BIOS 7393 (Independent Study in Biostatistics) provides an opportunity to dive into a focus area under the mentorship of a faculty member. The underlying principle governing approval is that the student must demonstrate that the independent study better supports their training than an existing elective. To that end:
- The program will approve a maximum of one independent study (3 credit hours) per student.
- The independent study should not have substantial overlap with that which already fulfills other requirements (e.g., core courses, existing electives, MS research, or the Doctoral Qualifying Exam).
- Other factors such as approval for external electives and transfer of credits from a previous program are considered (for example, the burden of a compelling argument is much higher for a student who has already transferred two courses from a prior program and received approval for two electives outside of our program as compared to one who has requested/received no such exceptions).
A student should notify the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) of an intent to request an independent study no later than November 15 for Spring registration and July 15 for Fall registration by filling out the form in Appendix B of (page 23). If approved to move forward, the student should work with the faculty mentor to create a syllabus/proposal for the independent study (usually about two to three pages, including a description of the scope, an outline of topics, and a statement regarding any deliverables) and submit the formal independent study request form, which is then routed to the instructor, to the DGS, and to the Graduate School.