Cambridge: MPhil (Statistical Science) vs. CASM

From what I've been reading here and there, CASM is regarded as a pretty tough course...perhaps the toughest. But the MPhil is Statistical Science requires students to take about the same number of exam credits from courses also offered to CASM students (from what I could see the exams are the same) and then on top of that the student must produce a dissertation. Wouldn't that logically mean that the MPhil is harder? Or is it that the CASM is hard not because of the Stats courses it's students can take but because of all those other course MPhil students don't take?

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Reply 1

Y__

13

ClarkusKent

From what I've been reading here and there, CASM is regarded as a pretty tough course...perhaps the toughest. But the MPhil is Statistical Science requires students to take about the same number of exam credits from courses also offered to CASM students (from what I could see the exams are the same) and then on top of that the student must produce a dissertation. Wouldn't that logically mean that the MPhil is harder? Or is it that the CASM is hard not because of the Stats courses it's students can take but because of all those other course MPhil students don't take?

Discuss...

Why should we even bother to discuss this? They're fundamentally different course, one being a full Masters, the other one not (yet?), one being a very broad mathematics course that will give very fast-paced introductions to advanced topics in all areas of mathematics, the other one a specific statistics course.

Once you make it to postgrad level, you should really be able to see past the "my course is harder than yours" stuff.

Reply 2

ClarkusKent

OP

Yeah fair enough response, given the way I worded the post. (By the way, I actually agree with you that - "my course is harder than yours" stuff is a little ridiculous). What I was actually trying to gauge is the difficulty and workload of the MPhil. I think there is some validity is discussing the CASM vs. the MPhil since I'm sure a lot of statistics leaning mathematicians, applying to Cambridge, are going to apply to both. Don't you think these people might want to know what they might be getting themselves into or, if they are lucky, choosing between?

Reply 3

Y__

13

ClarkusKent

Yeah fair enough response, given the way I worded the post. (By the way, I actually agree with you that - "my course is harder than yours" stuff is a little ridiculous). What I was actually trying to gauge is the difficulty and workload of the MPhil. I think there is some validity is discussing the CASM vs. the MPhil since I'm sure a lot of statistics leaning mathematicians, applying to Cambridge, are going to apply to both. Don't you think these people might want to know what they might be getting themselves into or, if they are lucky, choosing between?

Fair enough. Sorry, I probably was a bit harsh in my response. I don't really know a lot about the MPhil, but you can do a fair amount of statistics and combinatorics in Part III as well, in fact, pretty much all of the MPhil course options are in the Part III prospectus as well, so I would assume that the courses and exams are actually the same. You basically trade the flexibility of Part III for a Masters degree, which does seem like a reasonable choice if you want to go and work somewhere after your year in Cambridge.

Cambridge: MPhil (Statistical Science) vs. CASM

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