INTRODUCTION
While most University undergraduates
complete the majority of their coursework in one of the four
undergraduate Schools, the University recognizes the value and
benefits of an interdisciplinary approach to education.
Combining coursework from two or more of Penn’s Schools
allows students to express their academic creativity and to
discover new ways of synthesizing information. Many options
exist for students who wish to pursue their course of study in
more than one School. Fulfilling the requirements of these
rigorous programs can be a challenge, and requires significant
advance planning, but the rewards are manifold. Penn encourages
all undergraduates to consider one of the following options
when deciding how best to maximize the University’s
resources.
DEPARTMENTAL AND UNIVERSITY MINORS
Although students are not required to
complete a minor, students may choose to do so to bring an
element of cohesiveness to their electives. Students may
complete one or more minors in order to pursue secondary areas
of interest, to develop skills and a knowledge base that
complements their major, to express themselves in a creative
area that is or will likely become a vocation, or to learn more
about themselves and/or their heritage. In general, a
departmental minor is comprised of half the number of required
courses for a major in that department. Students may complete a
minor in any School that offers undergraduate minors,
regardless of their home School. To find out more about this
option, students should contact the department in which they
are interested in minoring.
In addition to minors completed within
one School of the University, several interdisciplinary minors
combine coursework from some combination of the four
undergraduate Schools. These are called University Minors, and
they include:
Actuarial Mathematics
The Actuarial Science Department of the
Wharton School and the Mathematics Department of the College of
Arts and Sciences offer a University minor in Actuarial
Mathematics. Actuarial Science stands at the intersection of
risk and money. Actuaries are experts in evaluating the
likelihood and financial consequences of future events,
designing creative ways to reduce the probability of
undesirable events, and decreasing the impact of tragic events
that do occur. Additional information about a minor in
Actuarial Mathematics is available at www.math.upenn.edu/ugrad/actuarial2.html.
