Reasonable careers for Math Major

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid considering a physics or math major and wonder the same thing. I think an engineering or applied math degree would be more practical, but I get why DC is more interested in studying physics or pure math. I hope that the pure physics or math degree will open doors for jobs or grad school if paired with a practical minor.

Be clear-eyed on what he's going to do after undergrad. We have two kids in our extended family that went to CMU - one for math and one for physics - and both struggled to get jobs after undergrad. One of them did a minor in CS (he stayed an extra semester to get the courses needed) before he landed a programming gig and the other (math) I think went on to grad school. This was during the CS boom days, pre-covid.

This is worth noting. Both math and physics are degrees that require selling yourself to employers. There are people around here that suggest these are the mark of genius and some sort of automatic pass. Not true, hiring mangers still need to see boxes checked, and that's assuming the resume makes it into the stack in the first place. Many people still see these as navel gazing degrees. When they say you must be smart they just can't think of anything else to say. And they are not wrong, extra study without practical application is not a flex.

I hate that HR departments do this. If I have two ambitious students who both have potential, but one studied math instead of econ, I'm now more interested into why they're interested. It makes no sense to weed out people by major just because they didn't study something perfectly aligned with the company-plus it's not like most of an economics major is any less navel gazing.

dp.. that is your opinion, but this is how the game is played in the real world. If I'm wanting to hire someone who understand Econ, I'm going to want someone who can hit the ground running, who already understands the terminology and concepts rather than someone I have to train, even as I know that person can be trained.

A cousin was a physics major at Cal eons ago. Couldn't find a job after graduation so they got a masters in EE.

Can't do much with a Physics undergrad degree. Math is a bit better. BTW, my DC is a dual CS/math major, and they know that math alone means it would be harder to find a job. They love math (like, really love it and does it for fun) and wanted to continue doing math in college, so that's why they decided to dual major.

I get its the reality of the market, but I think they're wrong, especially with the way you are describing it. Many of the econ majors know zilch about actual corporate practice or lingo, unless they learned it off wso. I like the approach by Citadel where they'll basically take on whoever is the smartest in the applicant pool and through em in a quick boot camp to get them knowledgeable on markets. Often, the leaders in industry train their talent and don't expect the moon and beyond from people who just entered. Most corps also aren't looking for people who "know econ" but know finance or accounting. Undergrad econ is really not that sophisticated.

an econ major would've at least had exposure to accounting and finance concepts and such; math majors don't.

My DC knows jack about econ and the business world. I told them that should take some business classes, and they did take one last year for a gened credit.

If DC could find a job doing calculus all day and get paid six figures for it, that would be their dream job. Alas, that won't happen.

This is not true for a traditional economic degree - those are business courses. It would be true if econ degree in an undergrad business school. And perhaps there are some LAC that may add these to some sort of requirement - but these are not subjects within an traditional economics department. That said - some economics degrees (often the BS vs the BA route) will include employable data skills via statistics, regression analyses, econometrics. And, if a student goes to a college that offers business courses in accounting or finance - an econ major could certainly take those and would have the suitable training to do well in them.

[Anonymous]

while getting a PhD in Chemical Engineering messed around and got a MS in Applied Math (Quantitative Finance) simultaneously at top 5 engineering graduate school ... and now work for the government playing with AWS and big data.

[Anonymous]

Good question. My pure math major has decided to go straight to an MS in applied math.

[Anonymous]

I was a math major many years ago, who became a math teacher. Then I found a second career as a statistician.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a math major many years ago, who became a math teacher. Then I found a second career as a statistician.

Statistician seems to be most common job for undergrad math majors.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What level of college/program? What minor? What electives? What personal skilled interests/hobbies?

Undergrad in pure math is a professionally useless liberal art degree. It's a gateway to science and technology like History is for law school applications. It's a general foundational education, not vocational. It's an enhancer to your other skills, not a skill in itself.
You need to combine it with something.

Entry level jobs include actuary, auditor, something in data analysis, teacher in a district desperate for staff.
If you have a secondary interest, more options open.

you people are utterly clueless, this is why you don’t get your advice from the bone heads of DCUM.

This is a pretty reasonable response actually. The people who go from math degree to CS are overwelmingly CS double majors or students who had a deep interest in computer science. You don't walk into a computer science career willy nilly and do need the technical skills. Combinatorics and Galois Theory doesn't just create Python script alone.

IDK about that. I was required to program in my 400 level math classes and "walked" into a IT job straight from undergraduate Math.

