This FAQ is intended to provide answers to Frequently Asked Questions
by undergraduate students in mathematical sciences. If the answer you need
is not contained here, contact your advisor or
Lisa Hipkins, staff assistant for the math and computer science programs,
at (717)948-6081 or mus19@psu.edu.
The departmental Information of Local Interest page
at http://math.hbg.psu.edu/misc/
is also a valuable source of information for mathematical science majors.
Also, check out the web page on Careers
in Mathematics by the American Mathematical
Society. and the Career
Profiles page at the Mathematical
Association of America.
Your advisor is the faculty member assigned to help you make the
transition into the mathematical sciences program, and particularly to help
you with scheduling courses and making sure that you satisfy degree
requirements. You should have received a letter with your advisor's name
and contact information when you were accepted into the mathematical sciences
program. You can also find out who your advisor is by logging in to
the eLion system
(https://elion.oas.psu.edu) and requesting
a degree audit. Your advisor's name should appear at the top of your
audit. If this does not work, contact Lisa Hipkins (948-6081).
The degree audit is a listing of the courses you have taken and how they
apply to the requirements for the mathematical sciences degree. The degree
audit also shows requirements you have yet to satisfy, including required
courses you have not yet taken and so on. You can request
a copy of your degree audit by logging in to the
eLion system
(https://elion.oas.psu.edu). You can NOT graduate
unless all of the requirements listed on the degree audit are satisfied.
Your degree audit may contain errors -- courses that do not appear at
all, or are not listed as satisfying some requirement when they should.
In this situation, you should consult with your advisor.
Your advisor can arrange for changes to be made to your audit if appropriate.
Although you are not required to talk with your
advisor before selecting courses, it is an excellent
idea to do so, and will help to prevent unpleasant surprises at graduation
time. Your degree audit is also a helpful
guide for selecting courses.
You can obtain a schedule of classes booklet from Enrollment Services
(in the Swatara building) or the department office (W256 Olmsted). You
can also view all courses offered in the PSU system at
http://www.psu.edu/registrar/soc/
, by selecting the appropriate semester, campus location and department.
For PSU Harrisburg, the courses are divided into regular offerings
(campus location "Penn State Harrisburg, the Capitol College") and courses
offered through continuing education (campus location "Penn State Harrisburg,
CL030"). Most courses are regular offerings. Courses offered through
continuing education are mostly lower-level, general-education courses.
We recommend using this web page to view the schedule since it is more
current than the booklet, and also shows how many seats are left in each
class.
You can also use the departmental Information of Local interest page
at http://math.hbg.psu.edu/misc/
for direct links
into the schedule of courses web page for math and computer science courses.
You can register in person (at Enrollment Services in the Swatara Building),
via telephone — the number is (814)863-9000 and instructions appear
in the schedule of classes booklet or at
http://www.psu.edu/registrar/regwrksht.html —
or on-line using the
eLion system
(https://elion.oas.psu.edu/). For any registration method, you will need
the schedule number for each class you wish to register for. You can obtain
the schedule numbers from the schedule of classes booklet or from
the web (see How can I see what classes are offered?).
At the discretion of the instructor, you may be able to register for a
course even if it is full. To do so, you will need to talk with the
instructor, and you will need to fill out an Add/Drop form (sometimes called
a Schedule Adjustment form). The instructor will then initial the course
in question to let you add over the enrollment limit, and then you will
need to take the form to Enrollment Services (in the Swatara building) to
register for the course.
In general, yes, although you will need to be somewhat careful. In
particular, at least 36 of the last 60 credits you take for your degree
must be taken within the PSU system. Additionally, you MUST provide a
transcript (with final grade) for such courses to Academic Records (in
the Swatara building) so that these courses can be added to your PSU
coursework. If you take take classes at another school the semester you
intend to graduate, you must be able to get such transcripts to Academic
Records before the end of the PSU semester. This is a potential problem
because PSU semesters end earlier than those of many surrounding colleges
and universities. Finally, if the courses you take at another school are
to substitute for required courses or fill a particular graduation
requirement, you must get approval for these courses from your
advisor. If the course taken elsewhere is to
substitute for a particular required course, you should fill out a
Prior Approval form (available from Enrollment Services in the Swatara
building), have your advisor sign it, and then return the form to Enrollment
Services.
