What good is a math degree?

[Jonibee]

What does a college math major do after college?

 

My kids know that say, culinary arts, leads to cake boss on TV (okay, I'm kidding).

 

But how can my kids find out what math can lead to? How do you investigate engineering and decide on that or statistics or whatever, unless you are actually taking courses in that? Career "interest" surveys for my kids have been very shallow, playing up their hobby interests and not their educational strengths at all.

 

When my kids think about a math or science major, they can imagine biology or a research scientist, but the life of other sciences, math and engineering -- how can they even know right now?

 

So, other than teaching, they want to know, what good is majoring in math?

[Jane in NC]

After earning a BS in Math, I worked in market research for a bit, generating statistics for a well known magazine. The job had nothing to do with editorial content. Statistics were used to pitch advertising campaigns.

 

Both my husband and I have Master's degrees in Math. While I have taught in a variety of post-secondary situations, my husband has gone the corporate route. He is a computer systems engineer. This field and project management attract math majors.

 

We know people with math degrees who work in a variety of computer software and hardware jobs (i.e. programming and chip design). The NSA hires math people to work in encryption. Insurance companies hire math majors as actuaries. One of my lawyer friends first earned a BS in Math. He works in patent law for the tech industry.

 

Math can open doors, particularly in grad school.

 

Hope this helps.

Jane

[Stacy in NJ]

have math degrees.

 

When employers on Wall Street see "math" as the degree on the resume, it's an immediate door opener.

[jennynd]

boh hubby and I have engineer degree, so my kids can easily relate. You didn't say how old are your kiddos but many engineer company does activities with sr. or meddle school kids like science fair/robot contest..etc. they also does plant tour. so that might be something you can consider. If you have engineer company locally, U can call and ask if they offer tour.

[kokotg]

DH's degree is in math, and, well...he's a math teacher now. But for the first 5 years out of school he was a web programmer. Had he gone to grad school, he likely would have concentrated on operations research, which is a branch of math that's all about practical applications (the example DH cites is finding the most efficient routes for ambulances. The example that makes me wish DH had gone to grad school is finding the most efficient Disney World touring plans).

[Melinda in VT]

You can help your brother the FBI agent solve crimes! (Oh, wait, that was a TV series. :D )

 

On a serious note, thanks for starting this thread. I have a high school freshman who seems headed toward a STEM degree of some kind, and I'm trying to get a better sense of the possibilities.

[burleygirl]

At my company, we hire people with math degrees as Quality Engineers. QEs typically work in Quality Assurance or Quality Control and assure that the product that's manufactured meets various specifications from a statistical point.

[JennyD]

DH has an advanced degree in math and is a professor (in a different discipline). I was just talking to one of his friends who majored in math as an undergraduate and then worked analyzing market research for a pharmaceutical company. Lots and lots of their math grad school colleagues are in finance, and I have another math major friend who is an actuary.

[Julie in MN]

A math degree leads to many jobs. I have an aunt who has always been able to find a job, part-time or full-time, as a comptroller and the like. An uncle was a buyer for various companies, sought out from West Coast to East Coast, ending with a VP job in NYC at one of those big stores like Bloomingdale's, I forget which.

 

A math degree can also lead easily into several master's programs, from accounting to science (at least one of the frequent speakers on the Howard Hughes Institute videos started in math).

 

Julie

[lmrich]

Dh has an undergrad in math and graduate degree in electrical engineering. Many times it has been pointed out that is advanced math has made him the superior employee. He rose quickly in his company and is valued quite highly. He is also an excellent manager of our money. He can quickly figure out advantages in mortgage rates etc. It is quite handy.

[Teachin'Mine]

Jonibee thank you for asking this question! I've been wondering too. :)

[MBM]

So, other than teaching, they want to know, what good is majoring in math?

 

Check out the math department websites for various universities and colleges. They will sometimes have links to what math majors can do. U of Chicago has the folling links:

 

http://www.math.uchicago.edu/undergraduate/

http://www.math.uchicago.edu/undergraduate/employment.shtml

 

Your kids might eventually enjoy reading or watching a DVD about Benoit Mandelbrot and the the practical applications of fractals. Really interesting stuff.

