Planetary Sciences, BS

Curriculum and Degree Requirements

A College of Science degree is conferred when a student successfully completes all requirements in their degree program.  Students will complete coursework or approved experiential learning activities to meet the following three degree components:

1. Major
2. Science Core Curriculum
3. Free Electives

Students may use any of the following options to meet College of Science degree requirements:

• Purdue Coursework
• Ap, IB, and CLEP credit.  The use of AP and IB coursework varies between College of Science degree plans.
• Transfer Credit. Students should consult the Admissions Transfer Credit Resource page for all available transfer options.

College of Science degree programs vary widely in their approval and use of the proceeding options and thus students are strongly encouraged to work closely with their academic advisors and to regularly consult their MyPurduePlan to view the use of each option in their degree plan. 

Most College of Science degree programs contain free elective credits students may use to pursue courses that relate to their interests or which support their major area of study. The elective area of a degree plan may also be used to complete minors, second majors and certificates such as the Entrepreneurial Certificate. With the exception of courses on the No Count List, any Purdue course may be used to meet the free elective area of a student’s degree plan.

College of Science Core Requirements

All Students starting Purdue University Fall semester, 2007 or later are required to pursue the 2007 Science Core curriculum.

The College of Science Core Curriculum requires the completion of approved coursework and/or experiential learning opportunities in the following academic areas:

• Composition and Presentation  
• Teambuilding and Collaboration  
• Language and Culture  
• General Education  
• Great Issues  
• Labratory Science/Mathematics/Statistics/Computing Core  
• Multidisciplinary Experience 
• Mathematics 
• Statistics 
• Computing  
• No Count List  

Earning Core Curricular Requirements through Experience

Students may meet selected core curriculum requirements through approved experiential learning opportunities. Interested students should contact their academic advisor for more information on this option and incorporating experiential learning into their four-year program of study. For more information on earning requirements through experience, please click here.

Departmental/Program Major Courses (40 credits)

Other Departmental /Program Course Requirements (69-75 credits)

• MA 16100 - Plane Analytic Geometry And Calculus I ♦ (satisfies Quantitative Reasoning Selective for core) or
• MA 16500 - Analytic Geometry And Calculus I ♦ (satisfies Quantitative Reasoning Selective for core)

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• MA 16200 - Plane Analytic Geometry And Calculus II ♦ (satisfies Quantitative Reasoning Selective for core) or
• MA 16600 - Analytic Geometry And Calculus II ♦ (satisfies Quantitative Reasoning Selective for core)

•  

• MA 26100 - Multivariate Calculus ♦ (satisfies Quantitative Reasoning Selective for core)
• MA 26200 - Linear Algebra And Differential Equations (satisfies Quantitative Reasoning Selective for core)
• CHM 11500 - General Chemistry ♦ (satisfies Science Selective for core)
• CHM 11600 - General Chemistry ♦ (satisfies Science Selective for core)
• PHYS 17200 - Modern Mechanics ♦ (satisfies Science Selective for core and Teambuilding and Collaboration Experience)
• PHYS 27200 - Electric And Magnetic Interactions (satisfies Science Selective for core)

•  

• CS 15800 - C Programming (satisfies Teambuilding and Collaboration Experience) or
• CS 17700 - Programming With Multimedia Objects (satisfies Teambuilding and Collaboration Experience) or
• CS 18000 - Problem Solving And Object-Oriented Programming (satisfies Teambuilding and Collaborative Experience)

•  

• STAT 30100 - Elementary Statistical Methods (satisfies Information Literacy Selective for core)

•  

• ENGL 10600 - First-Year Composition (satisfies Written Communication & Information Literacy for core) or
• ENGL 10800 - Accelerated First-Year Composition (satisfies Written Communication & Information Literacy for core)

•  

• Technical Writing/Technical Presentation Option  COM 21700 - Science Writing And Presentation (satisfies Oral Communication for core)
• Language I Option - Credit Hours: 3.00 - 4.00
• Language II Option - Credit Hours: 3.00 - 4.00
• Language III/Culture/Diversity Option - Credit Hours: 3.00 - 4.00
• General Education I Option (Select courses could satisfy Human Culture Behavioral/Social Science for core) - Credit Hours: 3.00
• General Education II Option (Select courses could satisfy Human Cultures Humanities for core) - Credit Hours: 3.00
• General Education III Option (Select courses could satisfy Humanities Behavioral/Social Science for core) - Credit Hours: 3.00
• Great Issues Option - Credit Hours: 3.00
• Multidisciplinary Elective (could be satisfied by Science, Technology & Society core classes) - Credit Hours: 3.00

Electives

(5-11 credits if needed to reach 120 credits of countable credits) - LINK

University Core Requirements

• Human Cultures Humanities
• Human Cultures Behavioral/Social Science
• Information Literacy
• Science #1
• Science #2
• Science, Technology & Society Selective
• Written Communication
• Oral Communication
• Quantitative Reasoning

Program Requirements

http://www.eaps.purdue.edu/for_students/undergraduate/

Note

*Satisfies a University Core Requirement

⁺Electives for advanced courses and specializations.

^EAPS 55600 and 39100 Astrobiology are offered alternate years ans may be switched in the above schedule.

Students must earn a “C-” or better in all required ♦ courses.

120 semester credits required for Bachelor of Science degree.

2.0 Graduation GPA required for Bachelor of Science degree.

2.0 average in EAPS major classes required to graduate.

Degree Requirements

The student is ultimately responsible for knowing and completing all degree requirements.

The myPurduePlan powered by DegreeWorks is the knowledge source for specific requirements and completion.

Critical Course

The ♦ course is considered critical. A Critical Course is one that a student must be able to pass to persist and succeed in a particular major.

Foreign Language Courses

Foreign Language proficiency requirements vary by program.  For acceptable languages and proficiency levels, see your advisor:

American Sign Language, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, (ancient) Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish