<p>Also, if a student isn’t particularly interested in math, it doesn’t do them any favors to press them into studying it for the sole purpose of being employable in a field they have no interest in.</p>
<p>The benefits that you are giving for math seem to also apply to any major that is heavy on quantitative reasoning. Is there anything you think a math major can give that an engineering or physics major can’t? (I’m asking for when you step outside of the original field, obviously math majors are better suited for becoming mathematicians and engineering majors are better suited for becoming engineers).</p>
<p>Great thread. I have always had a passion for math but it has been dampened by the endless slog of high school busywork… I’d like to think I’m pretty good at math, but I fear that my aptitude may have been blunted by 2+ years of apathy towards the subject… I just hope that I’m able to find my passion for math again.</p>
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<p>Well, the idea is that if I had to pick one of the three and were ambivalent, I’d certainly pick either math or engineering. Math if I had heavy graduate study in mind, and engineering if I wanted a job quickly and to move up in management. Typically someone who can handle math can handle some forms of engineering very well, especially where a good foundation in math lets one see the ideas presented in the “correct perspective.”</p>
<p>Let me say that clearly, because it’s important: math is the major of perspective. It teaches a subject that explores what the correct way to think about the most natural objects of study pervading anything resting on axiomatized foundations. As an undergraduate degree, it’s great, and for further graduate study in engineering or physics, it can be invaluable. </p>
<p>If one is primarily interested in building things, however, then one can become an engineer without knowing very much mathematics.</p>
<p>Last, as a comment on this thread – I definitely think math is a great major, but have to say that on a pure marketability for career type deal, having strong quantitative skills but also plenty of programming ability is probably what strikes me as best. Again, one can attend law school, med school, etc, but also almost any field that is quantitatively heavy requires a good programming background, whereas the theory presented in analysis, etc is not necessary for a vast majority of quantitatively heavy professions.</p>
<p>If one could choose the most practical double major, it would be CS and math in my opinion. This can lead into most financial, programming, or other quantitative things, and one can specialize in a variety of fields later on, do law, etc, and not be afraid of the math applications that pervade.</p>
<p>Wow…I’m glad that my older son is majoring in math. :)</p>
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<p>hey mathboy98, that is exactly what I majored in and earned my degree in 1977. I loved the math, but chose CS to be practical. I really lucked out. I’ve had a reasonably satisfying (if overworked) career. </p>
<p>good luck in your studies</p>
<p>Another happy mom of a math/CS guy here! While he is devouring the math (and is a real theory guy), he finds that those programming skills enable him to make the money to pursue his other interests. </p>
<p>DH was an accounting/decision science major before heading to law school. Those quant skills came in mighty handy on the LSAT and they make him pretty invaluable at work. Amazing how many attorneys are not mathematically literate!</p>
<p>A long time ago, I was a math major who ended up a tax lawyer. I remember hitting an upper level math course and realizing there was a wall I wasn’t going to get over. My adviser looked visibly relieved when I told her I was going to law school. Tax law fit the bill, but any of the “Code” courses, IRC, UCC, worked for me because it was all rules and logic. Now those tort and con law courses were a real problem.</p>
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<p>Good to know!</p>
<p>I just recently switched my major to Mathematics with a computer science “option”.</p>
<p>Basically, the degree consists of Calc 1-3, ODEs, discrete math, theory of computation(automata theory, computability etc.), linear algebra, Numerical Analysis I&II or Mathematical Stats I&II + 2 math electives.</p>
<p>The comp sci portion is 5 CS courses: Comp Sci I-II, Software Engineering, Analysis of Algorithms + 1 CS elective(probably going to take either Operating Systems or Programming Languages). I find my degree has too few CS courses, so I may take another two (Database Systems and Computer Networks most likely).</p>
<p>Luckily, I do not have to take Advanced Calculus. That is reserved for pure math majors.</p>
<p>I’ve done a fair bit of research on this combination (Math/CS) and it seems to have very promising job prospects. Others on here, such as GLOBALTRAVELER have praised this combo.</p>
<p>Enjoyed reading this! Son loves math, especially statistics, has talked about actuary as a possible career choice. Time will tell, he is only a Freshman.</p>
<p>S2 is a math major at Swarthmore. I think all math majors are a tad “off” so to speak. Great kid, but enjoyed playing chess against computer when he was 2 1/2. I think math majors are just wired differently than the rest of us! =)</p>
<p>Love this thread, as one of my kids is a math major.</p>
<p>And me. I don’t worry about future employment for her at all. Now the English major… :(</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad wrote
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<p>Good reading and writing skills are prized in many fields, including publishing, law, journalism, advertising and government work. I also tell my math and science oriented children that if they do graduate work they will need to write papers, so they shouldn’t write off English as useless.</p>
<p>^^^I started telling my math/CS kid that when he was in fourth grade. Good writing makes a BIG difference.</p>
<p>Both my college kids are math majors because they love math and people always ask me “what are they going to do with that?”; I usually say “I don’t know”, but now I have an answer. 
My oldest is 3 classes away from a CS minor, so I guess I will encourage her to get that. Although I have to say, as a pharmacist for 21 years that is a great career too! Especially for women because it is very flexible. The downside for me though was that most jobs want you to work evenings, weekends and/or nights. That gets tough when you have a family. I was able to find a Monday thru Friday job, but they are few and far between.</p>
<p>People wish they were wealthier and/or prettier, but I wish I were very good at math. Math alone is a tough major to find a job, but math + another major (English, biology, history, you name it) will be a killer. Math + something + something else = amazing future.</p>
<p>My oldest son always said that he did not want to become his father – the guy with the degrees in applied statistics and economics. Then, he got to college. You know who he is becoming? Yeah, his father. He is majoring in economics, mathematics (loves statistics) and political science. The youngest son already knows that math is his best subject, and he just loves it. Or, as my teaching friends say, math is the family business.</p>
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I certainly agree that there are plenty of possibilities for an English major. I also agree that strong communication skills are useful across the board. However, the relationship between traditional English courses at the high school level and above and communication skills is not entirely obvious to me.</p>
<p>@gravenewworld </p>
<p>It’s so werid running into a forum that state almost exactly what I have so far done in life. (LOL)
So just like you, as an undergraduate I double majored in Chemistry and Mathematics. I was really good at both, but always feel my Chemistry is greater then my Math. During my last year in college I applied to many graduate programs in BME but was only accepted as masters student, though I applied for a PhD. Currently I am working as a chemist for a food regulating company (whoms name I can not disclose, but only can say that they are really important).
I was looking to seek some advice from you, since we seem to have similar backgrounds. The cross between chemistry/mathematics to biomedical engeneering? How did you accomplish that?
I feel that right now working as a chemist is really not helping my interest in biomedical engeneering. While working full-time I have been going to school part time, but have found it very difficult to balance both (I have even had to drop two classes so that it won’t affect my Grad. GPA)…
I hope you can prove some advice… (advice is welcomed from all as well)</p>