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MSE 253Probability and Statistics 2

Units
0.50
Faculty
Engineering
Subject
Management Science and Engineering

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 2 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

The second of a two-course sequence that introduces probability and statistics. It covers quantitative information displays, conditional probability and Bayes' rule, transforms, joint distributions, special discrete and continuous distributions (t, F, chi-square, Poisson), fitting distributions to data, maximum likelihood estimation, multiple regression, experimental design (blocking, factorial), paired hypothesis tests, analysis of variance, non-parametric statistics, and computer intensive statistics (bootstrap). In addition, students learn how to clean data, handle missing values, smooth data, and perform the statistical techniques covered in the course using a statistical computing package (e.g., R). Emphasis is placed on working with actual data collected from student experiments and other sources such as industrial partners.

Prerequisites

  • Complete all of the following
    • Complete 1 of the following
      • Must have completed the following:
        • MSE251 - Probability and Statistics 1 (0.50)
      • Must have completed the following:
    • Students must be in level 2B or higher
    • Enrolled in H-Management Engineering

Antirequisites

  • Not completed nor concurrently enrolled in any of the following:
    • ECE307 - Probability Theory and Statistics 2 (0.50)
    • STAT332 - Sampling and Experimental Design (0.50)

Leads to

Reviewed on UW Flow

57% liked it50% easy83% useful

From 14 ratings and 3 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • Lots of recurring topics from 251 such as distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, and regression

    Aug 2024 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • It feels like an extension of the previous statistics course (MSCI 251?) but an easier version (since we already have the foundations). Unfortunately, almost all assessments involve group work and there are 'R' labs (also done in groups) so there's not much opportunity for personalized feedback. Exam difficulty is fair

    May 2022 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Very nicely taught by Prof Pirnia and the lecture material was reflective of the quizzes and tests. Go through all the tutorials thoroughly as they help.

    Sep 2021 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

One post or comment in 1 thread mentions MSE 253, April 2024 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Winter 2024

Questions for Management Engineering students: this program or UTSG CS? 1 point, 11 comments

u/KINGBLUE2739046: “- It’s an Engineering workload, it’s a lot better than ECE, much more time to do side projects, almost a joke honestly, other programs will be making fun of you for not being real engineers, no big …”

u/nyephe: “… They changed MSE 121/240 but I've never used Python in MGTE before (aside from MSE 446) R is pretty much just copy and paste from the MSE 251/253 tutorials but it's never tested I remember Excel being used in MSE 100/131/251/253/331/263/334/431/332/333/343, and this is only up …”

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Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar