with Latin Honors
For students in Arts & Sciences, Latin Honors are awarded by the College on the recommendation of a student's major department. The department's recommendation is usually followed by the College, provided the student has a sufficiently high GPA (see below).
The other undergraduate schools at Washington University (Architecture, Art, Business, Engineering) will have their own requirements for attaching honors to the degrees they award. It would be very unusual (if even possible) for students from those schools with a second major in mathematics to use their work in mathematics as the basis for Latin honors: a second major is, almost by definition, not the student's main interest. In the event this issue comes up, a major should consult with Professor Freiwald and advisors in the other school before planning on work for Latin Honors.
Students not eligible for Latin Honors, or who do not wish to do an honors thesis, might be eligible instead to graduate with Distinction in Mathematics.
Change in requirements (posted October 2006): For majors graduating after May 2008, an honors thesis is required; it will no longer be allowed to substitute passing an actuarial exam for an honors thesis. (See IID below).
Beyond the normal requirements for a math major, students seeking a Latin Honors degree must satisfy the requirements listed in I) and II) below.
I. A high overall GPA and a superior record in mathematics. Specifically,
A) For honors degrees, the College of Arts & Sciences requires the following GPA's:
3.50 - 3.64 cum laude(Grades from the semester of graduation are included in calculating the GPA for Latin Honors eligibility.)
3.65 - 3.79 magna cum laude
3.80 - 4.00 summa cum laude
These GPA guidelines are necessary but not necessarily sufficient for a given level of Latin Honors. The College sets the floor with the GPA cutoffs listed above. For example, if a student has a 3.70 GPA, the College will not
award Latin Honors summa cum laude, even if the Department recommends it. However, if the Department recommends only "cum laude" honors for the same student (perhaps because of a weak honors project), the College will go along with the Department.
B) Students must complete with grades of B or better ( not B- ) in each:II. Successful completion of an honors project in mathematics. An honors project may follow one of several formats:1) at least one of the 4 sequences Math 4111-412, 429-430, 493-494 or 449-450.2) at least 3 additional regularly scheduled 400-level mathematics courses (not independent studies). These must be L24 courses, home-based in mathematics (not cross-listed with a different home department). Mathematics courses taken abroad in WU-approved overseas programs can count if the Department agrees to transfer the credit to WU as 400-level work when the student returns from abroad.
a) in the case of probability/statistics track majors, at least 2 of these courses must be on the probability/statistics list for electives in that major track. The ability to use SAS is also strongly recommended.
b) in the case of applied track majors, at least 2 of these 3 courses must be in the applied list and be course home-based in the Mathematics Department (such courses have department number L24 and are not crosslists of courses taught by another department).
A) An honors thesis describing significant work by the student on one or more nontrivial mathematics problemsB) An honors thesis in mathematical statistics involving an in-depth analysis of a large data set
C) A written expository paper following independent study on an advanced topic under the guidance of a department faculty member. Such a report would involve careful presentation of ideas and synthesis of materials from several sources.
In each of A), B), and C), completion of a project requires a properly written paper, conforming to professional standards (including a title page and abstract, and normally written using the TeX typesetting program) and an oral presentation on the project before an audience which includes at least two designated department faculty members.An Honors Proposal Form should be submitted to the Chair of the Undergraduate Committee, Professor Ron Freiwald, by the late junior or very early senior year. The proposal must be cosigned by a member of the department willing to direct the project.
The paper should also be accompanied by an abstract of your work. There's good advice about abstracts, from the MAA, at http://www.maa.org/students/writing%20abstracts.pdf
One of the purposes of an honors thesis is to work together with a W.U. faculty member during the final two semesters of study, exploring new material and tying together skills acquired during the major. Work done earlier in a student's study (for example, during a summer REU) is usually not appropriate, by itself, as a senior honors project. Of course, work done earlier can be an excellent starting point for a senior honors project.
D) For majors in the probability/statistics or applied track graduating in May 2008 or earlier, successful passing of the first actuarial exam can take the place of a project. In this case, the results of the exam must be available before the deadline to certify majors to receive honors. For May graduations, the College certification deadline is in mid-March so the exam must be taken by the fall semester of the senior year.
Such students should also fill out and submit the Honors Proposal Form (no project "director" is necessary in this case.)
Some faculty members have listed ideas suitable for honors projects (and other less demanding projects). If any of these, or something related seems to interest you, please contact the appropriate faculty member involved. Of course, feel free to approach other faculty with ideas as well. Here is a list of honors projects completed by math majors over the past several years.
With faculty permission, a student can earn credit for work on the honors project by registering for L24-499 (Study for Honors), although such enrollment is not required.
All projects must be completed, including both the written and oral presentation, by approximately mid-March for students planning to graduate in May.
Very rarely, the department may waive the completion of an honors project in considering honors candidates. This may be considered only at the discretion of the Undergraduate Committee and only for students having an extremely distinguished record going well beyond requirement I) above. Such students usually have published original work or completed other comparable creative mathematical projects.