Honors Programs

The honors program is designed for students with a strong commitment to mathematics. It is recommended for students who intend to pursue graduate study. 

Majors

Applying for the Honors Program

  • Overall GPA of 3.65 or higher
  • Math/Joint Math Major GPA of 3.65 or higher
    • Students must have a Math Major or Joint Math Major GPA of 3.65 before applying for the Honors program
  • Department approval via declaration form
    • Complete the online major declaration form and select one of the Honors Major options. (Please note: you must be logged into your NYU e-mail account in order to access this form).

Graduating from the Honors Program

  • Overall GPA of 3.65 or higher at the time of graduation
  • Math/Joint Math Major GPA of 3.65 or higher at the time of graduation
  • Completion of all major/joint major requirements listed below
    • Note: the Honors major requirements are different from the non-honors major, please carefully review the Honors major requirements
  • Completion of the Honors research component
    • For Math Honors Majors: must be completed at the Math Department.
    • For Joint Honors Majors: must be completed at the Math Department or the other department of the joint major.

If you have questions about the math or joint math honors programs, please contact the Assistant Director, Academic Affairs, Adam Staszczuk at as11890@nyu.edu or the Program Administrator, Jackie Tucciarone, at jt4787@nyu.edu.

Note on Latin honors: Latin honors are designated by the College of Arts & Science, whereas the Honors Program is a departmental program. These are two seperate designations. Questions regarding Latin honors should be directed towards graduation@nyu.edu. 

HONORS MAJOR IN MATHEMATICS

Honors Math Major Checklist (Fall 2019 - Present) 156.8 KB

The requirements for the Honors Mathematics major are thirteen courses numbered MATH-UA 120 or higher, including four required Honors electives. The only exceptions are MATH-UA 131, 132, and 133 Math for Economics I, II and III which are not open to anyone who has taken Calculus and are for Economics Majors. The courses must include:

Foundational Course Requirement

It is strongly recommended, but not required, that students take Analysis before taking Algebra.

Advanced Math Elective Requirement

General Math Elective Requirement

  • Three (3) general Math elective courses numbered MATH-UA 120 or higher.
    • Excludes Math for Economics I-III if you have taken Calculus I-III (or Honors Calculus III).
    • Excludes Calculus I-III (and Honors Calculus III) if you have taken Math for Economics I-III.
    • Excludes any Honors version of a course that you have already taken the non-Honors version of, or vice versa. 

Honors Elective Requirement

Of the 13 required courses for the Math Honors major, four (4) courses must be Honors Electives. These are italicized & highlighted in the list above.

  • Graduate level MATH-GA courses do not count nor substitute the Honors elective requirement.
  • Honors Calculus III and Honors Linear Algebra do not count towards the honors elective requirement.

Honors Research Project Requirement

Students may satisfy the Honors Research Project requirement via two routes:

  1. participating in themathematics Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (S.U.R.E.) program under faculty supervision. Students who participate in this program are expected to dedicate 30+ hours of research per week over a 10-12 week period during the summer break. Upon concluding their research, students are required to submit an abstract and present their research at Courant's undergraduate research forum in the fall semester of their senior year. This is a competitive program with only a select number of spots. Students who are selected to participate will receive financial support for the summer.
    • Honors students interested in the SURE route must apply at the beginning of the Spring semester of their Junior Year.
  2. Alternatively, students must complete two (2) semesters of research independent study (MATH-UA 0997, 0998) under faculty supervision. Students are expected to dedicate 10-20 hours per week toward their research. Students must receive approval of their honors project from the Honors Faculty Advisor, Professor Chao Li. At the conclusion of the second research independent study, students are required to submit a 15-20 page final report, with the approval of their faculty mentor, and are encouraged to present their research at the Dean's Undergraduate Research Conference (DURC) in the spring semester of their senior year. 
    • All Math Honors majors who are not selected for SURE must satisfy the research project requirement via the independent study route.

