College Discussion - View Single Post - Mathematically inclined, looking for some info on majors.

Lacero · 05-15-2008, 12:35 PM

In my opinion, pure math is just as useful as philosophy. If you want a major that makes you think, applied math, many aspects of biology/cs and especially physics are great. You are in school to help you get a good career more so than to "learn" random things (or education would be free). I advise you to consider dilksy and make future earnings and job satisfaction major factors in your decision; pick a very marketable major.

Math + Econ or MechEng?
Math + Econ means you would not get a technical engineering job (which most people don't want after going through the program), but you would have to do decent work on your part to select your math courses wisely, finding internships to explore areas and maintain a decent gpa. You could easily tweak your major as you go along and grad schools for finance, financial engineering, econ, math would be well within your reach.

MechEng would subject you to a very strict curriculum. You get peace of mind in generally only needing to pass/perform similar to your peers, a great starting salary and a more prestigious diploma. You might have to go back to college to take some courses if you want to go to grad school but don't have the requirements (unless you took econ, finance and statistics courses). It might also be a bit difficult to break into business related industries if your gpa isn’t too high. Your only option to get in if you don’t right after college might be an MBA (relatively straight forward if you hold a non-technical job or hold a meaningful technical one)

I guess engineering might open more doors, but getting through them would be much more difficult (it’s easy to get labeled as the teche). If you have no intention of having a technical career or feel you might slip below a 3.3 in ME, Math + Econ* looks good.

I say follow your heart. Would you rather do Math+Econ or Math+Physics?

*If you go the math + Econ route, make sure it is applied math. Take many stats courses and try to take business related math courses like mathematical finance, theory of interest etc if available.

05-15-2008, 12:35 PM	#10
Lacero Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 87	In my opinion, pure math is just as useful as philosophy. If you want a major that makes you think, applied math, many aspects of biology/cs and especially physics are great. You are in school to help you get a good career more so than to "learn" random things (or education would be free). I advise you to consider dilksy and make future earnings and job satisfaction major factors in your decision; pick a very marketable major. Math + Econ or MechEng? Math + Econ means you would not get a technical engineering job (which most people don't want after going through the program), but you would have to do decent work on your part to select your math courses wisely, finding internships to explore areas and maintain a decent gpa. You could easily tweak your major as you go along and grad schools for finance, financial engineering, econ, math would be well within your reach. MechEng would subject you to a very strict curriculum. You get peace of mind in generally only needing to pass/perform similar to your peers, a great starting salary and a more prestigious diploma. You might have to go back to college to take some courses if you want to go to grad school but don't have the requirements (unless you took econ, finance and statistics courses). It might also be a bit difficult to break into business related industries if your gpa isn’t too high. Your only option to get in if you don’t right after college might be an MBA (relatively straight forward if you hold a non-technical job or hold a meaningful technical one) I guess engineering might open more doors, but getting through them would be much more difficult (it’s easy to get labeled as the teche). If you have no intention of having a technical career or feel you might slip below a 3.3 in ME, Math + Econ* looks good. I say follow your heart. Would you rather do Math+Econ or Math+Physics? *If you go the math + Econ route, make sure it is applied math. Take many stats courses and try to take business related math courses like mathematical finance, theory of interest etc if available.