First-Year Exploration

Note for Spring 2020:

Courses that would ordinarily be letter graded and are being taken pass/fail in Spring 2020 are eligible to count towards the AM concentration.  This is a change from the standard requirements of 14-15 letter graded courses.

Tips for pre-concentrators:

• To be on track for the concentration, plan to take one course that would count for AM each semester of your first year and to take two in your sophomore fall
• AM students are evenly split between taking CS 50 in the first year, sophomore year, and junior year.  When you take CS 50, be sure to take it for a grade for it to count for AM.  CS 50 is not required, but computation is: MIT 6.0001+6.0002 and AM 111 also satisfy the computation requirement for applied mathematics.
• Almost all AM students take Stat 110 (probability) in either their sophomore or junior fall.

Speak with an advisor:

Students with questions about Applied Mathematics should write to am-advising@seas.harvard.edu.  Further advising information, including drop in office hours, can be found here.

Students with questions about pursuing a secondary field in Mathematical Sciences should write am-advising@seas.harvard.edu or contact the Math Department.

Sample Schedules

Below are some suggested paths for the freshman and sophomore years in the Applied Mathematics concentration. There are many possible pathways through the degree. Interested students should write am-advising@seas.harvard.edu for additional guidance.

Note: Also see suggested courses based on area of application.

Note: CS 50 / MIT 6.0001+6.0002 can be taken in the fall of the first year (and is taken at that time by about one-third of applied mathematics concentrators).  It is not listed for that semester in any of the plans below: it is not necessary to take CS 50 in the first year to be on track to concentrate in AM.

Schedule M - Student places into Math Ma.

Sample plans of study from students who started in Ma are available from concentration advisors

Schedule 1a - Student places into Math 1a.

Sample plans of study from students who started in 1a are available from concentration advisors

Schedule 1b - Student places into Math 1b.

Sample plans of study from students who started in 1a are available from concentration advisors

Schedule 21a - Student places into Math 21a/APMTH 22a.

Schedule 21b - Student documents having taken AM 21a/Math 21a.

Other courses you might consider

Some potential application area courses would count as a breadth elective even if you don’t choose that application area. Examples include Econ 1011a, Econ 1011b, Physics 12a, 15a, 15b, Astro 16, MCB 112, Psych 1401.