Additional Guidelines

In addition to the above requirements, the following guidelines must be observed:

  • Any two computer science courses (numbered CSCI-UA 101 or higher, except CSCI-UA 380), DS-UA 112, or graduate data science DS-GA courses may be credited toward the general Math elective requirement only. However, no more than 2 non-math classes may fulfill the major requirements.
  • Students may petition to enroll in graduate mathematics MATH-GA courses and apply them to the general Math elective requirement section of their Math Major, so long as they are three-credit MATH-GA courses. Half-credit (1.5 credit) MATH-GA courses do not count towards the general Math elective requirement or the Honors elective requirement. Please see the Enrollment in Graduate Courses webpage for more details.
  • Students may double count no more than two courses between major and/or minor degree requirements.
  • Courses taken under the pass/fail option are not counted toward the major - no exceptions!
  • A grade of C or better is required in all courses used to fulfill the major requirement.
  • At least half of all courses in the major must be taken at CAS as a MATH-UA course.

JOINT HONORS MAJOR IN MATHEMATICS / COMPUTER SCIENCE

Joint Honors Math/Computer Science Major Checklist 110.1 KB

Mathematics Requirements

Computer Science Requirements

Honors Research Project

Students may complete the honors research project requirement at either department. A research project completed at the Math Department will be cross-honored by the CS Department, and vice versa. That being said, once a student commits to completing a research project at one department, they must satisfy the research requirements and abide by the policies of that department. 

To satisfy the research project requirement at the Math Department, students have two options:

  1. to participate in mathematics Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (S.U.R.E.) program under faculty supervision. Students who participate in this program are expected to dedicate 30+ hours of research per week over a 10-12 week period during the summer break. Upon concluding their research, students are required to submit an abstract and present their research at Courant's undergraduate research forum in the fall semester of their senior year. This is a competitive program with only a select number of spots. Students who are selected to participate will receive financial support for the summer.
    • Honors students interested in the SURE route must apply at the beginning of the Spring semester of their Junior Year.
  2. Alternatively, students must complete two (2) semesters of research independent study (MATH-UA 0997, 0998) under faculty supervision. Students are expected to dedicate 10-20 hours per week toward their research. Students must receive approval of their honors project from the Honors Faculty Advisor, Professor Chao Li. At the conclusion of the second research independent study, students are required to submit a 15-20 page final report, with the approval of their faculty mentor, and are encouraged to present their research at the Dean's Undergraduate Research Conference (DURC) in the spring semester of their senior year. 
    • All Joint Math/CS Honors majors who are not selected for SURE must satisfy the research project requirement via the independent study route.

JOINT HONORS MAJOR IN MATHEMATICS / ECONOMICS

Honors Joint Math/Economics Major Checklist

Mathematics Requirements

  • MATH-UA 121 Calculus I or MATH-UA 131 Math for Economics I
  • MATH-UA 122 Calculus II or MATH-UA 132 Math for Economics II
  • MATH-UA 123 Calculus III (or MATH-UA 129 Honors Calculus III) or MATH-UA 133 Math for Economics III
  • MATH-UA 140 Linear Algebra (or MATH-UA 148 Honors Linear Algebra)
  • MATH-UA 328 Honors Analysis I
    • Students who take MATH-UA 325 Analysis must take MATH-UA 329 Honors Analysis II to make up missing the Honors Analysis I credit. In this situation, Honors Analysis II will not count towards the two honors elective requirement below. 
  • Two (2) Honors electives from the following list:
    • MATH-UA 238 Honors Theory of Probability
    • MATH-UA 258 Honors Numerical Analysis
      • cannot take MATH-UA 258 if you have already taken MATH-UA 394 Honors II and the topic was Honors Numerical Analysis
    • MATH-UA 268 Honors Ordinary Differential Equations
    • MATH-UA 329 Honors Analysis II 
      • cannot count MATH-UA 329 Honors Analysis II towards the honors elective requirement if you are taking the course to make up for missing Honors Analysis I credit.
    • MATH-UA 348 Honors Algebra I   
    • MATH-UA 349 Honors Algebra II  
    • MATH-UA 393 Honors I
    • MATH-UA 394 Honors II 
    • MATH-UA 397 Honors III
    • MATH-UA 398 Honors IV
  • Two more math electives from the following: 
    • MATH-UA 233 Theory of Probability (if not taking MATH-UA 238 Honors Theory of Probability above)
    • MATH-UA 234 Mathematical Statistics
    • MATH-UA 235 Probability & Statistics (Effective Fall 2025, MATH-UA 235 will no longer be an advanced math elective).
    • MATH-UA 240 Combinatorics
    • MATH-UA 248 Theory of Numbers
    • MATH-UA 250 Mathematics of Finance
    • MATH-UA 251 Mathematical Modeling
    • MATH-UA 252 Numerical Analysis (if not taking MATH-UA 258 Honors Numerical Analysis above)
    • MATH-UA 253 Linear and Nonlinear Optimization
    • MATH-UA 262 Ordinary Differential Equations (if not taking MATH-UA 268 Honors Ordinary Differential Equations above)
    • MATH-UA 263 Partial Differential Equations
    • MATH-UA 264 Chaos & Dynamical Systems
    • MATH-UA 282 Functions of a Complex Variable
    • MATH-UA 375 Topology
    • MATH-UA 377 Differential Geometry

*If you take MATH-UA 235 you cannot also count MATH-UA 233 and/or MATH-UA 234 towards the major requirements. If you take MATH-UA 233 and/or 234 you cannot count MATH-UA 235 towards the major requirements.

Economics Requirements

The economics requirements include:

  • Introduction to Macroeconomics (ECON-UA 1)
  • Introduction to Microeconomics (ECON-UA 2)
  • Microeconomic Analysis (ECON-UA 11)
  • Macroeconomic Analysis (ECON-UA 13)
  • Analytical Statistics (ECON-UA 20) if not taking Mathematical Statistics (MATH-UA 234)
  • Introduction to Econometrics (ECON-UA 266)
  • Plus any three economics elective courses, at least two of which must be theory electives numbered ECON-UA 300-399. Note that students who take MATH-UA 234 instead of ECON-UA 20 for the statistics requirement must take a total of four ECON-UA electives.

Honors Research Project Requirements

Students may complete the honors research project requirement at either department. A research project completed at the Math Department will be cross-honored by the Economics Department, and vice versa. That being said, once a student commits to completing a research project at one department, they must satisfy the research requirements and abide by the policies of that department. 

To complete the Honors Research Project requirement at the Economics Department, students must begin the three-course honors sequence no later than the spring semester of their Junior year:

  1. ECON-UA 266 Introduction to Econometrics
  2. ECON-UA 410 Honors Tutorial
  3. ECON-UA 450 Honors Thesis
    • Students are expected to dedicate 10-20 hours per week toward their research.

To satisfy the research project requirement at the Math Department, students have two options:

  1. to participate in the mathematics Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (S.U.R.E.) program under faculty supervision. Students who participate in this program are expected to dedicate 30+ hours of research per week over a 10-12 week period during the summer break. Upon concluding their research, students are required to submit an abstract and present their research at Courant's undergraduate research forum in the fall semester of their senior year. This is a competitive program with only a select number of spots. Students who are selected to participate will receive financial support for the summer.
    • Honors students interested in the SURE route must apply at the beginning of the Spring semester of their Junior Year.
  2. Alternatively, students must complete two (2) semesters of research independent study (MATH-UA 0997, 0998) under faculty supervision. Students are expected to dedicate 10-20 hours per week toward their research. Students must receive approval of their honors project from the Honors Faculty Advisor, Professor Chao Li. At the conclusion of the second research independent study, students are required to submit a 15-20 page final report, with the approval of their faculty mentor, and are encouraged to present their research at the Dean's Undergraduate Research Conference (DURC) in the spring semester of their senior year. 
    • Joint Math/Econ Honors majors not selected for the SURE program must satisfy the research project requirement via the independent study route at the Math Department or the three-course honors sequence at the Economics Department.