Our 5760 Process
Students at Ohio State can work with the SCS in two ways. The most popular way is to enroll in Statistics 5760. Stat 5760 is not a statistics class in the traditional sense; there are no lectures, homework, or exams. However, enrolling in Stat 5760 allows you to have access to a graduate student consultant during the semester in which you are enrolled. The other way students can work with the SCS is to set up a traditional consulting relationship, billed at our standard rates.
Students enrolling in Stat 5760 receive up to 17 hours of help from a graduate student consultant during the semester in which they are enrolled. To get started, you need to do two things:
- Sign up for 5760.
- We will ask you to fill out a survey at the beginning of the semester to learn more about your project request. This survey will be sent as a Carmen announcement.
At the start of the semester, we assign all of the projects to our graduate student consultants. We do our best to match the content of your project with the interests and capabilities of our consultants. We do not usually allow clients to request a specific consultant, but we will make exceptions in some cases.
Once your project has been assigned to a consultant, they will contact you to set up an initial meeting. You'll be contacted before the end of the first week of classes.
Working with a Graduate Student Consultant
The graduate students hired by the SCS are typically in their third to fifth year of graduate school, working toward a PhD in statistics. SCS consultants can contribute, at most, 17 hours to your project over the semester. It is up to you and your consultant to determine the best way to allocate those hours. For example, you may choose to meet with your consultant 1 hour per week for each of the 15 weeks of the semester. If this is what you choose, the consultant will only have two hours over the semester to perform research for your project outside of your meetings. Alternatively, you could choose to meet 1 hour every other week and the consultant could work on your project approximately an additional hour each week on his or her own. You are expected to assist the consultant by doing approximately 20 additional hours of work over the semester.
The amount and type of work the consultant is allowed to do for you may be limited by your advisor. Be sure to check with your advisor whether he or she expects you to conduct all statistical analyses yourself. Regardless of the arrangement you decide upon, the consultant should never write text that will appear directly in your thesis.
Early/Late Starts
While Stat 5760 is a mechanism that allows us to provide consulting to graduate students at a reasonable price, it does create limitations in the flexibility of our service. We are unable to provide consulting before the semester during which you are enrolled. Additionally, if you do not start working with your consultant near the start of the semester, we cannot guarantee that you will receive your full 17 hours of consulting.
Working over Multiple Semesters
You can enroll in 5760 for up to five semesters. However, it is strongly encouraged that you make as much progress as possible during the semester in which you are enrolled. The consultants employed by the SCS frequently change between semesters, so you may need to start working with a new consultant if your project lasts longer than one semester. If you believe you will need to enroll next semester, please make sure to do so as soon as possible because the class fills up very quickly.
Grading
Stat 5760 is graded as a pass/fail course. Simply interacting with your consultant and making an effort to progress in your research will earn you a passing grade. If you do not meet with your consultant or make an effort to effectively use 5760 as a resource, you will receive a failing grade.