[Sunshine State Sue]

5 of the kids in my family have degrees in math. Let's see if I can vaguely tell you what all we've done:

Oldest sister: something to do with real estate in NY

Her husband: something to do with finance in NY (also a degree in economics)

2nd oldest sister: programmer first, after kids bookkeeper/accounting area

one brother: can't remember first career - eventually got a master's in operations research - works for Bell Labs then Lucent, now Alcatel-Lucent - something to do with phone systems, maybe fiber optics?

me: programmer (double major with computer science, then master's in operations research)

youngest sister: actuarial work

Doing the Math to Find the Good Jobs

For Today’s Graduate, Just One Word: Statistics

 

If I were single right now, I think I'd return to school for a degree in Statistics.

 

Last, but not least, an older thread:

What do math majors do in real life?

[mom2bee]

Jonibee thank you for asking this question! I've been wondering too. :)

 

This.

[fractalgal]

What does a college math major do after college?

 

So, other than teaching, they want to know, what good is majoring in math?

 

From my own experience majoring in math, I was offered a software engineering job, but was also accepted into a PhD math program. I had taken a fair amount of computer science courses, also.

 

My husband has advanced degrees in math and is a actuary. He started taking the actuary exams early on before getting his bachelor's in math and continued taking them throughout graduate school.

 

Math is a very broad field, but most of the people we know with math degrees have gone on to become either actuaries, computer engineers or math professors.

 

I think it is an excellent field to study and highly recommend it.

 

We had an excellent math professor in college who was very knowledgeable of the paths one could take with a math degree. I recommend speaking with an actual professor who has experience with math students at his/her university.

[GMB]

I fell in love with math in college and earned my B.A. I was not motivated to enter any profession, so I applied to grad school and earned my M.A. Afterward, I became an actuary for an auto insurer: my years of study prepared me for the actuarial exams. Passing 7 exams (back then) enabled me to become an ACAS (Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society), but having babies inspired me to retire before commencing to FCAS (Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society).

 

Actuarial work was fun and impressively remunerative. We entered the actuarial department with bachelors or masters degrees in math, and we could move up through corporate management. Financial incentives were earned with each passed exam (in addition to merit increases), and we were given over 100 paid hours to prepare for each exam sitting.

 

I recommend exploring the actuarial profession.

[TechWife]

What does a college math major do after college?

 

Anything they want to do. :lol:

 

OK, not really, but almost any science and engineering field will gobble up a math major. Many other fields are in need of analysts, actuaries, etc. The list is almost endless.

 

But how can my kids find out what math can lead to? How do you investigate engineering and decide on that or statistics or whatever, unless you are actually taking courses in that?Career "interest" surveys for my kids have been very shallow, playing up their hobby interests and not their educational strengths at all.

 

When my kids think about a math or science major, they can imagine biology or a research scientist, but the life of other sciences, math and engineering -- how can they even know right now?

 

So, other than teaching, they want to know, what good is majoring in math?

May I gently suggest that your children explore careers that interest them and then find out what education is required to work in those fields? I believe that one must know the goal and figure out how to get there. The career surveys are not designed to play up to one's educational strengths, instead, they are designed to help determine interests, transferable skills, etc. that a person can capitalize on as a way of moving into a career path.

 

If your purpose in educating your children and encouraging them to attend college is to prepare them for a career, then they need to try to figure out what career they are interested in before they go too far in their college education.

 

If they are unclear as they approach college, or if they are in college and find they must declare a major and are not ready to do so, perhaps a gap year is in order.

 

The Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the US Dept. of Labor, is a wonderful resource. You can find a hard copy in your public library, purchase one from any book retailer or go online and access it for no cost. This book describes careers, the necessary education, career paths, average income, work environment, tasks, expected change (growth or loss) in jobs available, as well as several other gems. It is updated every two years.

 

Other web sites that are helpful (most of the information is not state specific, the information that is state specific is clearly marked)

 

California Career Zone - very teen friendly

Career Aisle - easy to navigate

O*net - difficult to navigate, but comprehensive

Drive of Your Life - another teen friendly site

Indiana Career Connect - geared to all

 

I also recommend the book What Color is Your Parachute? for Teens. It steps the reader through the process of identifying what type of career they might want to pursue. It is not a book they can work through quickly, but it takes such things as hobbies, volunteer work, etc. and helps you see the individual skills & tasks involved in those, assess interest in the skills & tasks and then steers you towards identifying some career clusters categories where those skills, tasks and interests can transfer. Additionally, you assess the type of people you like to work with, preferred job environment, what your vision is for your future outside of work, etc. All of these things are small pieces of the big picture that help people identify careers that they may enjoy.

Edited March 20, 2011 by TechWife