Back

Discover CALS

See how our current work and research is bringing new thinking and new solutions to some of today's biggest challenges.

Information for Fall 2024 or Spring 2025 students

Director of Undergraduate Studies: Joe Guinness

Requirements

FOR STUDENTS GRADUATING IN OR AFTER MAY 2028. If graduating in or before December 2027, please see the Fall 2023 or Spring 2024 requirements.

Grades

Courses required for the major must be taken for letter grades. To remain in good standing in the major, a student must have a GPA of at least 2.3 in all courses required for the major including advanced electives. A student must earn a grade of C- or better in every required course; if a student receives a lower grade in a required course, the course can be retaken until a C- or better is earned, or the requirement can be satisfied by another course. If these requirements are not met, a student may, if desired, transfer to the General Studies major but still complete the coursework required for the major. 

Course substitutions

If a student’s faculty advisor approves in advance, the student may substitute a similar course for a requirement of the Biometry and Statistics major. For example, BTRY 4090 may be replaced by another suitable course in the theory of statistics, such as MATH 4720. 

Double majors

A student may fulfill the requirements of two distinct majors. If both majors are in the same college, the double major can be officially recognized. If you wish to do this, you should discuss your situation as early as possible with the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Advising (Julia Aquadro at jra269 [at] cornell.edu (jra269[at]cornell[dot]edu)) and an advisor in the second major. A faculty advisor in the second major should be arranged.

Transferring credits to the major

It is important to distinguish between transfer credits toward graduation, which are evaluated by your college Registrar’s Office, and transfer credits toward the major, which are evaluated by the statistics faculty. It is the individual student’s responsibility to provide sufficient information to the Registrar’s Office and the statistics faculty for evaluation of transfer credits, including Advanced Placement credits. 

Transferring into the major/Declaring a major

A student must be in good academic standing in the program from which the student is transferring and also by the standards of their college. Please review the admissions requirements at CALS websites for Transfer Applicants and Internal Transfer for more information. If you are switching to the Biometry and Statistics major within CALS, please contact the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Advising (Julia Aquadro at jra269 [at] cornell.edu (jra269[at]cornell[dot]edu)).

Major Requirements

FOR STUDENTS GRADUATING IN OR AFTER MAY 2028. If graduating in or before December 2027, please see the Fall 2023 or Spring 2024 requirements.

All required classes must be taken for letter grade, only grades of C- or higher will count towards major requirements. 

Calculus I: MATH 1110

Calculus II: MATH 1120 or MATH 1220 or MATH 1910 

Multivariable Calculus: MATH 1920 or MATH 2220 or MATH 2230 or MATH 2130

  • MATH 2130 will not be offered in the 2024-25 academic year.

Linear Algebra: MATH 2310 or MATH 2940 or MATH 2210 or MATH 2240 

Statistical Methods I: BTRY 3010/STSCI 2200 

  • Equivalents include AEM 2100, BTRY 6010, ENGRD 2700, HADM 2010, ILRST 2100, MATH 1710, PAM 2100/2101, PSYCH 2500, SOC 3010, or STSCI 2150. 
  • Students may have this requirement waived by adequate performance in AP Statistics: for Biometry and Statistics majors, CALS requires a score of 5 in AP Statistics, (see Advanced Placement and Non-Cornell (Transfer) Credit)

Statistical Methods II: BTRY 3020/STSCI 3200 

Probability: BTRY/STSCI 3080

  • Equivalents include MATH 4710, ECON 3130 or ORIE 3500.

Linear Models: BTRY/STSCI 4030 or ECON 3140

Theory of Statistics: BTRY/STSCI 4090 or MATH 4720 

Statistical Computing: STSCI 4520 

Please contact the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Advising for more information about adding the major or any other questions. 

Starting with May 2028 graduates, ECON 3110 and/or ECON 3120 CANNOT be substituted for Probability and Linear Models major requirements. Please see the approved courses for these major requirements above.

Students must complete five (5) elective courses with significant statistical content. Each course must be worth at least 3 credits. A list of pre-approved elective courses is provided below.

At least three (3) of the five (5) electives must be STSCI/BTRY courses, or cross-listed with STSCI/BTRY courses. 

*Any BTRY/STSCI course numbered 4000 or above (except STSCI 4970) 

STSCI 3740: Data Mining and Machine Learning 

STSCI 3900: Causal Inference 

BTRY/STSCI 3090: Theory of Interest 

BTRY/STSCI/ILRST 3100: Statistical Sampling 

BIOCB 4381: Biomedical Data Mining and Modeling 

BIOCB 4830: Quantitative Genetics and Genomics 

BIOCB 4840: Computational Genetics and Genomics 

BIOCB 4910: Advanced Population Genetics 

MATH 4260: Numerical Analysis; Linear and Nonlinear Problems 

MATH 4740: Stochastic Processes 

ECON 4110: Cross Section and Panel Econometrics 

ECON 4130: Statistical Decision Theory 

NTRES 6700: Spatial Statistics 

INFO 3300: Data Driven Web Applications 

INFO 4310: Interactive Information Visualization 

ORIE 3120: Practical Tools for Operations Research, Machine Learning and Data Science 

ORIE 3300/3310: Optimization 

ORIE/STSCI 3510: Introduction to Engineering Stochastic Processes I 

ORIE 4580: Simulation Modeling and Analysis 

ORIE 4741: Learning with Big Messy Data 

ORIE 4742: Info. Theory, Prob. Modeling, and Deep Learning, with Scientific and Financial Applications 

CS 3220 or CS 4220: Scientific Computing and Numerical Analysis 

CS 3780: Intro to Machine Learning 

CS 4320: Introduction to Database Systems 

CS 4740: Natural Language Processing 

CS 4786: Machine Learning for Data Science 

CS 4787: Principles of Large-Scale Machine Learning Systems 

CS 4789: Introduction to Reinforcement Learning

Students who opt to follow the Data Science Track will replace the multivariable calculus requirement with CS 2110 (Object Oriented Programming and Data Structures), and use CS 4320 (Introduction to Database Systems) as one of their non-STSCI/BTRY electives. Please note that while it will not be a requirement for the major, multivariable calculus is a prerequisite for some BTRY/STSCI major requirements.