU- not just during the required advising period.
• While your advisor is primarily there to help you with academic questions, they are a good place to start with other types of questions if you can’t figure out where to start. For example, if you are struggling with mental health or housing issues, your advisor might be a good place to begin. If your advisor doesn’t know the answer to a question, they can probably direct you to someone who can help.
• However, there are plenty of things your advisor won’t be able to help you with. For example, your academic advisor can’t help you with financial aid questions, you need to talk to the financial aid office. They also may not be able to answer questions about requirements/policies for other majors. They can’t enroll you in classes or get you a seat in a full/restricted class. Your advisor will help you whenever they can, and they will gladly direct you to the right person in cases where they can’t.
• I am a double major student. I have another academic advisor from another major, do I have to see both academic advisors in order to register courses? Strictly speaking, no., You only need to see one academic advisor to lift your holds., However, it is wise to meet with both advisors at least once per semester to make sure you are progressing in a timely manner towards both degrees.

Current graduation requirements for Statistics majors are found on the university catalog pages, including a recommended Semester Sequence to guide your course selections as you progress through your degree. You can also find a clear display of your degree requirements in the Degree Audit of your MyPack Portal.

If you are unable to enroll for a Statistics course, you may request an override into an ST course. Please wait until your enrollment date to submit an override request. For courses in other departments, please check the lists maintained here and here. If you don’t see the department offering your course on either of those lists, you will need to contact that department directly.

• ST 114: The Fall section of ST 114 is strictly reserved for new freshmen statistics majors, no exceptions. If you do not fall into this category you must take ST 114 in the spring. If you plan to pursue a Computer Programming minor you should consider taking CSC 116 instead (along with its prerequisite, E115).
• ST 311 AP Credit: If you scored a 3, 4, or 5 on the AP Statistics exam you should see credit for ST 311 on your degree audit. If you are not confident in your knowledge or memory of that material, you might want to take ST 311 here at NC State. At worst “retaking” ST 311 will provide a solid foundation for future statistics courses and most likely provide a nice little boost to your GPA 🙂
• ST 3xx courses: Once you have taken 312 or 372 you should not go back and take any 300-level ST course (or BUS 350) other than ST 307 or 308.
• ST 495: ST 495 is not “a” course. The ST 495 label is used to offer special topics classes, often to test out a course before making it a permanent addition. Thus, take note of the title of the specific section of ST 495. You can take ST 495 multiple times as long as the title is different from ones you have taken in the past. ST 495 courses can count as Statistics Electives, and some will count as Computational Statistics Electives. Watch for information in the Registration and Advising email each semester for details about these course offerings.
• ST 497, 498, 499: These three courses are what we call Experiential Learning Courses. Each of these courses requires a “contract” between the student and instructor/mentor describing the work to be completed. In all cases it is the student’s responsibility to identify the company or faculty member you will be working with before being allowed to register for the course. These classes can count as ST electives, but you may apply no more than 6 total credits from this collection of classes to your degree. Please talk to your advisor if you are interested in one of these classes.
  • ST 497: used for internship experiences. In order to earn credit for an internship, you must have a very close mentoring arrangement, much more than a typical “job” would. The position should include substantial statistics or statistical programming content, and you should have a mentoring plan involving a supervisor. DO NOT ASSUME that your internship will qualify for this course credit without discussing it with your advisor. You will provide progress reports and some sort of final project. ST 497 can only be taken one time, for a maximum of 3 credits.
  • ST 498: used for independent studies. This course number will not be used very often. You could use it if you were, for example, working through a statistics textbook on a topic not offered as a class at NC State. You still need a faculty member to monitor your progress.
  • ST 499: used for undergraduate research under the direction of an NC State faculty member. The expectations for your work will be spelled out in the contract mentioned above.
• Should I take a dual level course like ST 405, 433, 434, 437 or 440? Several statistics courses fall into the category of “dual level classes”. These are introductory graduate level courses that allow a few undergraduates to take them. The 400- and 500-level versions will meet in the same classrooms, but will have some differences in assignments and/or exam questions. Expect these classes to be considerably harder and more time-consuming than your “average” statistics class.
• ST 5xx: With few exceptions, statistics undergraduates should not be enrolled in graduate level ST courses. Talk to your advisor if you have questions about this, since most of these courses are not allowed to apply to your degree even if you do somehow manage to get a seat in one.

• What are Advised Electives anyway? In cooperation with their advisor, each Statistics major develops a plan for 12 credits of Advised Electives. These courses can be in most any area, but they should be “thematically related”. Most students fill their Advised Electives by completing a minor or second major.
• Can I count this course as an Advised Elective? Maybe, maybe not. If it counts towards your minor or second major, then yes. If you have already finished your minor without filling all 12 Advised Electives, work with your advisor to come up with a plan for the remaining ones. You can always take additional 400-level ST courses as Advised Electives, and most DSC courses can be counted (DSC 201 does NOT count, and others will be noted in the Registration and Advising email each semester). Do not think of Advised Electives as Free Electives- you can’t simply choose 12 credits of unrelated classes, and we expect some of them to be at more advanced levels (ie, 300 or 400 level). You should talk to your advisor every semester about the status of your Advised Electives.
• This course isn’t showing up as an Advised Elective in my degree audit, what should I do? Your advisor will have to approve each of your advised electives and request that they be moved in your degree audit, so talk to them about having these courses moved.
• Can a course that I used for an Advised Elective be applied towards a minor or second major? Unless that major or minor prohibits it, yes. (Some minors, especially those in CHASS, do not allow you to do this.)

