Honors BS Requirements

The deadline for signing up for Honors BS is March 1 of the senior year. The deadline for presenting the talk is April 1 of the senior year. If you are considering graduate school in mathematics you should visit this page and check out the sample schedules here.

Foundational Course Requirement

The following foundational courses must be completed before acceptance into the concentration:

  • MATH 171: Honors Calculus I
  • MATH 172: Honors Calculus II
  • MATH 173: Honors Calculus III
  • MATH 174: Honors Calculus IV

Note: Alternatively, students may satisfy the Foundational Course Requirement by completing MATH 161, 162, 164, 165 and 235. Equivalent courses may be substituted for the above. Credit granted for AP courses may be used to satisfy foundational requirements.

Core Course Requirement

Students must complete the following four courses:

  • MATH 236H: Introduction to Algebra I (Honors)
  • MATH 240H: Introduction to Topology (Honors)
  • MATH 265H: Functions of a Real Variable I (Honors)
  • MATH 282: Introduction to Complex Variables with Applications

Advanced Course Requirement

In addition to the core courses, students must complete six 4-credit advanced courses as follows:

  • Four advanced mathematics courses, at least two of which are at the graduate level*

* Any 4-credit mathematics course numbered 200 or above (excluding core courses and 500+ level) qualifies as an advanced mathematics course. Any 4-credit mathematics course numbered 400-499 qualifies as a graduate level course (500+ level courses are not approved for this requirement). All core course substitutions (MATH 235/236H/240H/265H/282) must be approved in advance by the Math Department Undergraduate Committee. Core course substitutions are rarely approved. Students seeking approval for such a substitution should visit walk-in hours listed on the math advising page to discuss their proposal with a member of the committee. Any graduate courses substituted in the core are not counted in the two towards the advanced requirement.

Independent Research Project

Students will work on an independent research project with the agreement and under the close supervision of a faculty member in mathematics. Students should sign up for Math 395W (2 credits) with the supervising professor.

Upon completion, students will submit a written report on the project to the department's Honors Committee and present a one-hour public talk at which the members of the committee are in attendance. More detailed information is available here.

Samples of past honors papers can be found here.

Grade Point Average Requirement

Students must complete the program with at least a 3.25 grade point average in order to qualify for the Honors BS in mathematics.

Upper Level Writing Requirement

To satisfy the upper level writing requirement, students must pass two upper level writing courses of a certain type.