Department Policies
Registration Restrictions
Students who have successfully completed (with a grade of C- or higher) any 100-level course are not permitted to take or repeat a prerequisite of such course without explicit permission from the Chair or Assistant Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. For example, a student who earned a grade of B in Math 161 is not permitted to register for Math 100, Math 117 or Math 118.
Prerequisite Policy
A student’s lack of appropriate course prerequisites constitutes grounds for withdrawal from the class at any time.
AP Course Credit Policies
Students may receive credit and/or advanced placement for the following courses if they earn an appropriate score on an Advanced Placement Test offered by the .
AP Calculus
Credit for the AP Calculus exams will be awarded as follows:
- 4–5 on AB Calculus Exam ⇒ credit for MATH 161;
- 4–5 on BC Calculus Exam ⇒ credit for MATH 161 and Math 162;
- 4–5 on AB portion of BC Calculus Exam ⇒ credit for MATH 161.
AP Precalculus
The specified scores for the AP Precalculus Exam result in the following:
- 3 on AP Precalculus Exam ⇒ placement into MATH 118
- 4–5 on AP Precalculus Exam ⇒ credit for MATH 118 ⇒ placement into MATH 130, MATH 131, or MATH 161.
AP Statistics
A score of 4 or 5 results in credit for Stat 103.
Policy on Multiple Majors or Minors
The following modifies and clarifies the "Double-Dipping" policy of the College of Arts & Sciences, as it pertains to the Department of Mathematics & Statistics.
Most combinations of majors or minors are allowed. In particular, combinations of majors will be permitted as long as students respect the College of Arts & Sciences policy that each major should include 21 credit hours not being counted for another major, along with the following restrictions specific to the Department of Mathematics & Statistics:
- MATH-BS may be paired with TPAM-BS, but may not be earned together with a double-major in TPAM-BS plus any Physics major (e.g., BPHY-BS, PCSC-BS, PHYS-BS)
- MATH-BS may be paired with MSCS-BS, but may not be earned together with a double-major in MCSC-BS plus any Computer Science major.
- DSCI-BS may be paired with either STAS-BS or a computer science major, but not with a double major in statistics and computer science.
All Minors offered by the department must contain at least 6 credit hours at the 200 level or above not used to satisfy requirements of any other major or minor, and at least three of these must be at the 300 level. This condition may be met by taking additional electives, if necessary, from the electives list for the minor. Furthermore, the following combinations are not allowed. All other combinations are allowed provided they meet the above criteria
- ACTU-MINR may not be earned together with STAS-BS or DSCI-BS
- BIOS-MINR may not be earned along with STAS-BS or DSCI-BS
- MATH-MINR may not be earned together with AMTH-BS, MATH-BS, MCSC-BS, MTED-BS, TPAM-BS
- OPRR-MINR may not be earned along with a double major pairing any of the math majors with either STAS-BS or DSCI-BS.
- STAT-MINR may not be earned together with STAS-BS. STAT-MINR may be earned with DSCI-BS but only if STAT304 and STAT305 are taken as electives.
- DSCI-MINR may not be earned along with DSCI-BS or a double major with STAS-BS and any computer science major.
Department of Mathematics and Statistics policy on students who fail a class repeatedly
Any student wishing to enroll in a math or stats class who has failed that class twice previously (with grades of D+ or lower) must obtain permission from the department. For students who have failed exactly twice permission can be obtained from the course coordinator or, for un-coordinated classes, from the undergraduate program director.
For students who have failed three or more times permission is needed from the department chair. Permission will only be given if there is good reason to believe you can be successful with an additional attempt at the class. To request permission, fill this Course Retake Form and send to the appropriate person by email.
Performance Withdrawal Policy
A student may be withdrawn from any of our majors if:
(i) The student receives 2 grades less than C- in a two-year period in courses required for the major, or
​(ii) The student has a GPA in the major < 2.0 after completion of all 100-level and 200-level requirements.
(iii) The chair has the right to reinstate students in the major for exceptional cases.
**This policy will be enforced beginning in fall 2021, meaning poor grades from AY2020-2021 and before will not be considered.
Honors
Requirements for Departmental Honors
(Effective Fall 2024)
In order to receive departmental honors, students graduating with any major offered by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics must satisfy the following two criteria:
- Minimum 3.5 GPA for all program-required courses, at 200-level and higher;
- Have taken an extra 3-credit course, beyond major requirements(*), chosen from:
- A standard MATH/STAT offering at 300-level or above
- MATH/STAT 398
- EXPL 391 (supporting a joint project with a department faculty member)
Interested students are encouraged to discuss this honor with their departmental academic advisor or the department chair. However, no application is required, as a full graduation audit will be conducted by the Awards Committee each year.
(*) In most cases this extra course may also be used to count towards another major or minor. So, for example, if you are pursuing a Math major and a Stats minor your 300-level Stats elective could fulfill this requirement. Please check with your department advisor if you are unsure.
