Planning Your Program
Richmond offers five majors and two minors through the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. Once students declare a math or computer science major, typically some time during their sophomore year, they are assigned a faculty member who will serve as their advisor and help them develop a program of study to achieve their educational goals.
Selecting and Transferring Courses
If you have questions about the appropriate course to begin your studies in math or computer science, or if you are interested in fulfilling the Symbolic Reasoning Field of Study requirement with a course from our department, some simple guidelines may help you find the right course. If you are wondering about Advanced Placement credit, please see the credit by exam information on the registrar's web page. Transfer courses require department approval in addition to the normal transfer process established by the registrar. There are separate approval forms for math and computer science courses.
First-year students can choose to take advantage of the University’s integrated quantitative (IQ) science program, a year-long course developed as part of a $1.4 million grant the University received from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The IQ science course is team taught by 10 professors and combines material from the introductory courses in biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and computer science. Students complete the course prepared to enter the second course in the biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics or computer science majors and receive funding to participate in an undergraduate summer research experience.
Once you’ve jumped in and taken the introductory courses in your major, one of the best things you can do to prepare for a career or acceptance to a top graduate school is to continue taking challenging courses.
If you are definitely interested in attending graduate school, mathematics professors recommend you go above and beyond the required course load and take advanced topics in courses like real analysis and linear algebra, abstract algebra and geometry/topology. Computer science professors recommend their students take CMSC 330, Theory of Computation and gain as much experience working on large group projects as possible.
Plan Ahead
Once you get a feel for the coursework in your major, you’ll make a decision about whether you would prefer to earn a Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degree. The Bachelor of Science typically has more extensive related field requirements and as a result, is held in higher regard in the scientific community. If you plan to go into software and hardware development, scientific computing, bioinformatics or graduate study, you’ll probably want to work toward and Bachelor of Science degree. If you’re interested in information technology, business consulting or education, a Bachelor of Arts degree is probably sufficient preparation.
Students should also plan to take advantage of additional research and other experiential learning opportunities like internships and study abroad. Computer science majors may want to consider applying to the honors program in computer science, mathematics or mathematical economics. A program that incorporates all of these elements will mean you graduate well prepared for graduate school or a career.
Check out the mathematics and computer science courses offered by the department.
