Exploring College Options: Advice for a Senior Prepharmacy Student

[Coriolis314]

I am starting college as a freshman this August. I have chosen to go to my Community College for financial and family reasons. I am going for my A.A. degree with the desire to transfer to the state university to major in mathematics. I have college credits, and am scheduled for Calc w/ anal. geom III and Diff Equations. My questions are:
1. Is going to a college with little to no prestige in the scientific community at this level going to hurt me?
2. I count 24 credit hours different between a BS in math and a BS in physics. After a BS in math, is it usualy ~year to BS in physics?

 

[Delong]

Hi I'm new to the forums. I've been reading a lot of the threads on this forum to help me decide what paths I should take and I've benefited enough to decide to join! Thanks everyone for your helpful advice. I've been battling which majors I should take for a long time, Very recently I switched back from a physics major to a biochemistry major. Even though I don't really like chemistry I really like biology but I also want to have a strong background in physics and math. So I felt like Biochemistry was the easiest way to combine all these interests (I'm planning in being a math minor too). I took a year of physics and although I didn't find the subject uninteresting I didn't find myself interested enough to major in it. Like I said I feel like I am interested in it only as background material. Nevetheless I would like to take quantum mechanics and physical chemistry as I find myself interested in these subjects. I also hope to take some ecology and evolution classes because I am interested in molecular evolution and finding and applying math to biology. I will probably have to stay another year at college to accommodate my switch but I ultimately decided it was worth it. Anyway I felt like telling everyone my plight. THanks again for your unknowing help

 

[Dina1372]

Hi,everyone.i finished my senior in high school,and i still can't decide on : should i go to physics or Aerospace ( or maybe Mechanical engineering).since i was a child i have always loved astronomy and wanted to make a super fast space vehicle that can reach to Mars or anywhere else much sooner and faster ,since i entered high school i love physics much much more than i did,but last year that i became more familiar with Aerospace engineering i found that maybe i can bring my dream into reality but i didn't find it as interesting and thrilling as physics ,however i have to confess that I'm much more talented in engineering than physics ,besides i love hands-on work, too.Now I'm so worried about feeling regret maybe in the future.

 

[Guthrie]

Hello all,

Firstly I am not sure that this is the most appropriate Forum in which to pose my question, but I have seen a multitude of great advice given over my browsing of this forum, and thought I would give it a shot.

Currently I am a Junior at Murray State University with a Major in Mathematics and Minor in Biology. I am on track to graduate in Dec 2011 and planning on continuing on to graduate school the following Fall. Hoping to get into a PhD program for Statistics and/or Biostatistics.

My question relates to that extra semester that I will have available to me.

The classes that I have taken and are currently taking include:
Calculus I,II, and III,
Matrix Theory and Linear Algebra (one class),
Mathematical Reasoning,
Mathematical Statistics I, and
Advanced Calculus I

I plan on taking:
Mathematical Statistics II,
Mathematical Modeling, and
Numerical Analysis.

This list was provided to me from my advisor that I trust, but I wanted further opinions of if this track would be sufficient to gain entrance into a prominent university's graduate school. I have had some other classmates mention that I should also take some of the following classes:
Advanced Calculus II,
Introduction to Topology, and
Abstract Algebra.

My question is: Should I take the extra classes in addition to the original plan? Or should I mix them, say take Adv Calc II as opposed to Modeling? Or use the Spring 2012 semester to take all of these? As a reminder this is for entrance into a Statistics Program, not a general Mathematics program.

As far as grades go I have a 4.0 major GPA with a 3.6 cumulative that should continue to increase. Also if I choose to stay the extra semester it will be at no cost to me as my scholarship money covers all of my costs. If I do decide to graduate I will be looking for internships or other research opportunities.

I thank you in advance for taking the time to read this as well any advice you have for me. I hope I have provided enough information to get a good assessment, but will be happy to give more information and explain myself further upon request.

Thank you!

Jared

 

[Orangina]

I'm in high school, I would like to be an Astrophysicist and I was researching online the average you need to get the BS, it said you need a 70% average for most programs. I honestly don't think i will finish with a 70% average seeing as I'm quite weak in Social and my options. My passions are math and physics and i always do well percentage wise in those classes (85-95%) i do quite well in chemistry but I'm not the best. Anyways I'm afraid i won't finish with a 70% average because of my options and social. If i were to not have the 70% but i had 90%+ in maths, physics and a average grade in chemistry would i be accepted because those are the marks that are important? Also are there a lot of people who are trying to be in this field?

