What Should I Do with a Math Degree?

[gdbb]

So here's the deal: I absolutely love math, there's no other way of putting it. I've always been good at it and I've enjoyed it. I've also enjoyed physics (to an extent... electricity = no thanks!), and as such am now majoring in Mechanical Engineering. I'm happy with my choice, and since I know I like math, I've decided to do a minor in it.

I've contemplated doing a double major in math as well, and that's where I've stopped. I would definitely be happy having a degree in math alongside MechEng. I know that there would be a lot of added work, even though many classes coincide with these majors. I can mentally prepare myself for that, but I just don't know if it's worth it.

What could I do with a degree in math? Keep in mind I would get a Master's at the very most.

I could teach, which I wouldn't mind. I definitely enjoy helping people and showing how certain theorems work (explaining the Pythagorean theorem is one of my favorites). I wouldn't mind teaching math at a high school level. However, the pay is much less, so that's just unlikely for when I get right out of college. Maybe after I'm done working for 25-30 years as an engineer, have a lofty pension/retirement, and can afford to teach at a high school level.

I am very interested in earning six figures, which would most likely happen as an engineer. I like engineering and I like money, so I would definitely want to achieve six-figure status at some point in my career. I figure I might as well be greedy about it. ;)

Some extra info:

- I am not at all interested in doing anything that involves statistics. I call stats "common sense math" (maybe a bit arrogant... :P) and absolutely loathe it. I'd prefer to use pretty much any other section of math in a job setting.

- I'm going to be a second-year undergrad student this upcoming fall.

- I can imagine myself doing just about anything that doesn't involve environmental and computer/electrical/software engineering shenanigans.

 

[stevenb]

- I am not at all interested in doing anything that involves statistics. I call stats "common sense math" (maybe a bit arrogant... :P) and absolutely loathe it. I'd prefer to use pretty much any other section of math in a job setting.

I don't think this is arrogant, but it is wrong (to 98 % confidence level). I think many engineers don't like stats. I know I don't and it is mostly because it is not common sense at all. In fact both probability and statistics are areas where common sense and intuition fail miserably. This is all the more reason for engineers to study it and use it. Unfortunately, I don't practice what I'm preaching, but I've seen the failures often enough to know when to call in the stats expert.

 

[gdbb]

Yeah, I call it that out of ignorance and because I'm too stubborn to think otherwise of it. I just really don't like that subject of math.

I mean, I happen to be an engineer (in training, at least), but only because I knew that job opportunities were great. I definitely would have chosen to major in math had I known more about the field, including job outlook and other specifics. If you like math and science in high school, you're told to be an engineer, and I followed that advice. I don't regret it, but I am definitely a math person before a math/science "hybrid".

 

[gravenewworld]

If you major in math make sure you at least get a minor in computer science. Knowing any programming languages vastly improves your resume. I know you said you don't want to do anything with computers, but you are just doing yourself a disservice by refusing to study them.

 

[hitmeoff]

Not six figures, but FWIW my wife is 33 now so she's been teaching for about 12 years and she makes 80K a "year" teaching high school Spanish. I put the year in quotes to highlight the fact she gets 3 weeks in winter off, 1 week in spring and an entire summer off..along with all the government recognized holidays and even some holidays the government doesn't recognize. So that works out to not being much of a years worth of work.

To add to that, if you get Masters in Math, you are also qualified to teach at the community college level. Pay isn't bad there either.Also, any reason why you wouldn't want to go through with a PhD? Though six-figures isn't automatic, but i'll say this: I seen some of the cars the Professors in my school drive...Nissan GTR, Porsche 911 Turbo, Ford GT, among some other more vanilla (but very expensive) Luxo cars. Of course I don't know which Profs belong to which cars, maybe those Profs have been at the Uni for 10-20-30 years, maybe they married rich spouses, who knows. But Professors do eventually get into 6-figures very easily.

Never believe the guilt trip educators try to throw at you when they say "I'm certainly not in academia for the money" as if they live in poverty and live pay check to pay check. Simply not true.

Nothing wrong with engineering though, just letting you know that educating in Math isn't choosing to live in poverty.

 

[gdbb]

@gravenewworld: I could handle getting a minor in CompSci. Programming is pretty much the only facet of the field of computers that I can tolerate. I've already dabbled in some languages, and I don't mind them that much.

@hitmeoff: I don't think being a math teacher means I'd be living in poverty at all. I'd go for my PhD, but the only use I'd get out of that would be teaching at a college-level. I might be wrong here, but the only reason I wouldn't want to be a professor is the "one publication per month" rule. I really would not like having that pressure on me. Maybe I've severely overestimated it. I realize that professors can easily make six figures, but that publication caveat really turns me off. On the other hand, I enjoy pretty much anything engineering-related.

But after all, that's why I'm asking you guys.

 

[jbunniii]

It doesn't have to be either/or. For example, I know a guy who works full time as an engineer, and on the side he and his wife run a tutoring business. So he makes the engineering salary (around $150k + stock) plus the tutoring income (they charge $70+ per hour) and he gets his math fix from both jobs.

 

[gdbb]

That seems like it would work out well, jbunniii. Do you think a minor in math suffice for a tutoring business, though? I'd have to take quite a few courses beyond the typical DiffEqs/Linear Algebra that's required for engineers.

 

[jbunniii]

That seems like it would work out well, jbunniii. Do you think a minor in math suffice for a tutoring business, though? I'd have to take quite a few courses beyond the typical DiffEqs/Linear Algebra that's required for engineers.

The guy I know has a BS and MS in EE, no math degree. I'm not sure about his wife's degrees. Between them, they tutor math, physics, chemistry, and biology. I believe they only tutor high school students, so a full mathematics degree would be more than enough. I doubt that they need more than a solid facility with calculus to tutor at that level, so even a minor is probably not necessary.

Much more important are patience and an ability to teach struggling high school students, which are characteristics that not everyone has.

Tutoring college students would be another story, although calculus alone would probably cover 90% of the market.