Guidelines For Winter Session

Department of Biostatistics

Policy for Student Activities During the Winter Session Period

1. Master's Students: Master's students are encouraged to use WinterSession as a helpful academic transition between the fall and spring semesters. Students could take official course credits during WinterSession, though many Master's students do not take course credits but instead develop an independent plan of study or project work that is equivalent. This could involve individual or group learning about software packages (such as SAS, R, or Python), review of fall course material, or reading ahead on spring course material. It may involve reading or thinking about new directions for spring course selection, exploring other areas of possible interest, or beginning or continuing to apply for summer internships or other part-time job opportunities. Some students talk with individual faculty members about possibly working on a project during WinterSession, though the short time frame does not always make that workable. Master's students are welcome to talk with their academic advisor, or other faculty about possible options for WinterSession.


1. BIO students: Students could consider taking some elective course or working on some independent plan of action (see paragraph above for more details). Students in the SM60 program could begin to focus on their selection of a Master's thesis advisor.


2. CBQG students: A wintersession course that counts toward the elective credits for the CBQG degree would be EPI 293 Analysis of Genetic Association Studies (2.5 credits). There may be others, so you should ask your advisor or the Program Director (Dr. Quackenbush) about other choices that might fulfill a requirement.


3. HDS students: Wintersession courses that count toward the elective credits for the HDS degree include EPI 271 Propensity Score Analysis (1.25 credits), and EPI 293 Analysis of Genetic Association Studies (2.5 credits). There may be others, so you should ask your advisor or one of the Program Co-Directors (Dr. Mattie / Dr. Onnela) about other choices that might fulfill a requirement.



View the wintersession courses at the my.harvard website for more detail on the offered courses.

If you have any questions, please direct them to Erin Lake or Jeff Miller for BIO SM students, John Quackenbush for CBQG SM students, and Heather Mattie or JP Onnela for HDS SM students. You may contact David Cruikshank or Jelena Follweiler for general questions.