Son has taken (and received A’s in) Calc BC, Discrete Math and Linear Algebra at his gifted magnet high school. What do you recommend for college math? He’d prefer an LAC, but is afraid the math would be boring or he has had too much math. On the other hand, Magnet school killed all appetite for spending time with a hyper-competitive bunch of people. Wants to attend grad school in either applied math or psychology after undergrad. Suggestions (we live in Kentucky). He has ceiling scores on gateway tests and 3.95 unweighted GPA. Loves literature, music, good conversations (didn’t have much of that at magnet school).
@listener76 differential equations would probably be his first math course in college, since a lot of programs require it for math majors. Maybe real analysis and abstract algebra.
After that, it depends on what field he wants to go for. For applied math, he’d probably take some beginning applied courses (e.g. math for physics or math for economics). I am going more into theoretical CS and if he wishes to pursue a similar field he could take algorithms or automata/complexity theory which are fairly math-intensive.
The remaining sophomore-level math courses would be multivariable calculus and differential equations. He would probably go into junior level courses in his second semester. These would be courses like proof-based linear algebra, abstract/modern algebra, and real analysis (not necessarily all at once).
Yes, for applied math, it depends on what area of application. For (theoretical) computer science, he would want to take some CS courses and then the algorithms/complexity and theory of computation courses (which may be in the CS department. For economics, he would take the math-heavy intermediate economics courses (with a calculus prerequisite; some department offer courses using multivariable calculus), econometrics, and mathematical economics courses as well as calculus-based probability theory.
For psychology, he may find good knowledge of statistics to be helpful, particularly at the graduate level.
ucbalumnus - once again, solid information! Extremely helpful! (As has been all of the really well thought through suggestions from everyone!) We have been able to glean some important approaches to solving this problem - thanks for helping him get unstuck!
Do you know for sure that he will get credit or advanced placement at his college? That is, will they give credit for his AP Calculus BC score? Will they give credit for linear algebra and discrete math even though they were high school classes (it might be easier if they were taken through a dual-enrollment program)? If not, will it be possible for him to take a placement exam?
Some schools have separate linear algebra classes for math majors and non-majors, and he might only be able to get credit for the non-majors class. This happened to me, but my school waived the requirement because I’ve taken higher-level classes in algebra and matrix analysis.
Another thing to note is that some schools (e.g. the [University of Michigan](https://lsa.umich.edu/math/undergraduates/courses-for-freshmen/honors-sequences.html)) have honors sequences for math majors where all the material is integrated together and the classes have names like “Honors Mathematics I.”
Multivariable calculus and abstract algebra are required for most math majors, so I would recommend taking those next. He can take them at the same time (which is what I did), but if he doesn’t want to do that, I would put multivariable calculus first because it’s probably required for real analysis. Differential equations isn’t always required for pure math, but it’s probably required for applied math.
As others have said, he will also be able to take classes in other fields of interest, e.g. computer science, economics, physics, and statistics. The philosophy department will have classes in logic, philosophy of math, and philosophy of science. Since he’s interested in math and psychology, you could also look into cognitive science.
My DH went to a smallish LAC, majored in math and went on to get PhD in math at a top ranked school. Lots of LAC schools decent math departments just look around.
My son is going to college next year. He is struggling in which major to be. Applied math or engineering.? He is good at math but worry if he can find job if taking math. He might only want to be Master instead of PHD on math. Is it easy to find job on applied math major?
At the bachelor’s degree level, common job directions for applied math majors are finance, actuarial, computing, operations research, and teaching math. Obviously, choosing appropriate in-major and out-of-major electives would help if his goal is one of these job directions.
Applied math folks have opportunities in companies that do numbers crunching AC Nielson, SAS and management and technology consulting firms,operational research many of them make it in to the technology realm… I would go for an Applied math degree from a top 10 school vs. a CS degree from an ‘also ran’ kind of institution. If you have looked in to the Courant School at NYU, it is a renowned one in the east coast along with Univ of Michigan in midwest. Check out the rankings here