Studying Math: A Necessary Major for Career Opportunities?

[daniel_i_l]

I'm currently in my first year of college studying math. Math is definitely my favorite subject and I'd love to be able to work in some research position.
But when I tell people that I'm *only* studying math, and not math together with compsci or physics they are surprised and ask me how I plan to get a job. They say that most mathematicians end up working in compsci or physics anyway and I'd be at a disadvantage with just math. So should I take another major purely for career options or should I concentrate on my favorite subject?

 

[sportsstar469]

I'm currently in my first year of college studying math. Math is definitely my favorite subject and I'd love to be able to work in some research position.
But when I tell people that I'm *only* studying math, and not math together with compsci or physics they are surprised and ask me how I plan to get a job. They say that most mathematicians end up working in compsci or physics anyway and I'd be at a disadvantage with just math. So should I take another major purely for career options or should I concentrate on my favorite subject?

i guarantee you if yo ustudy math at a very high level, and try to get a job teaching calc2 or higher youll most likely have little to no competition. reason being is most people can't even pass calc 1 in school from what I've seen anyways, let alone TEACH calc2-abstract algebra ETC. so youll be in a pool of a few qualified people. that limits the competiton right there. also since there's few people good enough at math to do that sort of job most of the high level math professors, are foreigners who are mean and have horrible accents, and also do not know how to teach the math they are so fluent in. in other words they can't dumb it down for the students. so if youre personable and plan on teaching a class like differential equations id guess youd be prety set, although on the other side of the spectrum, id imagine so few people take those level math classes thaat one professor per school is enough to teach all those classes. although my school has 2 professors who teach diff equations and I am only at a comm college for.
also most people don't like amth even if they are good at it so that could elad to less competiton as well./

 

[Klockan3]

The only work you will get that involves pure maths is as a professor, those jobs are not always very easy to get.

If things gets rough get some statistics courses towards the end and you will be able to get a job anyway outside academia. Applied maths is very crucial in most companies. The only thing is of course that you will work with computers, but it would be strange if you didn't have such stuff in your curriculum if you go for an applied maths major.

 

[keniwas]

I'm currently in my first year of college studying math. Math is definitely my favorite subject and I'd love to be able to work in some research position.
But when I tell people that I'm *only* studying math, and not math together with compsci or physics they are surprised and ask me how I plan to get a job. They say that most mathematicians end up working in compsci or physics anyway and I'd be at a disadvantage with just math. So should I take another major purely for career options or should I concentrate on my favorite subject?

As was already stated, if you really want to go into pure math then the only place you will find the freedom to pursue that is in academia. There is seldom a demand for a business to employ a pure mathematician full time. In most cases it is often that you would work at a university and do consulting jobs for companies.

There is nothing wrong with studying *only* math. And if that's what you love then there is no reason to try to crowd your head with other topics that don't interest you. However, if you find that you are interested in the applied side of things then having some physics under your belt will do a tremendous amount for you.