What Jobs are Available for Math Majors? 301
Asmor asks: "I'm currently a CS major/math minor in college, who's strongly considering a role reversal. I like working with computers as a hobby, but I'm not so sure it's what I'd want to do for a living. On the other hand, I love math, especially in its pure and abstract forms. I would like to get a doctorate some day, but ideally I'd like to find a job as soon as I get my bachelor's. I've expressed this interest to important people in my life (like my parents and such) and the general consensus is that there aren't any jobs for math majors. I can't really disagree. Aside from teaching it, something I'm not sure I'd want to do, I can't think of any jobs for math majors. So, what options are out there for me if I did decide to switch? Would my future consist of high school math classes? Also, how much work is involved?"
There are a LOT of jobs (Score:5, Insightful)
Do what you want! (Score:3, Insightful)
Do the Math Major/Compu Sci minor. If you're good enough to get a Phd then the problem of getting a job after your BSc will be trivial. With a Math major no decent software company will care. Likewise most financial companies will snap you up.
Are all college kids this dumb in the US?
Don't wait to get a Ph.D. (Score:5, Insightful)
First, my credentials: I did a dual major in Math and CS. I went to school planning on getting the CS degree, but, like you, I enjoyed the math so much that I ended up with two majors. Actually, I ended up with all of a CS major and 1.5 times as many math credits as I needed for that major. I also seriously thought about going on for an MS and PhD in math, but decided I wanted to take a break for a while and get a job.
Well, I got the job, and a wife, and kids, and while I don't regret any of how my life has gone, and wouldn't change it a bit, I'll tell you that if you're really serious about getting the post graduate degrees, do it now, don't wait. If you wait, odds are very good that you'll never get the other degrees. My math professors told me that back then, and I didn't believe them, but I now know just how right they were. You can even get married while still going to school, if you want, and I even know people who've finished their doctorate with a couple of kids, but they were smart enough not to stop going to school.
As for what kinds of jobs you can get with a math degree, there are lots, actually. A BS in math won't get you a "math job" (except as a schoolteacher), but it can certainly help you get lots of jobs that have an element of math in them. For example, if hiring a programmer, I'd generally hire a math major with a CS background over a CS major. In general, people look at a resume that mentions a math degree and automatically assume that you must be a bit smarter than the other resumes in the pile. So if you enjoy the math, you might as well do it, because it's never going to hurt you.
If you want a job where mathematics is the primary focus of your job, though, you really have to go on and get at least a master's degree. With that in hand, there are lots of engineering and research organizations that need someone with serious math skills. The best area of mathematics to pursue to for employability is almost certainly statistics. With a little additional effort you can become a certified actuary, for example.
A Ph.D. will get you into a lot of the same positions as an M.S., plus it's pretty much a requirement if you want to teach math at a university. Be warned, though... those math faculty positions can be hard to get. A good friend of mine is the chair of the math department at a local state university and every position they advertise nets them 200-300 resumes, many of them from very competent people. From what I hear, if you don't have anything seriously wrong with you that makes you unhirable, you will be able to get a job teaching math, but it might take a couple of years, and you'll have to be willing to live wherever the job is.
If math is what you really enjoy, though, I'd focus less on the job prospects and more on doing what you like. You'll be happier, even if you don't make as much money.
Re:Most seem to become teachers or stay in academi (Score:3, Insightful)
Where were the physics/chem majors? In my undergraduate days we outnumbered the math majors in any calc course.
And the people after teaching certificates were why such courses always finished with about a third of the students they started with. They changed majors to English or Media studies, eventually got their certificates and went on the teach primary and secondary math anyways.
Remember the modern paradigm; you don't have to know the subject to teach it, because your specialty is teaching; and in any case people who know better than you do prepare all of the materials anyway.
Just follow the curriculum.
KFG
Be careful (Score:3, Insightful)
Make sure you are prepared for it. A lot of people I know who did well in calculus and differential equations (and other appliable engineering classes) weren't really prepared for the theoretical nature of high-level math classes. Try taking a low-level number theory class or something similar with a lot of proofs to determine if you are up for taking the high-level analysis classes.
I personally think a math major is somewhat useless if you want to be an engineer. The most it will do for you is teach you how to think in a more analytical way, but you won't learn as much as you may think. My school offered an applied math major which I think is a lot more useful and interesting.
Re:Most seem to become teachers or stay in academi (Score:5, Insightful)
One day they called her in and told her she had to get a Master of Education. She said, "Riiiiiiiiight!" They let her go.
Because she had a Bachelor of Fine Arts, ceramics, a specialty whose department she had created at her college; and thus wasn't qualified to show primary school children how to play with clay.
She became a photo journalist, travel. Had the time of her life and made more money with less grief. The only ones who really lost out were the children. Won't someone please think of. .
KFG
Indeed! (Score:3, Insightful)
I love math, especially in its pure and abstract forms
Heh....Sure ya do... I suggest he take the following two courses:
If his desire for "pure and abstract" math is no less diminished, well then he is truly *unique*.
Re:Most seem to become teachers or stay in academi (Score:2, Insightful)
Oh, yeah, I can see where Stokes'/Green's/Taylor's Theorems and being able to prove them wouldn't be of any use to a physicist.
Next thing you know I'll be expecting them to learn stuff with no applicability to the real world at all, like tensor algebra and the fundamental theorem of metric geometry. What was I thinking?
KFG
Re:Hey, dude, forgot the largest one... (Score:2, Insightful)
As an employer I prefer someone who knows exactly what he wants to do but not so many diplomas, rather than the opposite.
Having an objective is the best way to achieve it. NASA or NSA, they make sense if you have an objective and will give you more
chances during recruitment.
Hopefully all math students don't become teachers. What are willing to do your mates?
You probably have lame employees (Score:4, Insightful)
For someone with a focused desire, what's their excuse for not pursuing it with a diploma?
Aside from which, in 95% of work, if a would-be employee tells you the job you're offering is just what they always wanted, it's just a line. If people were honest, 75%+ of resumes would start with:
Objective: Make as much money as I can, with as little time as I can.
Re:Most seem to become teachers or stay in academi (Score:3, Insightful)
As another child-of-a-teacher, I can answer that - with a simple "no".
Education departments don't quite work like most others. They form a very rigid little clique, and strongly discourage any marketable second majors or minors* (warning sign #1, IMO - they want to make damned sure you have no easy escape once you start). And while politics plays far too heavy of a role in getting any degree, Education basically amounts to "shut up, drink the kool-ade, and think what we tell you to".
Most "good" old-school teachers can't deal with such complete BS, and either take early retirement (if available), move to private or university education, or change careers completely.
But have no fear, the next gen of children will have the best-indoctrinated socialized baby-sitters ever. And while they might graduate without knowing basic arithmetic, cheer up, they'll have great self-esteem that their senior project, completing "Coloring with Elmo and Me", received an "A".
* at my uni, you literally had to twist the rules to the breaking point to get a minor in education - They "officially" had one, but didn't let any non-ed-majors into the classes. In order to get the minor, you had to declare yourself an education major at the end of your Sophmore year, take 15+ Education credits that couldn't possibly apply in any way to your "real" major (which would thus technically satisfy the department-nonspecific conditions for a minor), then switch majors the next semester (oddly, the same technicality this exploited also required less than 30 credits in that subject) which, the way other majors tended to schedule classes, would all but preclude you graduating in under five years).