PLANETARY SCIENCE AND ASTRONOMY MAJOR Program Years: 2013
B.S. Degree
General Education Years: 2010 Eberly College of Science The Pennsylvania State University
For the B.S. degree in Planetary Science and Astronomy, a minimum of 122 credits is required. The following four requirements are to be integrated into the course requirements for the major which are listed below.
( ) First-Year Seminar (required of all students admitted to the University as freshmen since SU99) Note: ASTRO 20S is recommended and may be used as a supporting course. For students who begin at a Commonwealth Campus, a PSU course, e.g., PSU 8 is taken in lieu of ASTRO 20S.
( ) International Cultures (IL)
Note: Many students will select a course that is also approved to satisfy a General Education requirement in the arts, humanities, or social and behavioral sciences (e.g., RL ST 001 GH/IL).
( ) United States Cultures (US)
Note: Many students will select a course that is also approved to satisfy a General Education requirement in the arts, humanities, or social and behavioral sciences (e.g., A ED 225 GH/US).
( ) Writing Across the Curriculum (W)
Note: ASTRO 402W is intended to satisfy this requirement for all PASTR majors.
In order to graduate, students must:
( ) complete all of the course requirements.
( ) have a 2.00 or better cumulative grade point average.
( ) earn a C or better in MATH 140 and four of the following: ASTRO 120, 130, 140, BIOL 110, CHEM 110, EARTH 2, GEOSCI 1, GEOSCI 20, and STAT 200
( ) earn 36 of the last 60 credits required for the degree in courses offered by the University.
( ) earn the last 60 credits within a total elapsed time of five calendar years.
Course Requirements (Record the grade earned in the space provided to the right of the credit value of the course.)
Writing and Speaking (GWS) (9 cr)
- ENGL 15 or 30 (3) ______
- CAS 100 (3) ______
- ENGL 202C (3) ______
Health and Physical Activity (GHA) (3 cr)
- Course: ________________________ ( )______
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Arts (GA) (6 cr)
- Course: ________________________ ( )______
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Humanities (GH) (6 cr)
- Course: ________________________ ( )______
- Course: ________________________ ( )______
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Social and Behavioral Sciences (GS) (6 cr)
- Course: ________________________ ( )______
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Note: Students may choose to distribute their GA/GH/GS credits as 3-6-9 (e.g., 3 GA, 6 GH, 9 GS). A petition is required to put this change into effect
BIOL 110 (GN) (4 cr)* ______
CHEM 110 (GN) (3 cr)* ______
- CHEM 111 (GN) (1 cr) ______
- CHEM 112 (GN) (3 cr) ______
CHEM 113 (GN) (1 cr) ______
GEOSC/BIOL 474 (3 cr)* ______
MATH 140 (GQ) (4 cr)* ______
MATH 141 (GQ) (4 cr) ______
STAT 200 (GQ) (4 cr)* ______
ASTRO 401 (4 cr)* ______
- ASTRO 402W (3 cr)* ______
Select from ASTRO 1, 5, 6, or 291 (3 cr)
- ________________________ ( )______
Select from CMPSC 101, 121, 201, 202, or 203 (3-4 cr)
- ________________________ ( )______
Select from PHYS 211 or 250 (4 cr)
- ________________________ ( )______
Select from PHYS 212 or 251 (4 cr)
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Select from ASTRO 120*, 130*, 140* and 292 (9 cr)
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Select from GEOSC 1*, GEOSC 20*, or EARTH 2* (3 cr)
- ________________________ ( )______
Select from EARTH 100, 103, 106, 150, 202, GEOG 160, GEOSC 201, 202, 203, 204, METEO 101, and METEO 201 (12 cr)
________________________ ( )______ ________________________ ( )______
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Courses from the Advanced Elective list (9-12 cr)***
- ________________________ ( )______ ________________________ ( )______
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Supporting courses (ASTRO 20S recommended for first-year students) (11 cr)***
Note: Although the supporting courses are intended to be electives, there are a few types of courses which may not be used in this category. See department list for additional information.
________________________ ( )______ ________________________ ( )______
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CREDITS EARNED THAT DO NOT APPLY TOWARD GRADUATION
- ________________________ ( )______ ________________________ ( )______
*A grade of C or better is required in four of these nine courses.
**A grade of C or better is required for this course.
***A total of 6 credits from these two categories must come from 400-level courses.
PASTR Major Advanced Elective List:
Effective Fall 2017
| Recommended for all students | (continued) | |
|---|---|---|
| GEOSC 310 (4) | ASTRO 410 (3) | PHYS 213 (2) |
| GEOSC 320 (3) | ASTRO 414 (3) | PHYS 214 (2) |
| GEOSC 340 (3) | ASTRO 440 (3) | PHYS 237 (3) |
| GEOSC 402Y IL(3) | ASTRO 451 (3) | |
| GEOSC 416 (3) | ASTRO 480 (3) | GEOG 362 (3) |
| GEOSC 419 (3) | ASTRO 485 (3) | GEOG 363 (3) |
| GEOSC 422 (3) | ASTRO 494H (max of 3 cr) | GEOG 364 (3) |
| GEOSC 424 (3) | ASTRO 496 (max of 3 cr) | |
| GEOSC 434 (3) | ASTRO 497 (3) | CMPSC 360 (3) |
| GEOSC 439 (3) | ||
| GEOSC 440 (3) | ||
| GEOSC 454 (3) | ||
| GEOSC 489 (4) | ||
| GEOSC 494H (max of 3 cr) | ||
| GEOSC 496 (max of 3 cr) |
| Courses for the astrobiology minor | (continued) | |
|---|---|---|
| ASTRO 420W (3) | BIOL 220W GN (3) | METEO 466 (3) |
| ASTRO 475W (3) | BIOL 230W GN (3) | MICRB 201 (3) |
| B M B 401 (3) | BIOL 405 (3) | |
| B M B 402 (3) | BIOL 427 (3) |
| Courses for students who wish to pursue teaching certification |
|---|
| SCI ED 411 (3) |
| SPLED 400 (3) |
Courses in regular text do not require any additional pre-requisite courses that are not already required for the PASTR major.
Courses in bold require pre-requisite courses that you may or may not have taken as part of the PASTR major, so they take careful planning with your lower level courses in order to take them for your advanced electives.
Courses in italics are independent studies and honors thesis research. You can only count up to 3 credits maximum of any these towards your advanced elective requirement. That is, if you take both Astro 494H and 496 for 3 credits each, you can only count one of those two as an advanced elective. All of those credits can count as as supporting courses, however.
The course in bold italics (ASTRO 497) is a special topics course. Each offering of Astro 497 is unique and may require a variety of different pre-requisites. These courses are not offered with any regular schedule, though, so you cannot count on Astro 497 being offered during your time as a PASTR major.
Although METEO 466 has the pre-requisite of PHYS 211, it is strongly recommended as one of the advanced electives for all PASTR majors.
Substitutions will be considered for advanced electives on a case by case basis. If you are interested in taking a higher level MATH, PHYS, CMPSC, GEOSC, or METEO class and would like it to count as an advanced elective, please contact the Undergraduate Program Head.