• What should I take to fill my GEP requirements? In a nutshell, take courses that you find interesting or potentially useful for your personal/professional goals. GEP courses can also be useful ways to explore potential minors or second majors. Please note that GEP requirements change from time to time, so students who started at NCSU in different years may not all have the same GEP requirements. Your requirements are clearly displayed in the Degree Audit of your MyPack Portal.
• One of my GEP courses isn’t showing up in the right spot, what should I do? There are several reasons this might happen. The most common is that you are trying to use two courses from the same GEP category sublist (click on the View Options link in your Degree Audit and you will see how the Humanities and Social Sciences categories are divided into disciplines/sublists; in these cases you must choose courses from different sublists.) In other cases, the Degree Audit computing system simply doesn’t process the course properly. This is especially common for the Natural Sciences courses for Statistics majors. Check with your advisor for help.

• I took MA 131 before my CODA into Statistics. Can I take MA 241? Yes, but not immediately. You will first need to take the Calculus II Bridge Course, offered most semesters as a section of ST 493.
• Should I take MA 305 or MA 405? We recommend MA 405 for students considering graduate school, either is fine otherwise.
• Can I take MA 303 instead of MA 305 or 405? If you have just become a Statistics major and took this as part of your previous major’s requirements, then yes. Otherwise no.
• I took CSC 226, do I need to take MA 225? No. Talk with your advisor about getting this requirement adjusted on your degree audit.
• Should I take MA 425? If you are giving serious consideration to pursuing a PhD in Statistics, MA 425 is strongly recommended.

• I want to take courses at another university, will they fill my degree requirements? You should first check the Transfer Database to see if courses offered in other universities are equivalent to courses offered in NCSU. If so, you can be certain that the course will be treated exactly like its NCSU equivalent. However, most courses will not appear in this database. For these courses you should talk to your academic advisor about how they might fit into your degree plan, and they may direct you to another department for guidance.

• I made a D or F in a required course, do I have to repeat it? If you made an F, yes. If you made a D-, D, or D+, maybe not. If you look at footnote 1 in the Statistics Semester Sequence you will see that you are allowed one D-/D/D+ grade in certain degree requirements.
• I’m not happy with a course grade, can I retake it? Yes. If you made a C- or lower in the original course, you can use a Grade Exclusion to remove it from your GPA calculation. However, the original grade will remain on your transcript, and it will not count towards your degree requirements, not even as Free Elective credit. You are limited to only two grade exclusions, and you can not reverse them once they have been applied. You can repeat most courses even without applying Grade Exclusions, but you can apply credit for only one of the attempts to your degree requirements. The rules for repeating courses can get complicated, so read the regulation carefully.
• What are W grades, and do I need to worry about them? If you drop a course after the Census Date but before the Drop/Revision Deadline you will get a “grade” of W on your transcript. W grades do not affect your GPA, but you are limited to a total of 16 credits of W during your academic career. Most graduate schools and employers will not consider W grades negatively.
• Do I have to take COS 100? Yes, unless (1) you are a transfer student, or (2) you changed majors into Statistics and took a similar freshman course as part of your other major. If you fall into either or these categories talk to your advisor about adjusting your degree audit.
• Can I “double count” a course and use it for two different degree requirements? For the most part, no. However, your Global Knowledge GEP is the one exception. You can double count a course to fill this requirement, so we encourage you to do so. If you don’t, you will have to take an “extra” course to fill this requirement.
• Can I “double count” a course and use it for my major and a minor (or second major)? Probably yes. In most cases you can use a class for multiple majors or minors. For example, you might use MA 405 for your Statistics degree and also apply it towards a Math minor. However, some minors (especially those in CHASS) do not allow double counting, so check the requirements before you assume that you will be able to do so.
• Which should I take, ENG 331, 332, or 333? Our students generally choose ENG 333 (Communication for Science and Research), but you are welcome to choose one of the other options based on your interests or schedule availability. For example, if you are minoring in business administration, perhaps ENG 332 would be more suitable for you.
• Can I take a course using S/U (pass/fail) grading? Yes, but the course can only be counted towards your degree in the following three cases. Otherwise, the course will be considered non-degree credit.
  • The course is an HESF or HESS class used for your Health and Exercise Studies GEP.
  • The course will be used as a Free Elective
  • The course is only offered using S/U grading, not with letter grading.

• I want to change majors or add a second major, how do I do that? Most importantly, do not assume you will be able to change into or add a specific major and start taking courses that meet its requirements. Many majors have very competitive admissions processes, even for students with excellent grades. Please note that simply meeting a major’s minimum requirements does not guarantee that you will be admitted. Therefore, you should try to stay on track with your Statistics degree until you have been admitted to another major. If you aren’t sure what major you’d like to change to, begin by talking to your advisor. The university also provides Drop-In Advising for students interested in changing majors. Once you have made a choice, applications for major changes and additions are made through the NCSU CODA system, please check there for details and application deadlines.
• How do I add a minor? First, explore the list of potential minors. You can also find admissions requirements and contact information there. Once you choose one, use the CODA system to apply.