Registration Restrictions
Students who have successfully completed (with a grade of C- or higher) any 100-level course are not permitted to take or repeat a prerequisite of such course without explicit permission from the Chair or Assistant Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. For example, a student who earned a grade of B in Math 161 is not permitted to register for Math 100, Math 117 or Math 118.
Prerequisite Policy
A student’s lack of appropriate course prerequisites constitutes grounds for withdrawal from the class at any time.
AP Course Credit Policies
Students may receive credit and/or advanced placement for the following courses if they earn an appropriate score on an Advanced Placement Test offered by the .
AP Calculus
Credit for the AP Calculus exams will be awarded as follows:
- 4–5 on AB Calculus Exam ⇒ credit for MATH 161;
- 4–5 on BC Calculus Exam ⇒ credit for MATH 161 and Math 162;
- 4–5 on AB portion of BC Calculus Exam ⇒ credit for MATH 161.
AP Precalculus
The specified scores for the AP Precalculus Exam result in the following:
- 3 on AP Precalculus Exam ⇒ placement into MATH 118
- 4–5 on AP Precalculus Exam ⇒ credit for MATH 118 ⇒ placement into MATH 130, MATH 131, or MATH 161.
AP Statistics
A score of 4 or 5 results in credit for Stat 103.
Policy on Multiple Majors or Minors
The following modifies and clarifies the "Double-Dipping" policy of the College of Arts & Sciences, as it pertains to the Department of Mathematics & Statistics.
Most combinations of majors or minors are allowed. In particular, combinations of majors will be permitted as long as students respect the College of Arts & Sciences policy that each major should include 21 credit hours not being counted for another major, along with the following restrictions specific to the Department of Mathematics & Statistics:
- MATH-BS may be paired with TPAM-BS, but may not be earned together with a double-major in TPAM-BS plus any Physics major (e.g., BPHY-BS, PCSC-BS, PHYS-BS)
- MATH-BS may be paired with MSCS-BS, but may not be earned together with a double-major in MCSC-BS plus any Computer Science major.
- DSCI-BS may be paired with either STAS-BS or a computer science major, but not with a double major in statistics and computer science.
All Minors offered by the department must contain at least 6 credit hours at the 200 level or above not used to satisfy requirements of any other major or minor, and at least three of these must be at the 300 level. This condition may be met by taking additional electives, if necessary, from the electives list for the minor. Furthermore, the following combinations are not allowed. All other combinations are allowed provided they meet the above criteria
- ACTU-MINR may not be earned together with STAS-BS or DSCI-BS
- BIOS-MINR may not be earned along with STAS-BS or DSCI-BS
- MATH-MINR may not be earned together with AMTH-BS, MATH-BS, MCSC-BS, MTED-BS, TPAM-BS
- OPRR-MINR may not be earned along with a double major pairing any of the math majors with either STAS-BS or DSCI-BS.
- STAT-MINR may not be earned together with STAS-BS. STAT-MINR may be earned with DSCI-BS but only if STAT304 and STAT305 are taken as electives.
- DSCI-MINR may not be earned along with DSCI-BS or a double major with STAS-BS and any computer science major.
Department of Mathematics and Statistics policy on students who fail a class repeatedly
Any student wishing to enroll in a math or stats class who has failed that class twice previously (with grades of D+ or lower) must obtain permission from the department. For students who have failed exactly twice permission can be obtained from the course coordinator or, for un-coordinated classes, from the undergraduate program director.
For students who have failed three or more times permission is needed from the department chair. Permission will only be given if there is good reason to believe you can be successful with an additional attempt at the class. To request permission, fill this Course Retake Form and send to the appropriate person by email.
Performance Withdrawal Policy
A student may be withdrawn from any of our majors if:
(i) The student receives 2 grades less than C- in a two-year period in courses required for the major, or
​(ii) The student has a GPA in the major < 2.0 after completion of all 100-level and 200-level requirements.
(iii) The chair has the right to reinstate students in the major for exceptional cases.
**This policy will be enforced beginning in fall 2021, meaning poor grades from AY2020-2021 and before will not be considered.
Honors
Requirements for Departmental Honors
(Effective Fall 2024)
In order to receive departmental honors, students graduating with any major offered by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics must satisfy the following two criteria:
- Minimum 3.5 GPA for all program-required courses, at 200-level and higher;
- Have taken an extra 3-credit course, beyond major requirements(*), chosen from:
- A standard MATH/STAT offering at 300-level or above
- MATH/STAT 398
- EXPL 391 (supporting a joint project with a department faculty member)
Interested students are encouraged to discuss this honor with their departmental academic advisor or the department chair. However, no application is required, as a full graduation audit will be conducted by the Awards Committee each year.
(*) In most cases this extra course may also be used to count towards another major or minor. So, for example, if you are pursuing a Math major and a Stats minor your 300-level Stats elective could fulfill this requirement. Please check with your department advisor if you are unsure.