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I was considering getting a math major, but my concern is the ability to get jobs after it. What kinds of jobs could a math major get (possibly paired with comp-sci, physics, or economics)

By Welshie (Welshie) on Friday, June 25, 2004 - 12:07 am: Edit

Well I'm a Math major and so I'll shed what I know about it's possible career options. Mathematician/Consultants are the biggest, most obvious opportunities. As a Consultant, you basically analyze a company's performance and develop forecasts for their performance. Mathematicians are, as you'd guess, people that eat, sleep and breathe math, these are the researcher types. Most "Mathematicians" are Professors by title and teach at the collegiate level. As a Math major, the logic portion is applicable to law and so it's not surprising that a significant number of Math majors end up as lawyers. Engineering is another option (especially when coupled with Physics). Computer programming/software design is another option (when coupled with Comp-Sci). Also, and this is a bit more up my alley (at least at the moment), but a friend of mine (attending UCLA Grad school) has mentioned that he has seen in his work (neuroscience) a significant number of Math majors that are coming in and analyzing neuro-firing patterns and are able to develop (and are still developing) mathematical algorithms to represent and explain them. Hope that helps.

By Cornelius (Cornelius) on Saturday, June 26, 2004 - 06:28 am: Edit

Engineering, actuarial science, and secondary/primary school teaching come to mind with a BA degree.

You could also get a job in finance/business and work on Wall Street if your grades are good enough.

If you get a PHD academia will open up to you and you can do some research and teaching.

Getting a JD (Law) or MBA (Business) degree will open those fields up to you.

By Avoidingwork (Avoidingwork) on Saturday, June 26, 2004 - 10:12 am: Edit

I asked the same question 30+ years ago. At the time, I thought that there were two things one could do with a math degree - be a genius or teach. I'm not equipped for the former and was not interested in the latter.

So, I decided to double in math and comp sci. This was in the days when computers were housed in big rooms, etc. I had never even seen a computer or written a program when I made this decision. Clearly, it was a fortuitous choice, given the growth of the computer and software industry since. I've had an interesting, fun, and varied career in software.

imho, I think you can do just about anything with a math degree. It shows that you can think. That said, I think you are on a good track to pair it with another subject that interests you.

By Sticksandstones (Sticksandstones) on Saturday, June 26, 2004 - 11:03 am: Edit

the NSA( national security agency) hires mathematicians to aid them in cryptography. i don't know what the requirments are though.

By Welshie (Welshie) on Saturday, June 26, 2004 - 11:38 am: Edit

"Codebreakers." Also, Cornelius, Actuarial science (fancy term for Statistics) is usually separate from the Math Department.

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Saturday, June 26, 2004 - 11:48 am: Edit

Interested in writing?
No not textbooks
http://www.mathsci.appstate.edu/~sjg/simpsonsmath/futuramamath/degrees.html

By Skapoor1 (Skapoor1) on Saturday, June 26, 2004 - 08:37 pm: Edit

So you could get a job in engineering with just a math-physics double major? I really like math but i have the same fear that avoidingwork has so I was thinking, up till now, that I would probably major in engineering (electrical, mechanical, or engineering physics) since I like physics quite a bit as well.