528:  Mathematics General Option (Non-Certifiable)

1.  A minimum of 48 hours of mathematics is required. A minimum of 120 unduplicated undergraduate semester hours is required. Graduate credit may not be used to satisfy undergraduate academic program requirements.

2.  No minor is required.  But at least one-third of the course requirements in any major or minor must be earned at WKU.

3.  At least one-half of the semester hours required for each major and minor must be earned in undergraduate courses numbered 300 and above.  (See the Undergraduate Catalog for exceptions for minors in business administration and computer information systems, and majors in social studies, art education, middle grades education, and middle grades science).

4.  A minimum of 42 undergraduate semester hours must be completed in courses numbered 300 and above.

5.  You must have a GPA of at least 2.0 (i) in all credits presented for graduation whether earned at WKU or elsewhere, (ii) in all credits completed at WKU, (iii) overall in the major subjects and in the minor subjects, and (iv) in the major subjects and in the minor subjects completed at WKU.
 

Computer Science Requirement – 6 hours

CS 240 and CS 241 are required.  (For students who entered Western before Fall 2008, the requirement is only 3 hours from either CS 230 or CS 240.)

Mathematics Requirements – 48 hours

1.  Required Courses (23 hrs) –  MATH 126 and 227  (or MATH 122-132-232)       (9 hrs)
MATH 327 (4 hrs)     MATH 307  (3 hrs)     MATH 310 (3 hrs)       MATH 317 (3 hrs)     MATH 498  (1 hr)

2.  Of the remaining 25 hours that are required, at least 12 hours must be in mathematics coursework at the 400-level.  All 25 remaining hours must be earned from the following courses:

STAT 301,  MATH 275 (up to 3 hours), MATH 305, MATH 315, MATH 323, MATH 329, MATH 331, MATH 398  (up to 3 hours), MATH 405, MATH 406, MATH 409, MATH 415, MATH 417, MATH 423, MATH 429, MATH 431, MATH 432, MATH 435, MATH 439, MATH 450, MATH 470, MATH 475 (up to 6 hours)

3.  You must complete at least one of these sequences:  MATH 317–417; MATH 329–429; MATH 331–435; MATH 405–406; MATH 431–432; MATH 431–450.


University General Education Requirements

Cat. A:   I.  ENG 100 and 300 (6 hrs)     II.  Foreign Lang.  (3 hrs)    III.  COMM 145 or 161  (3 hrs)
Cat. B:   I.  Literature (3 hrs)       II.  Electives (6 hrs)     (Three areas are required in Cat. B)
Cat. C:   HIST 119 or 120, and two other areas are required.    (9 hrs)
Cat. D:   I.  Science  (6 hrs;  two fields must be represented, at least one must have a lab)       II.  MATH  (3 hrs)
Cat. E:   3 hours            Cat. F:  2 hours  (May be two 1-hour PE courses, or a 3-hr class)


Sample Four-Year Degree Program
1.  See the Undergraduate Catalog for further details about CLEP examination credit and for a complete listing of General Education courses.

2.  Science Labs are usually an additional 1 hour on top of a three-hour course; so you most likely will have 7 hours in General Education Category D. I.

3.  MATH 126 satisfies Gen. Ed. Cat. D. II  and also counts toward the math major; but do not count these hours twice in your degree program.  If you take MATH 117 first, then it will satisfy Cat. D. II and also count toward your 120-hour total.


Residency Requirement

The minimum residence requirement for the bachelor’s degree is 25% of the minimum number of semester hours required in the student’s degree program. At least 16 of the hours counted in meeting the residence requirement must be completed after the semester in which the student has earned a cumulative total of at least 90 semester hours. Exceptions to these regulations may be made for WKU students who have been given permission to transfer credits earned at accredited professional schools to apply as electives toward the degree.


Application for Graduation

All candidates for a baccalaureate degree are expected to make formal application immediately after attaining senior status (90 hours earned). The Application for Graduation is available in the Office of the Registrar. 

All forms must be completed, all incompletes must be removed, all transfers of credit received and all correspondence courses completed by the end of any semester or term in which the degree is to be awarded.  Failure to comply could result in postponement of the graduation date. Students with outstanding obligations to the University will not be awarded a diploma until the Registrar has been notified by the appropriate office that the obligation has been settled. The student must, in all cases, be primarily responsible for meeting the requirements for graduation.


Repeating Courses

An undergraduate student is permitted to repeat a maximum of six courses. Only two courses in which a grade of “C” or above has been earned may be repeated. 

Credit for a course in which a grade of “F” has been received can be earned only by repeating the course in residence unless prior approval is given by the head of the department in which the course was taken.  A course in which a grade of “D” has been received may be repeated at another accredited institution. 

If a course is repeated, only the second grade will be counted in computing the grade point average; if the course is repeated a second time both the second and the third grades will be used in computing the grade point average.  The grade received for each attempt will continue to appear on the student’s academic record.  A student may attempt a single course no more than three times.

A course which has been failed cannot be repeated by independent learning without special permission from the department head.  A student may not repeat by proficiency testing a course which has been previously taken or failed at WKU or another accredited institution.


Last updated:  August 5, 2009