I’m currently a senior in BC and Stats and I really like them both.
However, I’m very hesitant to get my mind set on the Mathematics major because I feel like it’s going to get a lot different.
How far should I go in the math sequence before making a determination?
There’s tons of degrees with really excessive math requirements that pay much, much better than a math degree and as an added bonus the math is the hardest part in the entire degree by far. For example, computer programming is easy compared to the math requirements needed to become a computer programmer; you basically need a math minor.
Crazy math requirements are one of the biggest things that limits peoples ability to get the best degrees that pay the most money after college so if you’re gifted at math pick something hard with tons of math requirements like engineering; most people are terrible at math and can’t get great degrees as a result!
Also, math degrees are terrible. Sorry. My mom’s a teacher and we’re super-poor.
Math does get different, but it seems like you’d do just fine with a math degree. But definitely don’t discount engineering, computer science, etc. like the above poster mentioned.
As I stepped more heavily into upper-divison classes from lower-divison classes, it definitely got more different. I would say it became harder as well, but I thought it was a good mental exercise. I graduated in June of 2014 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Applied Mathematics/Statistics with an emphasis in Physics. There were a good amount of theory classes I took, but I excelled in those…I wanted to be a pure math major originally, but I felt it was pretty useless for getting a career outside of teaching.
I’ve taken at least 6 statistics classes. Things can get complicated, but I don’t think they’re really all that difficult. You’ll basically be restudying Calculus AB and Calculus BC in a more advanced fashion if you take on becoming a math major. I’d advise you look at the Harvey Mudd lectures on YouTube if you want to get a taste of the intro course.
I honestly think you should consider engineering unless you have a clear idea of what you want to do with it. I had no idea what I wanted to be, but I enjoyed mathematics very much…so that’s what I did. Big mistake as I am currently going to be enrolling in a master’s program in mechanical engineering this fall. I work as a programmer right now. It’s OK money, nothing special.
Math can definitely get very different in college. Calc BC and Stats are mostly computational classes that are memorization heavy. If you do a math major, you’ll eventually end up having to write a lot of proofs.
Universities differ in when they start introducing proofs. Some linear algebra classes are mostly computational, whereas other linear algebra classes are proof based. I’d probably recommend taking discrete math your first or second semester of college, as that’s usually a proof based class.
You should also probably get some idea of what other majors you’d be interested in, if you decide to switch out of math. I recommend considering computer science and engineering majors - they’re a good combination of real world applications and math, but they are not as theoretical as pure math.