Major selection help!!

[Anonymous]

My college student is having difficulty deciding between majoring in comp sci or applied math and is also considering a double major in a totally different area. She is leaning towards comp sci but is worried about future job prospects.
She'd like to work for a technology company but would more likely transition to a management path at some point and expects to go to grad school - either MBA/JD or both. DH and I don't feel equipped with an understanding of these areas to advise her so I'm turning to parents in this forum who have a better sense of which major would be better or whether it doesn't matter.
She loves her classes that require writing and is considering a double major in something like philosophy but would love ideas that pair well with her first major choice.

[Anonymous]

Applied math and philosophy - perfect match

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Applied math and philosophy - perfect match

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Applied math and philosophy - perfect match

Thank you!! Would be grateful for the reasoning of this response.

[Anonymous]

Should probably obtain guidance from her university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Should probably obtain guidance from her university.

Sounds like OP and her daughter want to hear from people in the real world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applied math and philosophy - perfect match

Thank you!! Would be grateful for the reasoning of this response.

I am not the original recommender, but know that a part of the philosophy discipline includes classes in symbolic logic. Symbolic logic classes counted to fulfill the quant distribution requirement at my university. At times, like math, studying philosophy involves creating "proofs".

Philosophy studies the nature of meaning. How do we know we are real? How do we know what we know? Math provides logical, structured ways to evaluate the reality around us. Also measurement and evaluation depend at times on making assumptions. Philosophy is a discipline that encourages evaluation of assumptions.

So those are my explanations. Now on to my recommendations.

I went to an undergrad U that was highly rated nationally for philosophy compared to its overall ranking. Basically the faculty never turned over and was a pretty cohesive group that managed to sustain departmental prestige over decades. My outsider's view as a kid was that the classes that sounded like they should be interesting were excessively difficult and impractical compared to English Lit, History, and Political Science classes. I helped other students try to understand their assigned readings since I was a straight-A liberal arts student and a fast reader. I'll never forget the weekend that I read 30 pages of Kant-related material three times trying to help a boyfriend make enough sense of it so he could write a paper. Here's a summary of what we were struggling with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative

I got pretty frustrated with other people's philosophy classes secondhand before I even took my own. For myself, I enrolled in Social Philosophy, bought the coursepack, and then dropped the class after three lectures. In three lectures, the only interesting thing I learned about was Thorstein Veblen's theory of conspicuous consumption.

https://www.britannica.com/money/conspicuous-consumption

In the end, I chose to take a Political Philosophy class in the POLITICAL SCIENCE department and that proved to be a good choice. We studied Socrates, Plato, and then some more recent philosophers whose theories tied into things I studied in my Economics major. So that's how I managed to finally complete the philosophy requirement without getting bored out of my gourd. I still have the unread Social Philosophy coursepack haunting me from my bookshelf 30+ years later...

So...on to recommendations...yes..math and philosophy fit together...but unless your student loves philosophy as taught in a college setting, I'd recommend English for a dual major. It would likely involve a more lively mixture of books to read and styles of writing to practice. Also, quantitative people who can write well are rare and therefore it can be a valuable career asset. My sister is an engineer but one of her greatest career assets has been her ability to write contract proposals.

Now on to computer science vs. applied math. I'll let others discuss CS but for applied math, I'd suggest you have your daughter review job descriptions related to being an actuary, a Wall Street quant analyst, general finance jobs, and business analytics. Those are the areas that I view as most likely sources of employment beyond math teaching/academia. In my social circle, the math grads I know are actuaries and teachers.

Good luck to your child in navigating these life decisions!

[Anonymous]

Not OP but am also interested in this. Why is everyone choosing applied mathematics over computer science?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not OP but am also interested in this. Why is everyone choosing applied mathematics over computer science?

PP. From reading this board, CS majors are often restricted due to applicant demand. It may be advantageous to declare a math major (less competition). Also quant skills do lead to higher-paying jobs. I would investigate whether applied math leads to good job placement records.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My college student is having difficulty deciding between majoring in comp sci or applied math and is also considering a double major in a totally different area. She is leaning towards comp sci but is worried about future job prospects.
She'd like to work for a technology company but would more likely transition to a management path at some point and expects to go to grad school - either MBA/JD or both. DH and I don't feel equipped with an understanding of these areas to advise her so I'm turning to parents in this forum who have a better sense of which major would be better or whether it doesn't matter.
She loves her classes that require writing and is considering a double major in something like philosophy but would love ideas that pair well with her first major choice.

