<p>So in high school I wasn't bad or good at math. Sophomore and junior year I took Honors and got a B, but in freshman and senior year I took regular math classes and I got A's. I didn't do really so well on the math portion of the ACT in comparison to English and Reading, in which I did really well (my overall ACT score was a 29). </p>
<p>Now in college, however, I've fallen in love with calculus. I got an A in Calc I and II and am currently taking Calc III and a basic stats class. I've just started my sophomore year. The only thing is that I haven't really done any proofs except seeing my professor go through them, and I know after calculus math becomes more abstract and focuses less on application. But if I do decently well in calculus, could I do well as a math major? I'm considering concentrating in Operations Research, which would involve Probability and Statistics and some CS classes.</p>
<p>You have been doing well in calculus and it seems like if you put in the work required of math majors you will do well, or ‘ok’ at the very least. I was a math major and I had experience with calculus before college. I did well as a math major. I have a friend who was a math major (now a Math PhD student). He didn’t have any experience with Calculus before college, but did exceptionally well (better than me), He even told me he was an average math student in high school. I said that to just say I don’t think you need to be a math savant in high school to do well as a math major in college - you just need a decent understanding of basic mathematics and the professors and your diligent work will do the rest.</p>
<p>You need to work hard and study and practice a lot as a math major, especially after the calculus based classes. As you said math becomes more abstract and in my experience requires a different level of thinking and studying, after calculus. The proofs classes can really make or break a student’s love for mathematics. I can’t say you will or won’t do well as a math major but what I can say, if you love the subject and you desire to put in the work required to do well in it, I don’t see any reason you won’t do well.</p>
<p>Many math majors go into Operations Research (OR) and Industrial/Systems Engineering (like myself) and yes OR involves much statistics. If you love stats or math in general, go for it! The most important thing to doing well in anything, especially Mathematics, is the discipline and diligence in doing the work required.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your input, Bounce007! Your post has given me more confidence on majoring in math. Just one question: Did you double major or focus solely on math? I ask because I’m considering tacking on an Economics major.</p>
<p>I didn’t double major. It was just Math. I know quite a few people who did joint majors or double majors in Math/Econ, Math/Finance, Math/Computer Science. Some also did the Math major/Econ minor thing.</p>
<p>I always tell folks that studying/majoring in Math is also a lot about patience. One has to be able to do a problem, realize that they are going in the wrong direction and start over again without being frustrated.</p>
<p>Yes, it Math REALLY hits the fan when you take that junior-level proofs course called either Analysis, Real Analysis or Advanced Calculus (course name depends on the school). While you would have done some proofs in the your earlier Math courses, the Analysis/Real Analysis course is TOTALLY dedicated to proofs. Every Math major (pure or applied or computational) has to take at least one semester of that course.</p>
<p>The good thing is that nowadays (I am old), more schools are offering a course to teach one how to do proofs before one tackles Analysis/Real Analysis/Advanced Calculus. Me?..we just went from Differential Equations straight to Analysis/Real Analysis cold.</p>
<p>Having said all of that, with the right work ethic AND PATIENCE, you can do well in Math.</p>
<p>Would you say the same holds true for a Statistics major? I would have to do a semester of real analysis, but the rest of my classes would be applied (although I suspect I would have to do proofs in Probability & Statistics I and II to some degree).</p>
<p>Well, I’m an Applied Math/Statisics major and we must take 2 classes of Real Analysis and 2 classes of Abstract Algebra as part of our core requirements. We also had an intro proofs class. There are proofs in the Applied probability and applied statistics classes that are part of our core too. After that you just load up on stats or applied math classes. I took 2 classes of operations research, one in upper div stats, 1 in upper div DE, 1 in PDE’s, and will be taking graph theory or combinatorics.</p>