Requirements for the Honors Major and Minor

Requirements for acceptance as a mathematics major in the Honors Program are more stringent than those for the course major and include a grade point average in mathematics and statistics courses of B+ or better. Potential honors majors may want to consider including in the sophomore year a course that emphasizes theory and provides an opportunity for writing proofs. Department faculty can give advice on appropriate courses.

The program for an honors major in mathematics consists of preparations for external examination in three fields of 2 credits each. For each field chosen, the courses or seminars are specified by the department. For the honors major, one preparation shall be in algebra (MATH 067 and 102) and one in analysis (MATH 063 and either 101 or *103). Each student may select the third preparation from geometry, statistics, and topology.
*starting with the class of 2026, this preparation must be in Math 063 and Math 101. 

Of the six credits used for a student's honors preparation, at most one may be taken credit/no credit.  In any case, no seminar may be taken credit/no credit except those taken during Spring 2020.

Some previous year honors exams are available. They are in pdf format, so you must have either Adobe Acrobat or the Acrobat Reader in order to view them.

Students who wish to complete an honors minor in mathematics must have credit for, or place out of, single-variable calculus (two semesters), linear algebra, and several- variable calculus. They must also satisfy the requirements for the course math minor (either with no emphasis or with an emphasis in applied mathematics) or for the stat minor.  For the honors portion of their program, minors must also complete one preparation chosen from among any of the fields described earlier.