S21 is trying to decide if he should ED somewhere. He’s a math kid, but doesn’t want to do pure math. He’s thinking about engineering and saw applied math in most engineering schools, and thought he could do that if he decided he didn’t like engineering. But Duke and Penn, which were at the top of his “list” and where he has legacy, don’t offer applied math. We’ve looked at other top schools and almost all have applied math. Why wouldn’t these schools offer it? Should it be a deal breaker? NU offers it, but he’s not sure about the weather. Thanks.
Both Duke and Penn offer applied math… not sure where you heard they don’t. I can’t think of a single research U in the united states which does not have applied math, even if it has a different name.
Even if the the don’t have a formal applied math track, Math is a good “and” major. For example, Math and Economics.
Duke does not separate math and applied math into separate majors, but its math department home page highlights applied math courses: https://math.duke.edu/
Penn has other majors that may sometimes be listed under “applied math” at other colleges: actuarial science, logic information & computation, mathematical economics, mathematics - biological mathematics, systems science and engineering. https://catalog.upenn.edu/programs/#filter=.filter_1
Thank you @eyeore123 and @ucbalumnus
When I look at the courses in applied math at say, Northwestern, there are many engineering classes, plus math classes (modeling, etc.), and others include CS classes as well.
So, it looks like applied math is more engineering than it is math. We aren’t engineering/math people, and I’m not clear on whether the fact that Duke doesn’t have the major, and that math is in their Arts and Sciences makes a difference. Do you know if job prospects would be different, even if one tailored the math degree more toward applied math, but without the engineering I suppose?
“Applied math” is very broad, in that math can be applied to many different things. Job and career paths can vary depending on the subject of application. For example, there are areas of application like:
actuarial science
computer science (e.g. theory and cryptography)
data science (which itself has numerous areas of application)
economics (often pre-PhD economics students)
finance
mathematical biology
operations research
statistics
social sciences
Going off of what @ucbalumnus said, at every college I’ve looked at, “Applied math” means something different.
I intend to be a Stat/Finance major, and when I was creating my college list, a school that didn’t have a separate stat degree had an “applied math” degree that I was satisfied with. I didn’t know this at the time, but at that particular school “Applied Math” meant “Math that is applied in Statistics.”
At another school I looked at “Applied Math” seemed to mean “Math that is applied in Biology,” and therefore wasn’t what I wanted to major in.
From what I’ve seen, and for whatever reason, a lot of schools don’t directly specify what career their “Applied Math” can be applied to. You’d have to check the major’s course requirements to be sure.