DP. +1. My kid is a Jr math pure math and just walked into an AI job that pays $50/hr

What was the job title? What company or type of company?

Also curious. What's an al job? Or do you mean ai? Is this a full-time job or a part-time hourly gig?

They wrote AI - ai if you have trouble reading capital letters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid considering a physics or math major and wonder the same thing. I think an engineering or applied math degree would be more practical, but I get why DC is more interested in studying physics or pure math. I hope that the pure physics or math degree will open doors for jobs or grad school if paired with a practical minor.

Be clear-eyed on what he's going to do after undergrad. We have two kids in our extended family that went to CMU - one for math and one for physics - and both struggled to get jobs after undergrad. One of them did a minor in CS (he stayed an extra semester to get the courses needed) before he landed a programming gig and the other (math) I think went on to grad school. This was during the CS boom days, pre-covid.

This is worth noting. Both math and physics are degrees that require selling yourself to employers. There are people around here that suggest these are the mark of genius and some sort of automatic pass. Not true, hiring mangers still need to see boxes checked, and that's assuming the resume makes it into the stack in the first place. Many people still see these as navel gazing degrees. When they say you must be smart they just can't think of anything else to say. And they are not wrong, extra study without practical application is not a flex.

I hate that HR departments do this. If I have two ambitious students who both have potential, but one studied math instead of econ, I'm now more interested into why they're interested. It makes no sense to weed out people by major just because they didn't study something perfectly aligned with the company-plus it's not like most of an economics major is any less navel gazing.

dp.. that is your opinion, but this is how the game is played in the real world. If I'm wanting to hire someone who understand Econ, I'm going to want someone who can hit the ground running, who already understands the terminology and concepts rather than someone I have to train, even as I know that person can be trained.

A cousin was a physics major at Cal eons ago. Couldn't find a job after graduation so they got a masters in EE.

Can't do much with a Physics undergrad degree. Math is a bit better. BTW, my DC is a dual CS/math major, and they know that math alone means it would be harder to find a job. They love math (like, really love it and does it for fun) and wanted to continue doing math in college, so that's why they decided to dual major.

I get its the reality of the market, but I think they're wrong, especially with the way you are describing it. Many of the econ majors know zilch about actual corporate practice or lingo, unless they learned it off wso. I like the approach by Citadel where they'll basically take on whoever is the smartest in the applicant pool and through em in a quick boot camp to get them knowledgeable on markets. Often, the leaders in industry train their talent and don't expect the moon and beyond from people who just entered. Most corps also aren't looking for people who "know econ" but know finance or accounting. Undergrad econ is really not that sophisticated.

an econ major would've at least had exposure to accounting and finance concepts and such; math majors don't.

My DC knows jack about econ and the business world. I told them that should take some business classes, and they did take one last year for a gened credit.

If DC could find a job doing calculus all day and get paid six figures for it, that would be their dream job. Alas, that won't happen.

Maybe your child should look into education. The era of teachers getting paid poorly is partially a fad. They could very likely work for a magnet program and make extra from AP Exam success. A few peers did this and have healthy pay

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of DS's friends was a math major and now he works for the CIA. No idea of the specific job.

This is the answer. And NSA, who actually specifically recruits math majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid considering a physics or math major and wonder the same thing. I think an engineering or applied math degree would be more practical, but I get why DC is more interested in studying physics or pure math. I hope that the pure physics or math degree will open doors for jobs or grad school if paired with a practical minor.

Be clear-eyed on what he's going to do after undergrad. We have two kids in our extended family that went to CMU - one for math and one for physics - and both struggled to get jobs after undergrad. One of them did a minor in CS (he stayed an extra semester to get the courses needed) before he landed a programming gig and the other (math) I think went on to grad school. This was during the CS boom days, pre-covid.

This is worth noting. Both math and physics are degrees that require selling yourself to employers. There are people around here that suggest these are the mark of genius and some sort of automatic pass. Not true, hiring mangers still need to see boxes checked, and that's assuming the resume makes it into the stack in the first place. Many people still see these as navel gazing degrees. When they say you must be smart they just can't think of anything else to say. And they are not wrong, extra study without practical application is not a flex.

I hate that HR departments do this. If I have two ambitious students who both have potential, but one studied math instead of econ, I'm now more interested into why they're interested. It makes no sense to weed out people by major just because they didn't study something perfectly aligned with the company-plus it's not like most of an economics major is any less navel gazing.

dp.. that is your opinion, but this is how the game is played in the real world. If I'm wanting to hire someone who understand Econ, I'm going to want someone who can hit the ground running, who already understands the terminology and concepts rather than someone I have to train, even as I know that person can be trained.

