Formidable

I agree that geography is underrated.

quicksilver40133

My reason for thinking math is overrated is not that it's not a good major to choose; I love math and almost majored in it myself. I just don't think it's as hard, or as intellectually challenging, as some people purport it to be. That's all.

Now why is philosophy underrated, IMO? Well, I would say it's just as difficult as math; and it's just as beautiful, with perhaps even a wider spectrum of directions and applications. Yes, it doesn't guarantee you a good job or grad school opportunities, but then again neither does math.

I think one of the main things that has me saying math is a bit overrated is that most of the math majors I know have a "more intellectual than thou" attitude towards other subjects, which annoys me.

Multitasker

Kafka89 you have issues. too weird.

smithiegr

Quicksilver, I can understand your annoyances (as an engineer, I know plenty of math majors who look down on me), but I still think math is one of the most intellectually challenging majors around. I think we can agree to disagree, as we seem to have different definitions of overrated and underrated.

Formidable

Tell that to the math majors who got into excellent grad schools.

b@r!um

Half a year ago I would have completely disagreed with you but now I think I can see where you are coming from (I am extremely bitter about the math program at the college I am currently at...)

At the beginning of the semester I was surprised that most of my classmates in abstract algebra were not familiar with basic algebraic structures (groups, rings...), homomorphisms, equivalence relations... until I found out that the college I am currently at offers only computational linear algebra. But matrix groups, dual spaces and Jordan normal forms are definitely a lot more interesting to study than simple matrix multiplication.

Are you familiar with the Putnam exam? Do you think its difficulty is extremely overrated or might math be a challenging subject (depending on how it's taught) after all?

krnpsychopath

What about the math majors who didn't and ended up working at a crappy inner city high school?

Student615

Quote:
"My reason for thinking math is overrated is not that it's not a good major to choose; I love math and almost majored in it myself. I just don't think it's as hard, or as intellectually challenging, as some people purport it to be. That's all."

Tell that to the math majors who got into excellent grad schools.

- - - - -

And what, Formidable, would you tell to the Philosophy majors who got into excellent grad schools? Just curious...

Quicksilver: Interesting points re: math. I'm also of the opinion that it really just depends on the program and the individual student, though. It's possible to get a pretty "soft" math degree, whereas that might be less true in, for example, Engineering (I don't know, just venturing a guess that while programs vary school to school, there might be sort of a "minimum" level of difficulty no matter where you go or which path you pick). It's also possible to get a pretty incredible math education, though. Having gone to one of the Claremont Colleges, but not Harvey Mudd, I've met math majors from across the spectrum, including plenty of exceptionally intelligent students who've been stumped in their share of math courses. Of course, having been a Philosophy major at the school next door to the tech college, I also sympathize with the "more intellectual than thou" attitude you mention...

Formidable

Then there's a problem with them, not the major.

4321234

my school has a math: philosophy option. don't know what that's about.

Student615

4321234: Which school, if you don't mind saying? I've never heard of that being an actual degree or concentration...that's really cool.

quicksilver40133

barium:
Yes, I have heard of the Putnam exam. I have looked up several old ones, out of curiosity, and found the problems - though quite involved - to not be out of my league. In fact, some of the problems are actually quite simple; the main thing keeping me from doing much better on the ones I've looked at is the fact that I am not a math major, and lots of the terms are alien to me. But, almost universally, the problems I understand I have had little trouble solving in a respectable (though by no means stellar) amount of time. Sadly, only math majors are allowed to be sponsored at my school, regardless of the fact that *no participant from my school has ever correctly answered a single question on the Putnam*. Oh well, I honestly don't care. Silly math people.

And I mean, sure it depends on the program and the student. Alright. But I also think that general questions merit general responses. And I can only speak from experience...

Student615

Obviously this thread is quite subjective, and there's nothing wrong with that. And quicksilver, I've actually really appreciated the points you've made here...this is certainly not a criticism or disagreement! But in fairness, note that the average Putnam score is a zero, so in this case, your own experience might be atypical.

Doesn't necessarily change any relevant claims. Just something I thought should be noted...

Myrmidon73

Actually, I thought the median score is almost always zero (or 1 on easy years).

quicksilver40133

It's the median score that's zero. If the average score is zero, that implies everybody makes zero. I can prove that if you want. That's certainly no Putnam question! lolz