 

[amathew]

I recently completed my master's degree in political science. Since then, I've been working and doing some freelance analytics work using R, Python, MySQL, etc. Most of the analytics work I do is rather simple descriptive statistics, but I also do OLS and logit/probit regression analysis...a lot of my clients are more interested in my web scraping services, but that's neither here nor there.

I've been considering returning to school to pursue a MS in Statistics. I don't want to get a second bachelors degree, but plan on taking the required pre-req's for grad programs in statistics. I was considering taking the following classes.

As an undergrad, I took Calc 1, calc 2, and linear algebra, but need to retake both courses as it's been a while.

MATH 104 = Pre-Calculus

MATH 121 = Calculus 1 (after M-104)

MATH 122 = Calculus 2 (after M-121)

MATH 223 = Vector Calculus (after M-122)

MATH 290 = Elementary Linear Algebra (after M-122)

MATH 320 = Applied Differential Equations (after M-223 andM-290)

MATH 526 = Applied Mathematical Statistics 1 (after M-122)

MATH 590 = Linear Algebra 1 (after M-223 and M-290)

MATH 591 = Linear Algebra 2 (after M-290)

MATH 605 = Applied Regression Analysis (after M-526)

MATH 627 = Probability (after M-223 and M-290)



It will take me three to four years before I can apply to a grad program. I may even go to school part time.
Does anyone have any suggestions?


My interests are in statistics, scientific visualization, and data analysis.

Would a statistics degree be the best option? what about computer science? (I know basic programming in C, Python, and Perl, but don't really want to be a programmer)

 

[RoboticMezon]

Hello and help please! :)

Hi there everyone!

I'm currently working on my master's thesis on charges and Newman-Penrose type quantities in Yang-Mills theory. I would like to continue on to graduate school, but am not sure yet about what my topic would be, if I decide not to continue this topic. I don't know if I would not continue this topic, you understand, but I would like some insight as to what other options there are.

Could someone please help in giving me a few pointers about what sort of current research topics there are in the field of mathematical relativity? I've coasted the net, but haven't found anything even remotely suitable to my needs. For once Arxiv isn't much help...

Thanks in adv.,


4R

 

[WCL]

Hey guys!

So like the title says, I'm really not sure what I want to do after college. Right now, I'm a freshman in college, majoring in chemical engineering. However, I'm also planning to double major with physics. I picked these two majors because they seem the most open ended so I could do basically whatever I wanted after college, but I'm being hit with the reality that it really doesn't matter what my degree is, but that I need the research/internships to get the related jobs, and there is a limit to the amount of research/internships I could obtain during college, so in the end, I'd still be limited to a few opportunities. At least, I think that's how it works.
I didn't really choose chemical engineering to get into the petroleum/oil industry either, as working in some dirty factory doesn't really interest me. Also, I'm not too into the medical production stuff. I enjoyed high school AP physics, which is partially the reason why I'm considering the double major in physics. I'm guessing that in the end, I could probably combine the two disciplines for a career in something nuclear, probably for reactors, as I'm not interested in working for the US Department of Defense. Still, I think I'd want to do research more than working in a nuclear reactor, so I thought perhaps research in nuclear fusion power...but I haven't actually had true research opportunities to see if I would be interested in a career in research. If I didn't do something nuclear, I've basically hit a dead end for what I would want to do. Optics seem to be something big in physics right now, but I'm not too thrilled on that stuff. The ridiculous theoretical parts just don't seem very interesting to me. Astrophysics...maybe, but I don't really know what that would entail. I don't really want to sit behind a telescope seeing little specs move a few millimeters a day, nor do I want to be involved with massive amounts of calculations involving that. I just like things more...concrete...than doing massive amounts of speculation a spec of light and how far it is from other specs of light. Well, I know there's a bunch of other factors like radiation emitted as well, but still. Beyond that, I'm not sure...
Now though, I'm wondering if this course of action is even feasible, and if it is, is it really worth it? From what I've read, chemical engineering and physics are two of the hardest majors out there, and combining it sounds pretty ridiculous. In addition, I'm also not the most productive person, as I went through high school doing minimal amounts of work, on the order of a few hours of homework per week, even though I loaded myself with as many AP classes as I could take(I got 4s and 5s on them, which is what even makes the double major remotely possible and still graduate in 4 years).
What does everyone think?