Many mathematics and statistics majors study away during their junior year. 

If you are planning to study away and you are a statistics major (or plan to be), please contact one of our statistics faculty at the start of the Fall semester of your sophomore year to talk about your plans.

No matter which major you are planning, you should also make use of the school resources like the Office of Global Education.

Studying Away as a Statistics Major

Here are some things to keep in mind:

  • Study away programs often require that you declare a major before submitting an application.  Hence you should consider declaring your major late in the Fall or early in the Spring semester of your sophomore year.  This way, you can discuss your study away plans with your advisor in Statistics. We advise you talk to a statistician in the Department early on to address the next point below.
  • You should pay careful attention to satisfying the pre-requisites for Stat 495, the capstone seminar in Statistics. This course is offered in the Fall only. The pre-requisites are successful completion of Stat 230, Stat 231, Stat 370, and the computing requirement for the major. Stat 370 requires completion of Stat 360 (Probability), and this sequence is often completed in the junior year. However, you may need to complete this sequence as a sophomore in order to spend an entire year away, depending on the offerings of your program. For some programs, it is not always possible to take statistics courses while away, and even if you can, sometimes you can't determine which courses are appropriate until you get there.  This is why it is extremely important to discuss your plans with your advisor in your sophomore year.
  • If you take one or more statistics courses while away, you need to petition the department to have the courses count toward the major.  Your petition should include as much information as possible about the courses, including the title, professor, text, course description, and syllabus.  If the course has a website, this information is often available on the website, so that all you need to give us is the URL for the website.  Petitions should be sent to the department chair via email. We encourage you to contact us in advance of taking the courses if you need to substitute them for required courses and otherwise contact us while away to let us know what statistics courses you are taking (such as for electives).
  • For study away petitions, approvals are contingent on the submission of a transcript showing the grade earned in the course, in order to aid in student advising. In other words, you make the petition as outlined above, then after taking the course(s), submit a copy of your transcript to your statistics advisor. Upon receipt of that transcript, the courses will be applied towards your major as specified in the petition approval.
  • If you decide to take Stat 230, Stat 231, Stat 360 or Stat 370 while away, it is crucial to get the course approved before you leave for your study away.  You should start planning and investigating courses early since it may take a while to find a suitable course.  Consultation with your statistics advisor is essential.
  • If you study away during the Spring and want to participate in the honors program, you will need to submit your honors proposal while away.  You will likely want to stay in contact with Amherst faculty as you develop your proposal.

If you have any questions about the Statistics major and study away programs, you should discuss them with the department chair or your advisor.