Advisement
Opportunities for mathematics majors have expanded greatly in recent years. Mathematics majors become actuaries, statisticians, mathematical computer scientists, applied mathematicians, operations research analysts, and mathematical researchers. Mathematics is growing and changing and holds fascinating challenges for inquiring minds.
As an undergraduate mathematics major at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, you may work toward a Bachelor of Science degree in the College of Engineering, Computing, Technology, and Mathematics or the College of Education and Human Services, or a Bachelor of Arts degree in the College of Liberal Arts. The classes in the mathematics major curriculum are small and are taught by senior faculty members. A strong support system of college and departmental advisement is available to you at SIUC throughout the year.
A student planning for employment with a bachelor’s degree should consider a minor or a second major in some field in which mathematics is applied. Many students earn a double major in mathematics and computer science. All of the bachelor’s degree programs in mathematics, including the Bachelor of Science degree in the College of Education and Human Services, have sufficient flexibility to allow you to prepare for alternate career possibilities.
To prepare to major in mathematics at SIUC, you should have a solid high school preparation in algebra, geometry in two and three dimensions, and trigonometry, including a substantial study of functions and graphing. Students transferring to SIUC after two years at a community college should have completed the calculus sequence and, if possible, linear algebra and a course in a high-level computer programming language.
As a mathematics major at SIUC, you will meet with a Department of Mathematics advisor at least once each semester for planning and departmental approval of courses appropriate to your goals and interests.
A grade of C or better is required in every mathematics course used to satisfy departmental requirements. A student cannot repeat a course or its equivalent in which a grade of B or better was earned without the consent of the department.