A cousin was a physics major at Cal eons ago. Couldn't find a job after graduation so they got a masters in EE.

Can't do much with a Physics undergrad degree. Math is a bit better. BTW, my DC is a dual CS/math major, and they know that math alone means it would be harder to find a job. They love math (like, really love it and does it for fun) and wanted to continue doing math in college, so that's why they decided to dual major.

I get its the reality of the market, but I think they're wrong, especially with the way you are describing it. Many of the econ majors know zilch about actual corporate practice or lingo, unless they learned it off wso. I like the approach by Citadel where they'll basically take on whoever is the smartest in the applicant pool and through em in a quick boot camp to get them knowledgeable on markets. Often, the leaders in industry train their talent and don't expect the moon and beyond from people who just entered. Most corps also aren't looking for people who "know econ" but know finance or accounting. Undergrad econ is really not that sophisticated.

an econ major would've at least had exposure to accounting and finance concepts and such; math majors don't.

My DC knows jack about econ and the business world. I told them that should take some business classes, and they did take one last year for a gened credit.

If DC could find a job doing calculus all day and get paid six figures for it, that would be their dream job. Alas, that won't happen.

Maybe your child should look into education. The era of teachers getting paid poorly is partially a fad. They could very likely work for a magnet program and make extra from AP Exam success. A few peers did this and have healthy pay

I suggested the same, but DC doesn't want to teach. Doesn't like it. I even suggested teaching in college rather than k-12. They tutored math for a bit and didn't enjoy it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of DS's friends was a math major and now he works for the CIA. No idea of the specific job.

This is the answer. And NSA, who actually specifically recruits math majors.

doing what?

[Anonymous]

My rising senior is set on majoring in pure math, despite my engineer husband encouraging him to do something more practical. His goal is to get his PhD and teach. I worry about his options, but I also want to support him. I have a friend with a PhD in pure math who works for Amazon now and makes a great salary. I'm sure he can pivot if he decides academia isn't an option. There are certainly worse options than math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of DS's friends was a math major and now he works for the CIA. No idea of the specific job.

This is the answer. And NSA, who actually specifically recruits math majors.

doing what?

LOL at you for thinking that would actually get revealed in any detail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My rising senior is set on majoring in pure math, despite my engineer husband encouraging him to do something more practical. His goal is to get his PhD and teach. I worry about his options, but I also want to support him. I have a friend with a PhD in pure math who works for Amazon now and makes a great salary. I'm sure he can pivot if he decides academia isn't an option. There are certainly worse options than math.

He'll honestly be fine. A lot of the people I knew who were committed and went on to PhD ended up with great careers in finance and a few went into data science. One even became a professor, but the probability of becoming one is startling low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What level of college/program? What minor? What electives? What personal skilled interests/hobbies?

Undergrad in pure math is a professionally useless liberal art degree. It's a gateway to science and technology like History is for law school applications. It's a general foundational education, not vocational. It's an enhancer to your other skills, not a skill in itself.
You need to combine it with something.

Entry level jobs include actuary, auditor, something in data analysis, teacher in a district desperate for staff.
If you have a secondary interest, more options open.

you people are utterly clueless, this is why you don’t get your advice from the bone heads of DCUM.

This is a pretty reasonable response actually. The people who go from math degree to CS are overwelmingly CS double majors or students who had a deep interest in computer science. You don't walk into a computer science career willy nilly and do need the technical skills. Combinatorics and Galois Theory doesn't just create Python script alone.

IDK about that. I was required to program in my 400 level math classes and "walked" into a IT job straight from undergraduate Math.

DP. +1. My kid is a Jr math pure math and just walked into an AI job that pays $50/hr

What was the job title? What company or type of company?

Also curious. What's an al job? Or do you mean ai? Is this a full-time job or a part-time hourly gig?

They wrote AI - ai if you have trouble reading capital letters.

Sorry about that. Still wondering about the last question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My rising senior is set on majoring in pure math, despite my engineer husband encouraging him to do something more practical. His goal is to get his PhD and teach. I worry about his options, but I also want to support him. I have a friend with a PhD in pure math who works for Amazon now and makes a great salary. I'm sure he can pivot if he decides academia isn't an option. There are certainly worse options than math.

I have a pure math major and none of majors people think of as adjacent (like physics/engineering/cs) appeal to him (as a major) in any way. He’d rather switch to French or art history from math than mech e or comp sci. Hopefully a practical path is possible because switching majors or adding a double major seems to be a non-starter.