An undergraduate research program is offered at Mount Holyoke every summer for students interested in mathematics and statistics, and similar programs exist at other colleges and universities. Summer and January internships are available at business and research laboratories. Many students follow up a summer program after the junior year with related independent work in the senior year, perhaps culminating in an honors thesis. Faculty welcome a wide range of proposals for independent projects. All seniors doing independent work are encouraged to report on their projects at the annual Science Symposium in April.
Many students enter the job market and return later for advanced degrees.
Students interested in this area should plan to cover the material that is included in the first two actuarial exams as part of their undergraduate program. This material is included in Calculus I, Calculus II, Calculus III, and Probability, along with Macroeconomic Theory, Microeconomic Theory, and the Economics of Corporate Finance. Students are encouraged to obtain experience through an internship. Students interested in pursuing certification for middle school or secondary school should major in mathematics rather than statistics. However, since there is increasing emphasis on statistics in secondary school, any of the applied statistics courses would be good preparation.