moneytin said:
So what kind of jobs could come out of this degree? I'm not worried about the difficulty; I'm much more concerned with finding a well paying job after I graduate.
I listed actuarial science and accounting because they're the only jobs I know that could come out of math, other than teaching or research.
You will have to flexible in your job hunting approach, but if you can work with other non-technical people, communicate to non-technical people results that are technical in a way that they can digest and appreciate for their particular task, and have the attitude to be flexible in your tasks, then you will have a lot of opportunities.
Remember the degree doesn't define you in this instance: a degree in medicine maybe (and even then maybe not), but not for you.
In terms of the actual jobs, the thing is that they have so many different names I wouldn't do any justice by mentioning any of them. Some are called analysts, some might be programmers, some might be consultants, advisers, managers and so on. The point is that there are so many titles that are not 'mathematician', 'statistician' or 'physicist' out there that hire them, and it's important you be aware of this because if you only look for the jobs you think you will work in, then you will be limiting yourself to a huge number of jobs that you would otherwise be a good candidate for.
Also remember that there are well paying jobs that don't fall into the standard categories. If you are someone who is really good at what they do, and is doing something that has a high barrier to entry (time commitment, entry commitment (medicine), legal commitment (actuary with exams)) and has the skills that are also hard to get (usually through experience, experience in a particular setting, etc) then chances are you will be able to command more money. You will at some point have to assess how you are worth, and the above kinds of things could give you a place to start.
The point is, how useful are you for someone else. Initially when we start working, most of us are fairly useless because we don't really know anything or have any experience and that's ok. But if you pay attention, think about what you are doing, constantly evaluate yourself, and choose your decisions based on this and what you really want, then chances are you will get the kind of experience that will differentiate you in some way to other people and its the differentiation and the nature of the differentiation that will help decide the kinds of things like 'how much you get paid'. In terms of the non-private sector, then I think there will be some discrepencies to the above.
Remember the key thing about differentiation: if you and a hundred other people all apply for the same job and you are all the same, then it might end up being more of a lottery than anything else (imagine say getting into a top university like MIT where all of the candidates are really good candidates).
But if you have a hundred applications where 90 of the applications are the same, but 10 of them really stand out in a particular way that gets the eye of the employer (or hirer) and shows some kind of positive differential that the other 90 don't, then it's going to be an easy decision for the employer to throw away the 90 applications and focus on the other 10.
Knowing what the differentiation is, is something you need to figure out either on your own by doing your own research and analysis, or by asking other people and then forming your own opinion.
