Moire

Hello fellows. I know some of you are still high school students, but from reading some of the posts on this forum it's evident that some of you have already figured out what I still haven't.

In short: I went to a top 40 school, majored in math, graduated with a 3.5 GPA, and currently earn less money than some of my high school friends who went to second rate state schools, studied subjects that only require decent memorization skills, and had GPA's lower than 3.0. One of them was a sociology major. He currently works at a bank where he earns at least $10,000/year more per year than I earn.

You might be wondering what job it is that I do that pays $16/hour. I do quality assurance at a startup IT company. My job doesn't have anything to do with math and there is not even arithmetic involved. I've being doing that job for 2 years, and I would have transferred to a higher paying job a long time ago if it weren't because nobody seems interested in hiring someone with my qualifications

I've read hundreds of job postings, and I don't seem to be qualified for anything. Either they want someone with X years of experience in some specific programming language or they specifically ask for people with degrees in physics, computer science or electrical engineering.

So it seems like decent computer science jobs are out of my league. (If it weren't because I was specifically told that I could still go into computer science jobs with a degree in math, I would have been a CS major.)

Actuary? No. Statistics are not my cup of tea and I don't want a job where I have to do presentations in front of people.

Teaching? No.

Math Grad School? Umm. What for?

I don't know what to do with my degree math. I feel like I wasted my time in college. If anyone knows of any job that I might like, that I might be qualifed for, let me know. I don't care if the pay is low (I'm used to living on a budget), as long as I enjoy what I am doing.

chuy

What do you actually want to do?

Moire

I want a job doing math, preferably one that involves programming, but not statistics.

xanthom

Both you and the person who told you this are idiots for believing it. It is well known that a math degree by itself, like a philosophy degree by itself, is quite useless career-wise out of the teaching profession.

Either go back to school and get a better degree, or sit it out in the teacher's lounge.

student14x

Go to professional school. ie law, medicine. Your gpa is high enough.

xanthom

Not a bad idea, except

Narcissa

Someone i know is a math major and wants to be a teacher. she is absolutely brilliant...not in the "omg our valedictorian is brilliant he has the highest GPA on record" or "my kid is brilliant but lazy so his grades suck" way....but truly, absolutely GENIUS...
i think she is wasting her talent

burgler09

Just go back to school, quit whining about a math degree being useless... hell a bachelors is basically useless. Go into a masters engineering program or something, make something happen for your life instead of sitting around in a job that pays not much more than my summer job in the factories.

Prism123

you could be an actuary, or do you need a masters for that?

arbiter213

Finance. Go get an MBA with a focus on finance. You'll have money shooting out of your ears if you get good grades.

Newton

i'm assuming you did pure math? anyways, shouldnt you have known that a pure math major is useless in employers' eyes?if you like pure math, why not go for grad school since youre gpa's pretty decent?

if you did applied math, then i guess you got bad luck as i thought they should have no problem findign jobs

csprof2000

If you liked computer science, I find it strange that you did not pursue a minor or a double major in the subject. It is common for mathematics majors to do so.

Still, I have been bemoaning the deficiencies of America's undergraduate mathematics program philosophy for years, and nobody wants to listen. Academics never change (I'm one of them, and it's a sad reflection) and students don't want to believe what I'm telling them. Still, your situation is a very common one. I wish you all the best in finding a job.

Just out of curiosity, what was your main interest in undergraduate mathematics? What courses did you particularly enjoy? If your answer(s) are limited to things like abstract algebra, topology, and, God help you, real analysis, then you are pretty much in trouble.

tetrahedr0n

What, you've never hard of research?

Whole post smells of absolute troll, so not sure if it's worth a response.

You go to grad school so a) you can spend time doing what you enjoy doing, that is, mathematics. 6 years of it, for a doctorate. You don't mind living on a budget? Perfect.

b) Then, you can become a professor. You don't like teaching? No problem, you have to teach at most one class a semester. Suck it up and enjoy working on research.

csprof2000

Not everybody is willing or able to perform academic research in the discipline they enjoy most. In fact, IQ correlates fairly well with ability to become a professor at a research institution.

Does that mean that only people who plan on being professors should major in math? No, it means that the mathematics programs should be revamped to be more competitive.

I may be putting my foot in my mouth, but mathematics may be the single major which teaches the least directly applicable material of any major out there. What's not blatant academic pandering is too broad, diluted, and too "pure" to be of any real relevance in industry.

Engineering and science majors learn all the math they need in their own classes as well as in relevant mathematics classes. Why? Because mathematics classes are taught as introductions to the material. Sad, maybe, but ultimately true.

outerbanx

i think this site should help you:

Why Should I Be A Math Major?

there are some encouraging statistics there, keep your head up!