MHB What can you do with a Masters or something in math

[ineedhelpnow]

besides teaching?

 

[Jameson]

With a masters in pure math, applied math, statistics, etc. you will go down a lot of different paths but in all of them you can definitely make a lot of money. I'm not sure the nature of your question but if it's "Is it worth it?", then from a career and financial standpoint it certainly is. Jobs that require analyzing data, modeling tons of things, programming and math, etc. are in high demand.

 

[Ackbach]

I like to say that if you double-major in English and math, you can do anything you want. You could do engineering, writing, programming, teaching, politics (oh, how we could use some more mathematicians in politics!), etc.

 

[ineedhelpnow]

I'm thinking about just minoring because I don't really see how it would help in my career (comp engineer) having a degree in math also. like economics, or business or something can be very useful alongside but yesterday i started wondering what can you do with math and all i could think of was being a teacher/instructor.

 

[Jameson]

I'm thinking about just minoring because I don't really see how it would help in my career (comp engineer) having a degree in math also. like economics, or business or something can be very useful alongside but yesterday i started wondering what can you do with math and all i could think of was being a teacher/instructor.

Those fields are fine too but I'm telling you that math is an incredibly useful degree. I have a close friend who has a masters in economics and while he is decent at math I know that he had/has trouble with using math to model things he needs to at times.

Try this - go on Google and look up "average salaries by major". You might be surprised. I'm not saying that other quantitative fields aren't fulfilling or useful, my focus is on statistics and I love it. With a math degree you can do so much more than teach though.

 

[ineedhelpnow]

I understand that statistics and applied math can be used but pure math?

 

[Jameson]

I understand that statistics and applied math can be used but pure math?

I'm not a pure mathematician so take this with a grain of salt, but still at the undergrad level I think it's an amazing degree to have. Yes you will get into topics that aren't easily applicable to some jobs, but learning how to develop strong proofs and work with very generalized topics (advanced calculus, discrete math, abstract algebra) will help you be much stronger in other fields. In the graduate program where I studied, the best statisticians were those who double majored in pure math and statistics.

 

[Ackbach]

Jameson's words are appropo. I would add that there are two important, and sometimes rather rare, commodities in the workforce that are highly sought-after: clear thinking, and effective communication. If you can think well (pure math definitely helps here!) and communicate well (English helps here!), then you will be invaluable in the workforce. Don't be fooled too much by job ads that want ultra-specific experience in umpteen different technologies. Companies really want people who are smart, get things done, and aren't jerks.

One area that's pretty hot right now: data mining. I'm considering getting into this myself. The book Big Data has been fascinating so far. The questions Big Data seem to be able to answer are legion!

 

[ineedhelpnow]

data mining? i can't say I've ever heard of that. I am doing computer engineering but i want to specialize in software. I am also thinking of minoring in math and double majoring in entrepreneurship.

 

[ineedhelpnow]

oh my bad, i know what data mining is