Getting around a "recommended" course

[Rodgers]

I'm applying to an industrial engineering program that recommends that we take a probability class. The probability class has a conflict with another class I need to take for my major. Would passing the actuarial exam in probability demonstrate my competence in statistics, rather than taking an actual class? I'm graduating in Autumn 2014 and am applying to start in January 2015. 

[the_sheath]

Hm... would taking the GRE in math and scoring well demonstrate your competence in the covered subjects, rather than taking the courses?

 

I'm not saying that taking that exam wouldn't count for anything, but I'd say it wouldn't weigh as much as the coursework.

[PhDerp]

Hm... would taking the GRE in math and scoring well demonstrate your competence in the covered subjects, rather than taking the courses?

 

I'm not saying that taking that exam wouldn't count for anything, but I'd say it wouldn't weigh as much as the coursework.

 

The math GRE covers a lot more than just probability though, right?

 

 

Maybe a coursera course would help. You can document those if you make them "official" (you have to prove you've taken n number of quizzes, etc.)

 

Sometimes there are more than one prob&stat courses on campus. You could check out other departments. For example, UMass has them in Statistics, Computer Science, Resource Economics, and more!

 

If you've had prob&stat used in other courses, maybe you can give a nod to that in your SOP. I learned a lot of my prob knowledge through natural language processing, and I'm only just taking stats now!

 

If nothing else, the exam you suggested couldn't hurt your chances if you did well. It would probably be better than nothing!