OPIM 5894 Survival Analysis with SAS

Course Title: OPIM 5894 Survival Analysis with SAS
Type: Elective, intensive course
Term/Time: Summer 2017 / May 30th to July 7th
Instructor: Arda Zuber
Teaching Assistant: NA
Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Knowledge/Skills Gained: Basic SAS coding, Survival analysis
Summary: This was an online class, so students could take anywhere around the world. This was not an easy A course, but I have learned a lot from it.

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Before I review the course, please make sure you know OPIM 5894 is not just one class!
Many courses are categorized as OPIM 5894, so when registering for any class with the class number as OPIM 5894, students need to pay attention to the class title to ensure what subject you want to take. For a list of all OPIM 5894 courses, you can go to the program's website for further details.

Although the website shows many OPIM 5894 classes, according to my experience, the program has offered only 4 OPIM 5894 classes to students so far. They are Survival Analysis with SAS, Social Media Analytics, Data Science using Python, and Healthcare Analytics. The last one is new and will be offered starting Fall 2017.

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So far the SAS class has been offered in summer only. Given its intensive class schedule, the workload was very heavy. Based on the syllabus, students needed to complete 2 assignments, 2 quizzes, and 2 group projects in approximately one month. Nevertheless, if students really take this subject seriously, we definitely will learn a lot from this course.

This was an online course, so students could take it anywhere around the world. The instructor recorded videos and posted them on the HuskyCT (aka Blackboard, a platform UConn uses). The course started with basic SAS coding to make students learn how to code in SAS language. However, if you plan to earn the SAS Certified Base Programmer certification after this class, I would say just taking this subject wasn't enough, because this course just covered the codes needed to run the survival analysis. In other words, the class didn't even cover all the fundamental SAS coding. Yet, it helped students build a foundation to learn the SAS programming, so students could learn by themselves afterwards.

The 2 group projects accounted for more than 50% of our final grade, and they also took a lot of time. Hence, it's certainly recommended to start these projects as early as possible. It'd be very common that some of your team members would stay away from the school because of traveling or summer internships. This somehow increases the difficulties in collaboration and communication, but it's also a great opportunity to give you a sense of how a global team would look like.

In conclusion, personally I like this class. This subject is not an option for those looking for an easy A, because it did require students to study hard and turn in assignments on time. In contrast, if you true desire to know how to conduct the survival analysis and learn some basic SAS programming, this course is surely for you!