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Data Science Minor for Statistics Majors

Students can major in Statistics and minor in Data Science.

Courses being used to fulfill the requirements for the Statistics major may not be used to fulfill the requirements for the Data Science minor.

Data Science Minor Requirements for Statistics Majors (6 units)

Students may receive credit for only one Data Science Sequence, STAT 301-1,2,3 Data Science with R or STAT 303-1,2,3 Data Science with Python.

Statistics Major Requirements (minimum 8 units)

**Note: STAT 301-1, 301-2, 301-3, 302, 303-1, 303-2, 303-3, and any 300 level electives being used for the Data Science minor cannot be used to fulfill credit requirements for the Statistics major.

Students may receive credit for only one Data Science Sequence, STAT 301-1,2,3 Data Science with R or STAT 303-1,2,3 Data Science with Python.

Full list of major requirements and information can be found here

Expectations and coursework for Minor

Students will develop data acumen by learning how to ethically and effectively collect, process, explore, communicate, and make decisions with data and how to combine these components into an efficient data workflow.

The core courses (Data Science 1, 2, 3, and Data Visualization) are designed for students to develop the knowledge and skills needed to build an appropriate data workflow through project work. In each of these courses students will be expected to complete 1-2 weekly assignments and a final data project focused on a dataset they have sourced. Students should be prepared to dedicate approximately 7-12 hours per week outside of class to course work.

Declaring the Data Science Minor

There is a declaration period for the minor held annually in Spring quarter. However, the steps for declaring start with completing The Data Science Interest List as soon as possible after it opens on September 1.

Because the Minor in Data Science is very popular and space in the required courses is limited, the minor uses a cohort system to help ensure that students who declare will be able to complete the required STAT courses for the minor in the time available to them.

The Data Science Minor Cohorts reflect the academic year the students in the cohort are assigned to take the core Data Science courses. For example, students in the 2022-23 Data Science Minor Cohort would take their 4 core STAT data science minor courses in academic year 2022-2023. Students are only guaranteed seats in the 4 core data science courses in their assigned Cohort year.

Additionally, cohorts are broken into two tracks, the R track and the Python track. Students wishing to declare indicate if they have a track preference. Python experience is recommended for the Python track.

The assignment of students to a Data Science Minor Cohort and declaration of the minor happens annually in spring quarter. Assignment to a cohort is based on availability, track preference, and other factors. We begin filling cohorts up to three years in advance.

Read more about the cohort assignment process

Read more about the declaration process and get on the Data Science Interest List

Students who wish to declare the minor must follow the declaration process steps listed on the Declaring the Minor in Data Science page unless they have already taken the Data Science sequence courses as a Statistics Major. If you are a Statistics major who has already taken the Data Science sequence courses and would now like to declare a Minor in Data Science instead of using those courses toward your Statistics major electives requirement, please contact Deric Holloway at deric.holloway@northwestern.edu


Questions:

Please contact stats@northwestern.edu

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