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Arts and Sciences
 Quantitative Proficiency

The Oberlin College faculty adopted in 1987 a Quantitative Proficiency Requirement for the B.A. degree. The requirement promotes quantitative proficiency and provides a focus for a College-wide commitment to extend and promote the teaching and application of quantitative skills. The faculty views the Quantitative Proficiency Requirement in terms of its goals, not in terms of a narrowly defined set of mathematical or computational skills. Thus, the requirement is intended to urge students to develop the ability to apply logical thinking to complex problems, to encourage a deeper understanding of numbers, to foster mathematical modeling and incorporating the computer as a potent quantitative tool in many disciplines, and to demonstrate how quantitative practices and techniques are essential to the understanding of important societal issues.


Quantitative Proficiency Requirement. All students entering Oberlin College and all students who change divisions from the Conservatory to the College or become double-degree students must earn Quantitative Proficiency Certification for the B.A. degree. The Quantitative Proficiency Committee administers this graduation requirement. Students may satisfy the quantitative proficiency requirement in any of the following three ways:


1. By earning credit in a course designated "Quantitative Proficiency Certification-Full,"
or

2. By certification of quantitative proficiency from the Oberlin College instructors who taught the student in any two of the courses that are designated "Quantitative Proficiency Certification-Half." (One of these courses may, by approval of the Quantitative Proficiency Committee, be a private reading course or a Winter Term project),
or

3. By a score of 4 or 5 on either the AB or the BC Advanced Placement Calculus Examination, by a score of 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement Chemistry Examination, by a score of 4 or 5 on either the B or C (Mechanics) Advanced Placement Examination in Physics, by a score of 5 on the C (Electricity and Magnetism) Advanced Placement Examination in Physics, by a score of 3, 4, or 5 on the A or AB Advanced Placement Computer Science Examination, or by a score of 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement Statistics Examination.


A passing grade in a course designated "Quantitative Proficiency Certification-Full" automatically results in certification of quantitative proficiency. Progress toward certification in a course designated "Quantitative Proficiency Certification-Half" depends upon the instructor's appraisal of that proficiency. In any case, students should gain quantitative proficiency certification in their first two years in order to have a wider range of course offerings available to them in subsequent years. Normally, students will satisfy the Quantitative Proficiency Requirement through course work taken at Oberlin or through the Advanced Placement Program. Credit for a specific Oberlin course among those designated "Quantitative Proficiency Certification-Full," even if earned by transfer of credit from another institution, will count for purposes of quantitative certification as if the course were taken at Oberlin. Transfer of credit for one or several courses equivalent to Oberlin courses designated "Quantitative Proficiency Certification-Half" will not satisfy part or all of the Quantitative Proficiency Requirement under any circumstances.


Students may earn Quantitative Proficiency Certification in the courses listed below. In this listing, an asterisk (*) indicates that a course is designated "Quantitative Proficiency Certification-Half."


The list is as complete as is possible at the time of publication. Because this list may be incomplete, however, students should check the primary course listings, with the specific department, or with the chair of the Quantitative Proficiency Committee (the committee responsible for making these designations) for more current information.


In the catalog listings for courses,
QPf = "Quantitative Proficiency Certification-Full";
QPh = "Quantitative Proficiency Certification-Half."

Courses Without Prerequisites:

Chemistry

050 Basic Chemistry*


Computer Science

150 Principles of Computer Science

221 Object-Oriented Computing


Economics

101 Introduction to Political Economy*


Geology

111 Glaciology, Ice Ages, and Climate Control*


Mathematics

030 Topics in Contemporary Mathematics

050 Dots, Lines, and Coin Flips

080 Lies, Damned Lies, and Decisions

100 Elementary Statistics

113 Statistical Methods for the Social & Behavioral Sciences

114 Statistical Methods for the Biological Sciences

131 Calculus Ia: Limits, Continuity, and Differentiation*

133 Calculus I: Limits, Continuity, Differentiation, Integration, and Applications


Physics and Astronomy

052 The Strange World of Quantum Mechanics *

054 Musical Acoustics *

061 The Physics of Sports*

100 Introductory Astronomy*

103 Elementary Physics I

110 Mechanics and Relativity


Politics

204 Political Inquiry: Investigations into Controversial Issues*


Psychology

108 Psychology and the Arts*

119 Colloquium: Applied Psychological Science *



Courses With Prerequisites:


Art

224 The Technology of Greek and Roman Architecture*


Biology

318 Evolution*


Chemistry

101 Structure and Reactivity*

102 Chemical Principles

103 Topics in General Chemistry

109 Introductory Thermodynamics*

211 Analytical Chemistry

339 Quantum Chemistry and Kinetics

347 Advanced Analytical and Physical Chemistry Lab

349 Chemical and Statistical Thermodynamics

409 Topics in Physical Chemistry


Computer Science

151 Principles of Computer Science

210 Computer Organization

235 Computer Application Development

275 Algorithms, Structures and Abstractions

280 Algorithms, Structures and Abstractions

339 Projects in Computer Application Development

342 Computer Networks

383 Theory of Computer Science

Economics

206 Financial Management

210 Economic Development in Latin America*

211 Money, Credit and Banking*

219 Labor-Management Relations*

224 Law and Economics*

225 Political Economy of European Integration*

227 International Trade and Finance*

231 Environmental Economics*

251 Intermediate Macroeconomics*

253 Intermediate Microeconomics*

255 Introduction to Econometrics

313 Games and Strategy in Economics*

320 Labor Economics*

326 International Trade*

327 International Finance*

331 Economics of Land, Location, and the Environment*

351 Macroeconomic Theory

353 Microeconomic Theory

355 Advanced Econometrics: Time Series Analysis


Environmental Studies

231 Environmental Economics*

331 Economics of Land, Location and Environment*


Geology

201 Mineralogy and Optical Crystallography

340 Structural Geology


Mathematics

132 Calculus Ib: Integration and Applications

134 Calculus II: Special Functions, Integration Techniques, and Power Series

210 Chaos and Fractals: An Introduction

220 Discrete Mathematics

231 Multivariable Calculus

232 Linear Algebra

234 Differential Equations

301 Advanced Calculus

327 Group Theory

328 Computational Algebra and Algebraic Geometry

329 Rings and Fields

331 Optimization

335 Probability

336 Mathematical Statistics

343 Combinatorics

350 Geometry

356 Complex Analysis

397 Seminar in Mathematical Modeling

399 Seminar in Number Systems


Neuroscience

319 Neurophysiology: Neurons to Networks to Behavior*


Physics

104 Elementary Physics II

111 Electricity, Magnetism, Optics, Waves

112 Modern Physics

242 Electronics

310 Classical Mechanics

311 Electricity and Magnetism

312 Quantum Mechanics
314 Intermediate Laboratory

410 Statistical Mechanics

412 Applied Quantum Mechanics

414 Advanced Laboratory


Psychology

200 Research Methods I

300 Research Methods II

301 Personality/Social Psychology Laboratory

304 Laboratory in Psychological Measurement


Sociology

211 Social Research Methods*

235 Gender Stratification*

 

*Courses designated Quantitative Proficiency-Half
    
   
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