Berkeley Applied Mathematics Honors Program or Dual Major

College Majors Math/Computer Science Majors
1

Hey everybody,

I’m transferring to Berkeley this fall and I got in with the applied mathematics major. As of the last couple years, my plan has been to try to start in actuarial science or finance when I graduate, and then hopefully move onto something such as being a quantitative or investment banking analyst. I love mathematics, especially when I have a complex problem in front of me and I am asked to solve it.

My question is kinda complex. I only have two years at Berkeley due to their semester cap on transfer students, so my original plan to double major in math/stats doesn’t look very promising. This combination would really load me down, which is fine, but applied mathematics has an honors program that involves writing a senior thesis with an adviser or taking two graduate level courses.

I’m wondering if I should attempt to dual major in math/stats, but not even consider any honors courses or the honors program, or if I should lighten the load by doing a single major instead, maybe with a minor, and give it my all to get into the honors program. I’m hoping for some input here on what my future employers would see as more valuable and impressive. BTW, I do plan on taking the first two actuarial exams before this summer to have a semi-realistic chance at an internship in the summer.

If it would be smarter to do the single major, I’d seriously appreciate some extra input on my concentration. I was going to do my cluster in either actuarial science or probability theory, and I was planning on doing my minor in that case in either statistics or IEOR. They both look like pretty good programs in terms of what I would learn from them.

I really appreciate any advice here guys. Hope this post isn’t too obnoxiously long!

2

https://math.berkeley.edu/programs/undergraduate/major/applied has some suggested courses for various areas of applied math. Perhaps just choose the statistics and actuarial related courses of interest (and usefulness to actuarial exams) as your electives without worrying about adding a second major or minor. You can choose the honors program if you want depending on your interest.

3

Yeah I looked at that page. It still doesn’t give me that much insight into the matter though because it only outlines the three courses that I would take and they are all broad classes. Like actuarial science just has you take prob/stats with an econ class. I was hoping to go a bit deeper. But idk. The honors program might make more sense and then I could go deeper into my studies wth grad school.

4

http://beanactuary.com/ may be helpful in actuarial preparation.

5

Yeah that page has been helpful. I’m getting the idea at this point that any of these quantitative majors are acceptable for being an actuary as long as I’m doing the exams. I just recently started studying for the first one and I’m planning on taking it in the next few months. I’m more concerned about if I decide to venture towards finance or investment banking. Whether or not I should do a dual major, just focus on math with maybe a minor but do the honors program. What would be more impress to employers and make me more marketable?

6

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/14204944/#Comment_14204944 is an older post that gives an idea of what investment banking recruiting looked like a few years ago.

7

Hey! I am the student in UC Davis and I also want to transfer to Berkeley. Can I know your standard grade and GPA?