Capstone Course Arrangements

To: ALL students admitted in 2017-18 or before, who intend to graduate by summer 2021.

SUBJECT: Capstone course arrangements 2020-21.

  1. Overview:
    1. In order to graduate in MATH by summer 2021, you must have passed, as your capstone course, either MATH4900 (Seminar) or MATH4400 (Project), but not both, by 2020-21. These two courses are mutually exclusive.
    2. MATH4900 will be offered in both semesters. Most students will take MATH4900 to fulfill their graduation requirements, and do so in the first semester.
      However, if you intend to take MATH4400 or if you cannot take MATH4900 in the first semester, you need to take special action.
    3. If you are a MATH student, refer to the relevant section below:
      • Section 2 if you intend to take MATH4400,
      • Section 3 if you intend to take MATH4900 and to graduate prior to summer 2021 and have already passed MATH2050,
      • Section 4 if you intend to take MATH4900 and to graduate prior to summer 2021, but are yet to pass MATH2050,
    4. If you are a non-MATH student who intend to graduate with a second major in MATH by summer 2021, refer to Section 5.
    5. For add-drop matters in MATH4900, refer to Section 6.
    6. For the topics of the various sections of MATH4900, refer to Section 7.

　

  1. For MATH students who intend to take MATH4400:
    1. You are required to check whether you are qualified for taking this course. Refer to the CUSIS for detail.
    2. It is your own responsibility to look for a potential project supervisor and obtain his/her consent to supervise the project, whether in the first semester or the second semester 2020-21.
    3. After obtaining your supervisor’s consent, you should make an online application at
      https://www.math.cuhk.edu.hk/project/
      The closing date of application is 4th July, 2020.
      NO late application will be entertained.
      Be aware that it could take, say, 10 days, for the teacher to decide. So do make your approach early.
      　
    4. You will be informed of the result by 11th July, 2020.
      Successful applicants will be pre-assigned to MATH4400 in the respective semesters, prior to course registration day.
      If you application is unsuccessful, you are expected to register for MATH4900 in 2020-21. Refer to Sections 3, 4 below.

　

  1. For MATH students who intend to take MATH4900 and to graduate prior to summer 2021, and have already passed MATH2050:
    1. You are expected to take MATH4900 in the First Semester 2020-21.
    2. If, for whatever reason, you do not intend to take MATH4900 in the First Semester 2020-21, you should write to the department, no later than 30th June, 2020, stating your reasons.
      Failing to do so may result in delay in graduation.　
    3. There are seven sections of MATH4900 in the First Semester 2020-21. Each has its own theme. The themes are available in Section 7.
    4. Registration for MATH4900 is to be done on CUSIS, during your course registration day (in early August, 2020), on a first-come-first-serve basis.
    5. The quota of every section is a hard quota. No student in the waiting list of any section may be added to the respective section unless some student already registered to that section drops from the course.
      If you find yourself in the waiting list of a section during the course registration day, you had better register for another section immediately.
      If you had not already entered the class list of any one section after your course registration day, you might fail to register for the course at all, and end up delaying graduation.
      It will be up the department to decide what to do with the vacancies of MATH4900, after the end of the course registration period.

　

  1. For MATH students who intend to take MATH4900 and intend to graduate prior to summer 2021, but are yet to pass MATH2050:
    • In principle, you are not eligible to take MATH4900 until you have passed MATH2050.
    • If you are graduating in summer 2021, you are NOT allowed to take MATH4900 in the First Semester 2020-21.
    • If you are graduating by the end of 2020, you may write to the department, no later than 30th June, 2020, to apply for a place in MATH4900 in the First Semester 2020-21.
      NO late application will be entertained.
      It will be up to the department to decide into which section you will be added.
  1. For non-MATH students who intend to graduate with a second major in MATH by summer 2020:
    1. If you intend to take MATH4400, refer to Section 2.
    2. If you intend to take MATH4900, you are expected to do so in the First Semester 2020-21. You may write to the department, no later than 30th June, 2020, to apply for a place in MATH4900 in the First Semester 2020-21.
      NO late application will be entertained.
    3. It will be up to the department to decide into which section you will be added.

　

  1. Add-drop matters in MATH4900:
    1. Once the CUSIS course selection day is over, the department will impose departmental add-drop consent to MATH4900 in CUSIS. You are not free to do electronic add-drop on CUSIS.
    2. You may apply for adding into, and/or dropping from, MATH4900. In such an application, you have to submit to the General Office of the Department of Mathematics the following documents:
      • An add-drop form with the detail of your application. (In the case of dropping from MATH4900, the form needs be signed by the teacher of the respective section.)
      • A letter justifying your application.
    3. You are reminded that you are supposed to have read the information about the various topics of MATH4900 prior to course selection. For this reason, the department will approve such an application only in exceptional cases.
    4. The deadline for add-drop applications is 1300hrs of the last day of the official add-drop period.
      NO late application will be entertained.

  1. Topics of the various sections of MATH4900.