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Undergraduate

Honors Mathematics

Honors Requirements for Mathematics Majors

In order to graduate with honors in Mathematics, Schreyer Honors College students majoring in Mathematics must complete the following:

  • The general Schreyer Honors College requirements listed  here
  • The general requirements for the major as specified in the Undergraduate Bulletin
  • The honors thesis in Mathematics
  • Eight MATH credits at the 300- or 400-level from the following list with a grade of B or better in each course, and with a grade point average of at least 3.40 for those courses with the three best grades:
    • MATH 311M (fall)
    • MATH 312H (spring)
    • MATH 403H (fall)
    • MATH 490H (spring, 1 credit, can be repeated)
    • Honors option core MATH courses at the 300- or 400-level. See the Honors Courses and Options page for a description
    • Any 500-level MATH course counts toward this requirement

 This requirement means that Math majors take 300-400 level honors courses in Math rather than in another area. Normally, it does not result in taking any additional courses. 

The Department of Mathematics regularly offers honors sections of 100-level and 200-level courses. These courses are recommended for honors students in mathematics.

 

Honors Thesis

General information about the Honors Thesis can be found  here.  

Assuming that the student is planning to graduate in four years, the thesis proposal is due in April of the third year, and the final thesis submission deadline is in the beginning of April of the fourth year. Students are encouraged to start thinking about a possible area of their thesis research and looking for a potential thesis supervisor in the Fall of their third year. By the middle of the Spring semester of the third year, the student should have found a thesis supervisor. By this time, the student should be developing and discussing the honors thesis plans with the thesis supervisor, and may already be working on the thesis project. In one or both semesters of the fourth year, the student should register for Math 494H (Thesis Project). 

There are no fixed requirements for the thesis (such as page length, having to have a publication arising from the research, etc.) Copies of all recent SHC theses are available on-line and can be sorted by the area of honors – see https://honors.libraries.psu.edu/catalog.

 

Honors Advising

Students are encouraged to meet with their Honors Adviser at least once a semester. 

Schreyer Honors College requirements and deadlines can be found  here. 

Information and check sheets for Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in Mathematics is available  here. 

Honors Adviser Handbook can be found  here.

For answers to questions regarding this program, please contact Dr. Victoria Sadovskaya, the Honors Director for the Department of Mathematics.