Q. I took an advanced level stats course, but it is not within the required time frame. Can an exception be granted for me?
No. The School of Nursing faculty has determined that the course must have been taken within a specific number of years, depending on the program.
- For the Master of Science program: Completion of an introductory college-level statistics course must be within five years of UCSF entry. A recent course is desirable.
- For the MS-HAIL program: Completion of an introductory college-level statistics course must be within ten years of UCSF entry. A recent course is desirable.
- For the PhD program: Completion of a statistics course must be within three years of UCSF entry. A recent course is desirable.
- For the BSN Entry to DNP pathway: Completion of an introductory college-level statistics course must be within five years of UCSF entry. A recent course is desirable.
- For the Post-Master's Entry to DNP pathway: Completion of a statistics course must be within five years of the start of the program.
| Program | Nursing MS | MS-HAIL | PhD | BSN Entry to DNP | Post-Master's DNP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time frame | Within 5 years of start of program | Within 10 years of start of program | Within 3 years of start of program | Within 5 years of start of program | Within 5 years of start of program |
| Can it be in progress at time of application? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Q. What if I took the course in spring quarter of 2019 instead of summer 2019? Do I still need to retake it?
Yes. This is a school requirement and applies to all of our specialties, in order to provide an equitable process for the hundreds of applications we receive during each cycle. For programs in which classes begin in the fall, the statistics class must be completed no earlier than summer 2019 (5 years prior to UCSF entry). For the BSN Entry to DNP pathway which begins in June, the statistics class must be completed no earlier than spring 2019. We have advised other applicants in a similar situation to retake the course as well. We cannot make exceptions on a case-by-case basis.
Q. Can I take a certificate course through StraighterLine, Study.com, Ed2Go, Coursera or similar organizations for ACE or other credit equivalents?
No. We will require that you provide an official transcript showing that you completed a course for college credit.
Q. Can the statistics course be a graduate level course?
Yes.
Q. Does the statistics requirement have to be an intro or general statistics course?
Not necessarily; statistics are applied in many contexts. You might take biostatistics, statistics for epidemiology or public health, or even environmental statistics; what matters is that you learn the foundations and how to apply them as needed.
Q. If I took a research class in which a portion of the content involved statistics, will that meet this requirement?
No.
Q. If I took a statistics or quantitative research methods course for psychology, business, environmental science, public health or other field, will it be acceptable?
Almost certainly. You will want to review the course description and syllabus and look for terms such as inferential and descriptive statistics, probability, frequency and distribution, measures of central tendency, regression, ANOVA, T-test, chi-square, hypothesis testing and confidence intervals. The Office of Student Affairs is unable to provide course review at this time.
Q. Any suggestions on a course?
Here are some places to begin: California Virtual Campus is a great resource that lists online courses offered at colleges and universities in California. Before you sign up for a course be sure to find out if it offers college credit that will appear on a transcript at an accredited college or university. We also know of students who have been in your situation who took online courses at City College of San Francisco, Lake Tahoe City College, Excelsior College, UCB Extension, University of Massachusetts, Portage Learning and/or University of Phoenix.