Likes math but hates science: what majors could she look into?

[Anonymous]

Economics, data science, math, applied math, finance, accounting, operations management, computer science, or the portion of any social science subject that uses applied math anyalyses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Economics, data science, math, applied math, finance, accounting, operations management, computer science, or the portion of any social science subject that uses applied math anyalyses.

Add epidemiology to this list if she is ok with health side of science. And I forgot to include statistics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My comp sci degree didn’t involve science—it was all programming.

What about actuarial science, economics, or pure math?

I was the same as a teenager - loved math, hated science.

I have a CS degree.

How did you get through the gen ed science requirements in college, like chemistry?

I'm not the PP you asked this question but the science courses I took in college were not traditional lab based. I was in business school at a liberal arts college and most of my friends took courses there were more like survey topics than bio/chem/physics...things like geology, oceanography, meteorology, solar system. super interesting. If I had had to take a more traditional course, it would have been physics because it was more like math word problems. (I was a math kid who didn't love science)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

How did you get through the gen ed science requirements in college, like chemistry?

Very few colleges would require chemistry for a CS degree. Often gen ed requirements for science can be fulfilled through a broad selection of course offerings or even through AP credit. At some schools, the requirement has more to do with scientific reasoning, not a pure science course (different answer if you're pre-med, of course).
This is really the least of your kid's worries at this point. Gen ed requirements vary a lot from school to school, but if they can get into a college, satisfying that school's gen ed requirements shouldn't be a roadblock toward their degree.

Actually if you do a BA thru Arts/Sciences, you may not need chemistry. But if you do a BS or CS thru an engineering school, you will typically need Chem and Physics (at least 1 course of each). Trade off is that the BA often requires 2 years of college level forgeign language (I personally picked the Chem and Physics over FL anyday).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can study computer science in the engineering school - for example at Virginia Tech - where chemistry and physics are required. At some schools you can study computer science, not in the engineering school, and there will be less science requirements, for example, Maryland.

But typically there will be a Foreign language requirements, as the BA (non engineering schools) is typically in the Arts & Sciences school so FL is required. Just something to consider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My comp sci degree didn’t involve science—it was all programming.

What about actuarial science, economics, or pure math?

I was the same as a teenager - loved math, hated science.

I have a CS degree.

How did you get through the gen ed science requirements in college, like chemistry?

I'm not the PP you asked this question but the science courses I took in college were not traditional lab based. I was in business school at a liberal arts college and most of my friends took courses there were more like survey topics than bio/chem/physics...things like geology, oceanography, meteorology, solar system. super interesting. If I had had to take a more traditional course, it would have been physics because it was more like math word problems. (I was a math kid who didn't love science)

+1

I took "Intro to Entomology for Non-Majors" and studied Madagascar hissing cockroaches and tarantulas, up close and personal. It was the most fun I had in a class in all 4 years and a nice break from the stuffiness and formality of the business school. (Probably should have been a huge wakeup call that I should reconsider my major actually, but that's off-topic).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My comp sci degree didn’t involve science—it was all programming.

What about actuarial science, economics, or pure math?

I was the same as a teenager - loved math, hated science.

I have a CS degree.

How did you get through the gen ed science requirements in college, like chemistry?

I'm not the PP you asked this question but the science courses I took in college were not traditional lab based. I was in business school at a liberal arts college and most of my friends took courses there were more like survey topics than bio/chem/physics...things like geology, oceanography, meteorology, solar system. super interesting. If I had had to take a more traditional course, it would have been physics because it was more like math word problems. (I was a math kid who didn't love science)

+1

I took "Intro to Entomology for Non-Majors" and studied Madagascar hissing cockroaches and tarantulas, up close and personal. It was the most fun I had in a class in all 4 years and a nice break from the stuffiness and formality of the business school. (Probably should have been a huge wakeup call that I should reconsider my major actually, but that's off-topic).

I took astronomy which was a combination of math and star gazing and rocks for jocks- i.e. geology

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Computer Science and Data Science. Neither require natural sciences like physics, chemistry, etc. They are essentially offshoots of mathematics, known as formal sciences.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_science#Branches

She should look for a program that offers a CS degree outside of an engineering school. A place like Virginia Tech makes you do it as engineering and requires you to do chemistry and physics. Other places offer CS in their school of arts and sciences with no need for chemistry or physics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

How did you get through the gen ed science requirements in college, like chemistry?

Very few colleges would require chemistry for a CS degree. Often gen ed requirements for science can be fulfilled through a broad selection of course offerings or even through AP credit. At some schools, the requirement has more to do with scientific reasoning, not a pure science course (different answer if you're pre-med, of course).
This is really the least of your kid's worries at this point. Gen ed requirements vary a lot from school to school, but if they can get into a college, satisfying that school's gen ed requirements shouldn't be a roadblock toward their degree.