Early in the semester you intend to graduate, you must register your intent
to do so by calling (814)863-9000. The deadline for registering intent to
graduate appears on the calendar in the schedule of courses booklet
(available from Enrollment Services in the Swatara building or the
department office).
An Access account is a computer account that is given to every student
in the PSU system. An Access account provides Internet access, email,
access to network resources in the PC computer labs and hosting for a personal
web page. The following paragraphs provide more detail on some of these
features.
An Access account is automatically created for you when you are accepted
into the PSU system. You can pick up the userid and password for your Access
account from any of the lab operators behind the desk in the front of the
W305 Olmsted building computer lab. You will need a photo ID to pick up
your account information. After you have the initial password, you can
use it to log in to
https://www.work.psu.edu, where you
can change your password, set up email forwarding and do some other
configuration of your Access account.
The Instructional and Information Technology (IIT) office has a helpful
FAQ that addresses this and many other topics. The FAQ is available at:
http://www.hbg.psu.edu/iit/mw1/guidefaq.htm.
From this page, try the link labeled "Internet Access".
The Mathematical Sciences program does not distribute or maintain any Microsoft
software. However, all Penn State students (including mathematical sciences
majors) can obtain Microsoft Office and a number of other Microsoft products
from the Instructional and Information Technology (IIT) office in
E-302 Olmsted.
Licenses for this software have already
been paid for with funds from the general student computer fee, so there
is no additional charge. The software is only distributed on particular
days and times, which are posted outside of the IIT office. You will need
your student ID when you pick up the software.
We encourage you to use the Sun workstations (in W210A Olmsted) for all of
your programming assignments (although you may also program under Windows
for most assignments). The workstations are also useful for Web
development, email, digital circuit design (using diglog), general
word processing and productivity uses (using StarOffice), and many other
tasks.
You can pick up an account application form from Lisa Hipkins, staff
assistant for math and computer science, in W256 Olmsted. This
form also contains instructions for maintaining and accessing a personal
Web page on the Sun workstations. After filling out the form, you can return
the bottom part to Kelley or to any computer science faculty member. Your
account will usually be created within a few days after returning the form.
To enter the Sun workstation labs (W210 & W210A Olmsted), use your PSU student ID.
If you cannot get in the lab with your PSU ID, see Lisa Hipkins, staff assistant for math and computer
science, in W256 Olmsted.
One helpful resource is the local usage guide, available on-line
at
http://math.hbg.psu.edu/misc/usage.html .
The book "UNIX in a Nutshell", Arnold Robbins,
O'Reilly, 1999, ISBN 1-56592-427-4, is a useful reference for anyone who is
new to Unix. Finally, any more experienced Unix user who happens to be
working in the lab will usually be willing to answer short questions.
All of the usual Penn State rules apply, as well as some additional
rules that you should view at
http://math.hbg.psu.edu/misc/ethics.html . The local ethics page
has links to
the general Penn State computer usage policies. The short answer is that
viewing or altering another user's data without permission is never allowed,
and that any commercial use of any Penn State computing resource is
prohibited.
You can access the Sun workstations remotely using telnet, ftp and ssh
(Secure Shell). The usage guide at:
http://math.hbg.psu.edu/misc/usage.html
contains a list of the hostnames of all of the workstations.
If you will be using telnet with any frequency, you should download and
install Teraterm (you can obtain Teraterm for Windows from
https://www.work.psu.edu/access/teraterm). Teraterm is a replacement
for telnet, and is better because Teraterm encrypts your password when it
is sent across the network. When you use telnet, your password is sent
across the network unencrypted, and so could be intercepted by some
malicious user.
Yes. Basic instructions for this are contained on the
account application form. You can also maintain a personal Web
page on a University-wide server - see
http://www.personal.psu.edu for more details.
Yes, if the courses are equivalent as determined by the program faculty. It is
important to note that at least 120 credits are required for graduation and
the same credits CANNOT be used to satisfy both entrance requirements and
degree requirements.
Currently there is a strong demand for persons certified to teach secondary
mathematics. Some positions remain unfilled due to a shortage of qualified
applicants.
There is also a strong demand for graduates interested in actuarial science who
have passed one or two of the SOA/CAS exams.
Jobs are available in both government agencies and private corporations for
graduates interested in statistics and/or operation research.
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