Advice to Math Majors on Fulfilling Core Requirements

Core requirements account for 60 of the 120 credit hours needed for graduation. There are three sources of these requirements, with significant overlap between the three sources:

1. System wide (see the Undergraduate Bulletin).
   
   
   • Area I     (FOUNDATION COURSES: 9 hours)
   • Area II    (SCIENCES: 7-8 hours)
   • Area III   (QUANTITIVE REASONING:  3-4 hours)
   • Area IV   (WORLD LANGUAGES & CULTURES, HUMANITIES & THE ARTS: 12 hours)
   • Area V    (SOCIAL SCIENCES: 9 hours)
   • Area VI   (COURSES RELATED TO THE PROGRAM OF STUDY: 18 hours)
   
   
2. Franklin College Requirements :
   
   
   • M  multiculturalism 
     
   • L  foreign language
     
   • H  general humanities
     
   • S  science: physical and biological
   
   
3. Departmental (as in the Bulletin):
   
   
   • preferred courses for Core Areas II and III and constraints on Area VI choices.

Math majors will automatically fulfill the "basic math skills" requirement of Area I.  Three free elective hours will result if this is met by advanced placement or a course used in another core area.

Students should meet with their A&S advisers to plan their coursework for the first two years. In particular, A&S advisers are the best source of information concerning Core Areas IV and V, and the Franklin College Requirements M, L and H.

The mathematics curriculum relates mainly to Core Area VI. For math majors, it is easiest to think of these as a single unit consisting of 8 courses. This will typically break down as follows:

• 4 courses in foreign language and calculus / Differential Equations
• 1 course in biological science (with lab if the physical science does not have a lab)
  
• 1 course in physical science [CSCI cannot be used here]
• 2 additional courses chosen from the set {PHYS 1211, PHYS 1212, PHYS 1311, PHYS 1312, CSCI 1301, CSCI 1302, CSCI 2670, CSCI 2720}.

We recommend that you do more than the minimum in the last category. There are several reasons for this:

1. These courses provide opportunities to broaden and apply your mathematics experience.
2. They prepare you for upper division courses to be used in satisfying the 39 hour rule.
3. They add an extra dimension to your employability after graduation.

In particular, we recommend that most math majors desiring a "real world" job acquire experience with computer programming. The new physics sequence PHYS 1311(L)-1312(L) is particularly designed for students with a good mathematics background who want a more substantial, truly calculus-based experience with physics. As of now, the two-semester sequence starts in the spring semester.

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