defense industry?

[Anonymous]

Sophomore DC wants to go into the defense industry, they don't care in regards to government path vs private contractors. They will major in math, but want to add a second major to help the interest in the U.S. government aspect.

We have advised them to pick from the following:

- history
- political science
- psychology
- philosophy

Anything else we are missing? Which do you think would be best. At a LAC.

[Anonymous]

How about military? ROTC?

[Anonymous]

Washington & Lee for the network

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about military? ROTC?

Can't meet the physical standards unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Washington & Lee for the network

DC is already at college, are you suggesting for grad school?

[Anonymous]

I’m in the industry. Strongly suggest the math should focus on modeling and simulation (via whatever CS courses that requires). Many, many job opportunities with that background.

Would advise history or poli sci as minor.

Consider schools in DC - when I was at GW there were many adjuncts with industry day jobs.

[Anonymous]

GW, GU, Hopkins SAIS for grad programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m in the industry. Strongly suggest the math should focus on modeling and simulation (via whatever CS courses that requires). Many, many job opportunities with that background.

Would advise history or poli sci as minor.

Consider schools in DC - when I was at GW there were many adjuncts with industry day jobs.

My son is interning this summer with a DC company that does military work and is on a project that does modeling and simulations for a naval project.

He's at VT majoring in Computational Modeling and Data Analytics, basically math+cs. His concentration is cryptography and cybersecurity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m in the industry. Strongly suggest the math should focus on modeling and simulation (via whatever CS courses that requires). Many, many job opportunities with that background.

Would advise history or poli sci as minor.

Consider schools in DC - when I was at GW there were many adjuncts with industry day jobs.

This. Many of the DoD shops that hire mathematicians expect strong modeling skills. Also, particularly in the more desirable agencies, hires seem to be largely PhD’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in the industry. Strongly suggest the math should focus on modeling and simulation (via whatever CS courses that requires). Many, many job opportunities with that background.

Would advise history or poli sci as minor.

Consider schools in DC - when I was at GW there were many adjuncts with industry day jobs.

My son is interning this summer with a DC company that does military work and is on a project that does modeling and simulations for a naval project.

He's at VT majoring in Computational Modeling and Data Analytics, basically math+cs. His concentration is cryptography and cybersecurity.

This is all great advice, thank you. I think I'll try to get them to look into the CS classes - they took one their first year and were not interested nor very good at it. Perhaps more statistics classes would satisfy the modeling part? I'm not quite sure what is meant by modeling and simulations, is that programming or knowing how to use the tech?

[Anonymous]

I'd recommend business classes. Even if your DC decides to go government, having an understanding of business, i.e. business acumen, will help them stand out and get ahead. Everything in government runs on contracts, and even the technical experts in government find themselves being contract managers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sophomore DC wants to go into the defense industry, they don't care in regards to government path vs private contractors. They will major in math, but want to add a second major to help the interest in the U.S. government aspect.

We have advised them to pick from the following:

- history
- political science
- psychology
- philosophy

Anything else we are missing? Which do you think would be best. At a LAC.

The selection highly depends on the school. For highest defense jobs, only top-3 LACs compete with ivies and WestPoint, Naval, Air force etc. from those top 3 the second major won’t matter. From T4-15 lacs, psychology or philosophy might give an edge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sophomore DC wants to go into the defense industry, they don't care in regards to government path vs private contractors. They will major in math, but want to add a second major to help the interest in the U.S. government aspect.

We have advised them to pick from the following:

- history
- political science
- psychology
- philosophy

Anything else we are missing? Which do you think would be best. At a LAC.

The selection highly depends on the school. For highest defense jobs, only top-3 LACs compete with ivies and WestPoint, Naval, Air force etc. from those top 3 the second major won’t matter. From T4-15 lacs, psychology or philosophy might give an edge.

OP here. DC at a t4 lac. They've already been looking at internships w/Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, L3Harris, etc. but all very far fetched. We have no connections so they're on there own!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sophomore DC wants to go into the defense industry, they don't care in regards to government path vs private contractors. They will major in math, but want to add a second major to help the interest in the U.S. government aspect.

We have advised them to pick from the following:

- history
- political science
- psychology
- philosophy

Anything else we are missing? Which do you think would be best. At a LAC.

The selection highly depends on the school. For highest defense jobs, only top-3 LACs compete with ivies and WestPoint, Naval, Air force etc. from those top 3 the second major won’t matter. From T4-15 lacs, psychology or philosophy might give an edge.

What "highest defense job" are you talking about? You don't need "top 3 LAC" to work for a contractor, especially if you're doing technical work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in the industry. Strongly suggest the math should focus on modeling and simulation (via whatever CS courses that requires). Many, many job opportunities with that background.

Would advise history or poli sci as minor.

Consider schools in DC - when I was at GW there were many adjuncts with industry day jobs.

My son is interning this summer with a DC company that does military work and is on a project that does modeling and simulations for a naval project.

He's at VT majoring in Computational Modeling and Data Analytics, basically math+cs. His concentration is cryptography and cybersecurity.

This is all great advice, thank you. I think I'll try to get them to look into the CS classes - they took one their first year and were not interested nor very good at it. Perhaps more statistics classes would satisfy the modeling part? I'm not quite sure what is meant by modeling and simulations, is that programming or knowing how to use the tech?

Yes definitely learn a programming language (eg Python). Statistics and data analytics are part of it. There is a considerable amount of operations research in the defense industry. Here is a good description of it, and I have many coworkers who do this:

What is Operations Research?
Operations Research is an applied science that is concerned with quantitative decision problems that generally involve the allocation and control of limited resources. Such problems arise, for example, in the operations of industrial firms, financial institutions, health care organizations, transportation systems, energy and resources, and government. An operations research analyst develops and uses mathematical and statistical models to help solve decision problems. Like engineers, they are problem formulators and solvers. Their work requires the formation of a mathematical model of a system and the analysis and prediction of the consequences of alternate modes of operating the system. The analysis may involve mathematical optimization techniques, probabilistic and statistical methods, experiments, and computer simulations.