Actually if you do a BA thru Arts/Sciences, you may not need chemistry. But if you do a BS or CS thru an engineering school, you will typically need Chem and Physics (at least 1 course of each). Trade off is that the BA often requires 2 years of college level forgeign language (I personally picked the Chem and Physics over FL anyday).

But can't you place out of foreign language with a high score on AP exam?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

How did you get through the gen ed science requirements in college, like chemistry?

Very few colleges would require chemistry for a CS degree. Often gen ed requirements for science can be fulfilled through a broad selection of course offerings or even through AP credit. At some schools, the requirement has more to do with scientific reasoning, not a pure science course (different answer if you're pre-med, of course).
This is really the least of your kid's worries at this point. Gen ed requirements vary a lot from school to school, but if they can get into a college, satisfying that school's gen ed requirements shouldn't be a roadblock toward their degree.

Actually if you do a BA thru Arts/Sciences, you may not need chemistry. But if you do a BS or CS thru an engineering school, you will typically need Chem and Physics (at least 1 course of each). Trade off is that the BA often requires 2 years of college level forgeign language (I personally picked the Chem and Physics over FL anyday).

But can't you place out of foreign language with a high score on AP exam?

NP. Yes, absolutely you can, though of course you'd need to (a) take AP foreign language in high school and (b) score high enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

How did you get through the gen ed science requirements in college, like chemistry?

Very few colleges would require chemistry for a CS degree. Often gen ed requirements for science can be fulfilled through a broad selection of course offerings or even through AP credit. At some schools, the requirement has more to do with scientific reasoning, not a pure science course (different answer if you're pre-med, of course).
This is really the least of your kid's worries at this point. Gen ed requirements vary a lot from school to school, but if they can get into a college, satisfying that school's gen ed requirements shouldn't be a roadblock toward their degree.

Actually if you do a BA thru Arts/Sciences, you may not need chemistry. But if you do a BS or CS thru an engineering school, you will typically need Chem and Physics (at least 1 course of each). Trade off is that the BA often requires 2 years of college level forgeign language (I personally picked the Chem and Physics over FL anyday).

+1. Important to note these trade-offs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are some majors that make money (not teacher) for students who like math but don't like science? Student is very bright taking Precalc with trig honors in 9th grade. However, she is awkward (autistic and aloof) so maybe not a good fit for finance/business school. She loves to code but dislikes science so that rules our CS/engineering. Help with ideas please.

She's probably already looking at a pure math major. See also data science.

If she loves to code, look at CS anyway. The posts above describe trade-offs between a BA in an arts & sciences program (requiring foreign lang) and BS in an engineering program (often requires chem and physics for science/engineering majors)

I would encourage you both to look around at major requirements. They do vary quite a bit from school to school. I feel confident that you can find a CS program that is suitable, with the caveat that very few college students love all their core course requirements. A semester or two of science major level chem and physics is not the end of the world and some schools may not even require that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: maybe not a good fit for finance/business school

The skills needed for business-school type finance are very different than those needed for the type of financial analysis you do with a finance PhD, which is basically applied math (e.g. https://fnce.wharton.upenn.edu/phd-course-descriptions/ includes this typical sentence as part of the course description: "Topics include non-separable utilities, market incompleteness, learning, uncertainty, differences of opinions, ex-ante and ex-post asymmetric information, ambiguity and Knightian uncertainty.")

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are some majors that make money (not teacher) for students who like math but don't like science? Student is very bright taking Precalc with trig honors in 9th grade. However, she is awkward (autistic and aloof) so maybe not a good fit for finance/business school. She loves to code but dislikes science so that rules our CS/engineering. Help with ideas please.

I fit this profile and am a mechanical engineer, so I wouldn't rule it out so quickly. I didn't really like earth science, biology, even chemistry, but really liked physics when I took it in 12th grade because that science is mostly math. I felt like most of my engineering classes in college were enough math to keep me interested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cybersecurity! The federal govt is pushing hard for schools to add cybersecurity degree programs. It’s an area that is severely understaffed, insanely necessary, and consists of almost pure computer science/coding. It’s going to be a hugely hot major in a few short years so find a school that offers it and be ahead of the curve. Many, many industries from telecom to finance to aviation (esp those with DoD contracts) are desperate to hire for these positions and currently resorting to any engineering major willing to learn as they work (my mechie is finding this out as he interviews).

(Same poster as above) Also, high level math is absolutely crucial in the most technical cybersecurity jobs. Plus, they are exceptionally well paying even with only a BS. Many will pay for their employees to get their Masters later on. I’m telling you this as a professional who has been involved in federal govt efforts to greatly increase and improve cybersecurity degrees in higher education. Your DD sounds like an ideal candidate.

Thank you for this. She was showing me a DOD Cyber Scholarship Program just the other day.