Prospective math major, best way to good jobs?

[NikolaTesla_69]

I am from Ireland and I am currently waiting on my Leaving Cert results (exam results that are used by colleges when making offers to prospective students). I want to study mathematics. Today I decided to take a look at the modules that the college offers (the college I am hoping to be accepted to) and I basically chose all the ones I would want to study during the the first four years as an undergraduate. However, I just need a second opinion (or multiple) from people such as yourselves who have experience in the field of mathematics as I am keen to know what modules would best aid me in finding a lucrative career i.e. highly desirable skills that would be of benefit in today's world and that are sought after by governments and other institutions. I have a list of all the modules and I have no problem making them available here. I am thinking about getting a PhD in either Mathematics or Physics but that is so far down the road so I just want to focus on the undergraduate aspect of college for now. Any help from an accredited user will be appreciated,

Thanks.

 

[Office_Shredder]

Math skills that employers and government agencies find useful are mostly going to be things that are involved with machine learning and data analysis (specific parts of numerical optimization, linear algebra, statistics, and other things I can't think of off the top of my head) and cryptography (number theory, abstract algebra, probably other things also, I don't know much about it).

Both of these also generally require at least a passing familiarity with programming. If you learn how to use python and just take a good base of classes, you will probably be able to take a Coursera course to learn any specific interesting applications of math that you want.

If your goal is to get a PhD in math potentially, focusing your entire coursework on things that will help you get a job out of undergrad is probably a bad idea. To be honest I think it's a bad idea anyway, a strong theoretical courseload with programming skills and an internship or two seems like a better resume for life than someone who devotes their entire undergrad career to learning how to build neural nets more efficiently.

 

[NikolaTesla_69]

Math skills that employers and government agencies find useful are mostly going to be things that are involved with machine learning and data analysis (specific parts of numerical optimization, linear algebra, statistics, and other things I can't think of off the top of my head) and cryptography (number theory, abstract algebra, probably other things also, I don't know much about it).

What about combinatorics? It sounds interesting because its suppose to be challenging but i just don't know if it has any important applications in the real world.

 

[Office_Shredder]

There are definitely applications. There's stuff about lattices that has surprising cryptography applications, graph theory is used in various places like network analysis (which I'm sure both Facebook and the cia use) and clustering. This is far from an exhaustive list.

My mental model is combinatorics ruthlessly just uses every technique developed in other fields of math to solve problems, so if you're going to seriously study it you're thing to need to get a well rounded basic education anyway.

 

[NikolaTesla_69]

Thanks for the responses my guy.

 

[f95toli]

Which modules you take as an undergraduate is not actually very important. I'm not going to go so far as to say that it is irrelevant, but if you do get a PhD no one will care at all what you did as an undergraduate
Hence, my recommendation would be to not worry at all about what would be "useful" for a year or two. The courses that might be relevant when you apply for a job or a Phd position won't come until year 3 and 4 anyway.

Also, the college is presumably not going to force you to make a final decision for all four years when you apply(?). They might want you to indicate what you are interested in, but I would be extremely surprised if this is in any way final.

Good luck!

 

[member 587159]

Try to take courses where you learn to program. This is a desirable skill to have!