Attention Math Majors

<p>The same reasons to major in math that applied 4 years ago still apply today. Many firms will consider math grads for non pure math jobs as opposed to liberal arts degrees. </p>

<p>Math IS a liberal arts degree at most colleges. </p>

<p>Math is the “M” in “STEM” and most colleges offer a BS in Math. Math also works very well as a combined major with Computer Science, Economics, Physics, Biology, etc. I was a math/computer joint major and my daughter is a math/econ joint major (both BS degrees). Also, a Math major is great for a woman as there are very few females in Math. My daughter has yet to have a female math teacher and there are only a handful in her college’s large math department.</p>

<p>The biggest complaint I hear from employers of STEM and business grads is that they cannot write or think beyond the scope of the problem at hand. Have Math and Econ majors become pre-professional? </p>

<p>A student’s major is certainly important for determining the types of job the person might be equipped to perform / learn. But I imagine that a student’s major is one of the least important factors in determining whether an employer hires a given person or not. </p>

<p>If an employer wants someone to do financial models, or something quantitative, a math major would suffice, but an econ. major probably would too, as well as other math intensive majors. I’d imagine the factors many business owners focus on are practical: How much money and time am I going to have to spend training this person before they become valuable? With the amount of money I’m going to spend, how much time is this person going to spend working at my business before they go to a new job / grad. school? Will applicant A at X salary provide significantly better work than applicant B at X salary minus 10k? How good of a fit is this person for my firm / business? etc.</p>

<p>Any of these degrees can be good. I think for many entry level job it also helps to have good co-op/internship experience and strong tool skills (Excel, Word, email, web, etc). </p>

<p>Re: #3</p>

<p>Economics has been seen as a preprofessional substitute for majoring in business for a while by most students. Few take the math intensive route to prepare for PhD study.</p>

<p>Math and physics are the most “g” loaded of all disciplines. Among the social sciences, that crown would go to economics. For humanities, it has to be analytical philosophy.
If I am an employer, that is where I would focus my hiring, everything being equal. I don’t think the average employer know that though.</p>

<p>The Chair of the Economics department at my daughter’s college strongly encourages any econ majors who want to continue towards a graduate degree in Economics to do a dual Econ/Math degree to be better prepared.</p>

<p>My younger son started out as a math/econ major, but has dropped it to a math minor. He loves the math. It is the comp sci requirement that got him. He just hated the class. So, he added a finance major to that econ major, and may add accounting as well. He’s already gotten some looks for internships.</p>

<p>Kiddie: It’s funny that your daughter has not had female math teachers. My son had three in high school, and he just loved them! He also had female teachers for chemistry, biology, AP bio and AP physics. In college, he had a female professor for Calculus III. I think he seeks out female teachers! For some reason, he seems to learn better from them.He said that he will have three more in the spring for math and econ classes!</p>

<p>Daughter had lots of female science and math teachers in HS - it is just in college (BTW - has not had a female econ teacher either in college - although there are several in the department just the luck of the draw - which classes fit into her schedule each semester).</p>

<p>You can get a BA or BS in any major in L&S (letters and science) at UW-Madison. Both math and computer science departments are in L&S. I’m sure that is the case at many other schools as well. The two have slightly different breadth requirements and you can choose if you meet reqs for both. Hence, I got a BA in Chemistry with Honors, simply because I liked the white tassel better than the yellow one (and it shows I met reqs for both). BA/BS- doesn’t really matter.</p>