Math Major for Engineering: Jobs, Salary & Advantages

[nikNaK]

For the past few years I have been anticipating a career in engineering. I love math and physics, and engineering seemed to be the career that puts them into action.

I'm a senior in high school.

I was recently accepted to Drexel, UC Irvine, and Cal Poly SLO with a Mathematics major at each school. My thoughts were "since engineering involves so much math, I think a math major would give me acceptance to any engineering field!"

Yeah.. I was wrong. Apparently its better to major in a specific engineering field, since math majors deal mostly with things like business and supposedly actuary (which was a career new to me since yesterday...).

So my question is:

What does a mathematics degree have to offer in terms of jobs, salary, etc compared to mechanical engineering? Some schools (Cal Poly) have an almost impossible major changing policy, so if I go there its probably math or bust. Can mathematicians get jobs as engineers or computer scientists? What was the advantages of having a degree in math?

(Oh, and I don't really look forward to becoming a math teacher... Going through school only to return to school!)

 

[Gear300]

Mathematics has a particular scope that can differ quite a lot from the scope Engineering has. You might want to look into it a bit.

 

[story645]

Can mathematicians get jobs as engineers or computer scientists? What was the advantages of having a degree in math?

Computer scientists maybe, if you learn how to code and have a way to show it on your resume. Engineering probably not 'cause a math major hasn't learned any of the applied stuff. Math is all over an engineering major, yeah, but it's also just a tool we use to solve problems. Knowing math in and of itself doesn't really get you far in engineering.

Some schools (Cal Poly) have an almost impossible major changing policy, so if I go there its probably math or bust.

You'll probably just have to apply as a transfer student into their engineering school, so just take all the pre-reqs for engineering (which you'll probably take anyway as a freshie) and talk to the advisers about the policies for switching majors, but if you're grades are solid they'll probably let you switch.