<p>I’m not in finance, but I have done an internship in finance. I’m not even a finance major, I’m a math major. I think I made more money as a trader than anyone among the other nine interns for the company I worked for.</p>
<p>I know another math major that is into investing. It’s not my cup of tea, though. If you’ve got some brains, I’d trade up and get into a math major. Even the dumbest math major is pretty smart. Actuarial work pays pretty well if you’ve got the stamina for it. </p>
<p>Anyways, back to why I wanted to originally respond to this thread. </p>
<p>I have never had any problems with the administration that weren’t resolved immediately. Maybe I am lucky. When my loans weren’t disbursing, they fixed it. When I needed a grade replacement, it was done the next day. When I needed something from the school, it was accessible. When I was transferring and I noticed something didn’t transfer that should have, I sent off an e-mail and it was taken care of immediately. I’m not anyone special.</p>
<p>I came in as a transfer student and have enjoyed my two years here. It can be pretty tough at times to be a math major, but I find the program and the teachers to be pretty good. I would probably replace all of the statistics teachers, mostly because they don’t lecture well and teach us virtually nothing for the ones who use powerpoint/overhead projectors. I guess they’ve been in the department for over forty years, so that’s just what they’re used to. It does not help students in 2014. </p>
<p>I think the math department needs to embrace technology more. I know that the younger faculty has and they provide a plethora of resources, but you really don’t get jack for help from the older ones. The math lab is outdated. I don’t think people even really know if it and I’ve only ever been in it once to work on a project. The computers are so slow. They recently updated the website, but it’s still not that great for the math department. There needs to be a strong, heavy emphasis on getting into research. I know we’re not considered a research school, but the math department expects people to go to graduate school. Research is considered important in getting into graduate school. </p>
<p>There are two tracks here and three for some that are still here on the old plan, but it won’t be anything new students have to worry about. One is Applied Math/Statistics, one is Pure Math. Pure math are for people who want to become high school teachers or definitely go to graduate school to work on theoretical stuff. </p>
<p>I think that they should change the curriculum here to benefit the Applied Math/Statistics folks. We get 6 courses in our subplan that separate us. We should not have to take theoretical math. I have done well because I love math, but it is not at all useful. It isn’t going to be relevant to Applied Math majors who are preparing to go into different fields as their website says. They should take a page out of CSUSB’s book and have computer science tracks, physics tracks, whatever. Why? There aren’t enough recruiters that come to get math students here at the career fairs. Students need more of a direction here in the major because it is incredibly broad. Too broad. If a students want to do economics, there needs to be an economics track that will prepare them for a career in economics alongside their math classes. Let’s face it, math majors often work in software development after college. They’re better programmers. That’s the way it’s looking right now for me as a job right out of college, but I will be doing a master’s in mechanical engineering because I want to be an engineering mathematician. What sucks is that engineering classes are closed off to other majors, even after all of the engineering majors have registered. There shouldn’t be spots left open, especially not half a class. When I talked to recruiters at USC and UCLA they thought it was just bizarre that there were restrictions like this. </p>
<p>What CSU’s definitely nail down is the teaching. The teaching has on average been excellent. They are extremely qualified to be here as well, but I don’t think they are the best researchers, which is why they end up coming here. I think there needs to be a strong sentiment to get more people who can do good research and really turn up the math department a notch. Admittedly, plenty of people are failing and doing miserable in the major. Strange curves have to be applied sometimes to make sure the bottom of the class is still able to pass, but that will set them up for failure in the next classes. I also feel that for the most part people here are extremely hardworking as math majors, but I don’t see a lot of people who do well. I’m sure that is the result anywhere. I still think that there needs to be extra pressure to weed these people out because at the end of their undergraduate career they’ll be hovering in the low 2.X’s. We receive a good education but not an excellent one because we skip what I feel are important topics during a quarter system. It will be a good thing when the semester conversion comes because you can cover more material. If the math department expects students to go to graduate school in math or wants more students to pursue graduate degrees, we need to be adequately prepared. We’re pretty prepared, but I feel like there needs to be more classes open to undergraduate students who want to try to get into elite institutions (say ivy leagues) to get as much preparation as possible. We should be using the same books. The engineering school here is excellent because they are taught by super qualified people that come from MIT, CalTech, whatever. They use comparable books. We should be receiving a higher level treatment as well. Fortunately though, I will be going into engineering as are most of my friends after they graduate from the math major. Most math majors will find a job, but it’s always a bit tricky with the career center in getting recruiters. I will be looking at Solar City, California Steel, and MeridianLink this career fair. The NSA and CIA also recruit math majors here. There needs to be more, though. I think most recruitment is done in the fall, however. I think JPL, NASA, and Raytheon recruit math majors. If you look online, you can find opportunities at Northrop Grumman and other major aerospace engineering companies. The major is already a GPA killer, but I think that the classes need to be a bit smaller as I feel >500 math majors is too much. If class sizes were smaller, there would be more personal attention as well and the better students (those not likely to bomb exams) could get their education upgraded while the would be but not so great math majors would find fields they could do well in (economics, physics, computer science, maybe engineering). </p>
<p>So what I’m saying I guess is the math major is strong, but it’s not as strong as it could be.</p>
<p>So, that’s what I think about being a math major here at Cal Poly Pomona in case any future math major wants to know what’s up.</p>