The Graduate College requires a minimum g.p.a. of 3.00 to graduate with a Ph.D. degree; however, the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science requires a higher g.p.a. of at least 3.40 to earn the Ph.D. in statistics. This includes all courses used to meet degree requirements plus additional courses that are relevant to a student's program.

Ph.D. students complete required course work, including four courses in one of four concentration areas: biostatistics, probability/mathematical statistics, statistical computing, or actuarial science/financial mathematics (see "Concentration Areas" below for area descriptions and course lists). They may take course work or seminars in other departments to relate an area of specialization to other fields of knowledge, to acquire the ability to use electronic digital computing equipment, or to learn non-English language skills necessary for reading scientific journals and communicating with scholars in other languages.