OP. CS is one of the most difficult programs to get into and your DD got into one, it just means she's smart and is of above average intellectual capabilities. Go with CS. Jobs are not going to disappear in 4 years. And being female does have its benefits in the tech world. She can always work for a couple of years in software engineering or product management and go on to do her MBA or JD. She could double major in something else, maybe philosophy as someone recommends but that should be something she wants to do.

Math will not get her the jobs that pay well, so beware of that recommendation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applied math and philosophy - perfect match

Thank you!! Would be grateful for the reasoning of this response.

kl

We could explain but you wouldn’t understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Applied math and philosophy - perfect match

If she does this, she needs to make sure she has extensive CS experience via personal projects - getting her first job will be an uphill battle when she's competing with other CS majors.

[Anonymous]

Also, fair or not, since CS is so much more selective, there's an assumption that students who try to get CS-related jobs with a non-CS major couldn't get in to the (selective) CS program. This obviously doesn't matter if you have experience, but it does if you don't

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applied math and philosophy - perfect match

Thank you!! Would be grateful for the reasoning of this response.

Skills in critical thinking and analysis, along with the ability to write (which some science students cannot do well, so your DD would stand out).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applied math and philosophy - perfect match

Thank you!! Would be grateful for the reasoning of this response.

I am not the original recommender, but know that a part of the philosophy discipline includes classes in symbolic logic. Symbolic logic classes counted to fulfill the quant distribution requirement at my university. At times, like math, studying philosophy involves creating "proofs".

Philosophy studies the nature of meaning. How do we know we are real? How do we know what we know? Math provides logical, structured ways to evaluate the reality around us. Also measurement and evaluation depend at times on making assumptions. Philosophy is a discipline that encourages evaluation of assumptions.

So those are my explanations. Now on to my recommendations.

I went to an undergrad U that was highly rated nationally for philosophy compared to its overall ranking. Basically the faculty never turned over and was a pretty cohesive group that managed to sustain departmental prestige over decades. My outsider's view as a kid was that the classes that sounded like they should be interesting were excessively difficult and impractical compared to English Lit, History, and Political Science classes. I helped other students try to understand their assigned readings since I was a straight-A liberal arts student and a fast reader. I'll never forget the weekend that I read 30 pages of Kant-related material three times trying to help a boyfriend make enough sense of it so he could write a paper. Here's a summary of what we were struggling with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative

I got pretty frustrated with other people's philosophy classes secondhand before I even took my own. For myself, I enrolled in Social Philosophy, bought the coursepack, and then dropped the class after three lectures. In three lectures, the only interesting thing I learned about was Thorstein Veblen's theory of conspicuous consumption.

https://www.britannica.com/money/conspicuous-consumption

In the end, I chose to take a Political Philosophy class in the POLITICAL SCIENCE department and that proved to be a good choice. We studied Socrates, Plato, and then some more recent philosophers whose theories tied into things I studied in my Economics major. So that's how I managed to finally complete the philosophy requirement without getting bored out of my gourd. I still have the unread Social Philosophy coursepack haunting me from my bookshelf 30+ years later...

So...on to recommendations...yes..math and philosophy fit together...but unless your student loves philosophy as taught in a college setting, I'd recommend English for a dual major. It would likely involve a more lively mixture of books to read and styles of writing to practice. Also, quantitative people who can write well are rare and therefore it can be a valuable career asset. My sister is an engineer but one of her greatest career assets has been her ability to write contract proposals.

Now on to computer science vs. applied math. I'll let others discuss CS but for applied math, I'd suggest you have your daughter review job descriptions related to being an actuary, a Wall Street quant analyst, general finance jobs, and business analytics. Those are the areas that I view as most likely sources of employment beyond math teaching/academia. In my social circle, the math grads I know are actuaries and teachers.

Good luck to your child in navigating these life decisions!

This is a good post. She can’t go wrong with CS or Math but I’d lean towards CS if she got into the program. She will still take a significant amount of higher level math. I know former math majors who are now working as analysts and they didn’t need the math degree. It was their knowledge, ability to communicate with others, write and present which made them so successful. Maybe pairing with English is a good idea.