Math - Operations Research @ UIUC

<p>Methods is a completely different course (obviously) than Stat. & Probability:</p>

<p>Methods looks like an introduction to some modeling and regression analysis; the Stat & Prob. course is a second semester intro to Stats and Prob that would introduce you to Mathematical Statistics - hypothesis testing, maximum likelihood estimators, etc. The Stat & Prob is going to be more theoretical - however you would definitely use the results from it to aid in testing results in the Methods class.</p>

<p>The answer for Graph Theory and Nonlinear Programming is the same, except here these courses are much more different than the two previous ones.</p>

<p>I would suggest, that you actually take the full Stat & Prob. series as well as the Methods course; if you are interested in Operations Research these are areas you are going to want to be fluid in, as they will most definitely arise in any graduate level Operations Research/Stat. based program.Graphy Theory. . .tsk - no clue. I may be biased, but I would think Linear/Nonlinear Programming would be the better option since - again - your work is going to be built around optimization.</p>

<p>As for employment opportunities - skies the limit really. Any industry that needs an effective management of its resources. Here is a [url=&lt;a href=“http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos044.htm]link[/url”&gt;http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos044.htm]link[/url</a>] from BLS on job out look and a general overview of job description.</p>

<p>My suggestion - stick with a Applied Math/Stats degree. You will no doubt cover the same classes, however when it comes time for grad school, you will most definitely have a more robust mathematical background than someone who specialized at the undergrad level.</p>