I am a current undergraduate majoring in mathematics and computer science. I would like to become an applied (industrial) mathematician, but most of these positions require a masters degree, and I would like to stay out of debt and start my career as soon as possible. I am very good at self-learning math courses, and I am teaching myself graduate level courses right now. Is there some kind of test I can take to show my proficiency in graduate level math courses so that I could become an applied mathematician without going to graduate school, or could I at least test out of some of the courses so that I would only have to go for one year? Thank you for your responses.
Does your university offer a graduate degree in math? If so, then good undergraduate students might be allowed to take graduate courses. That would be the way to get your master’s quicker or to show employers that you can do graduate level math.
That’s not really how this works.
The short answer is that there’s not a test that proves you are able to handle graduate-level math that I know of. The closest thing I can think of is the Mathematics GRE, but that only tests your potential to learn graduate-level mathematics - not that you know it already - as it’s designed for people who are applying to graduate school. But the more important thing is that employers are not really interested in the results of some test; they are interested in your skills and what you can do. It’s not unheard of for employers to say that they want someone with an MA and hire someone with a BA (or want a BA but higher a HS grad), if they are convinced that you have the skills.
So if you really think that you are otherwise competitive for these jobs, what you should do is apply and craft a really excellent cover letter and resume to show off your skills and experience and make it clear that although you don’t have an MA, you do have the skills necessary to perform the job. The best way to prove this is prior work experience doing the same thing - so perhaps an internship or part-time job doing applied mat work.
I will say, though, that the MA is pretty much the entry-level degree in applied mathematics and statistics (and operations research). They also want someone who already has the knowledge, not someone who has just begun to teach themselves grad-level stuff. However, there are some jobs you can get with a BA in math, though; they just aren’t doing the direct math work all alone. You might assist MA-level mathematicians or do adjunct tasks. If you work somewhere long enough they may even pay for your master’s degree for you. I advise that you look around a bit more and/or talk to career services at your university for help finding jobs that require a BA in math and/or computer science.
You can take some graduate level math courses and join math research groups…
Does your college offer that Masters? Do they have a 5 year program BS/MS? Do these type of Masters degrees get funded? Talk to your adviser/favorite professor about next steps.