<p>I tried the other forum "other college majors" but didn't get many replies. I'll try here...</p>
<p>Are you currently a math major or graduated with a math degree? Why did you pick math? How was your college experience pursuing your math degree? How many hours did you study a day? How many classes/credits a semester did you take? Any regrets? What would you do different if you started school again, Math majors? If you already graduated with a math degree, what do you do for a living? </p>
<p>I plan to go back to school and major in math. I had to drop out of school for personal reasons and now I have a tremendous void in my life. Math has been my favorite subject and I want pursue a math degree. Any feedback or info would be great.</p>
<p>I am a math major. I picked math because I really enjoy mathematical problem solving, and I plan to continue on and get a PhD in the subject. I study somewhere between 0 and 8 hours a day. I usually take 4 classes per semester (normal course load at my college to graduate in 4 years), 2-3 of them in math. If I started school again, I would attend a college with a real math department. (Studying math at a women’s college was arguably a bad idea.) </p>
<p>Math majors spend most of their study time on problem sets, not on reading or papers or labs. Beyond that, your college experience is mostly a function of your personal choices and the college you are attending (e.g. the composition of the student body and the culture of the math department there). That’s why you are probably not going to get much helpful information out of a general inquiry like this.</p>
<p>I am taking math currently, but am aiming continue on and get a PhD. I choose math because it gives a strong foundation for most other subjects and the fact I hate writing papers or reading. College experience is great! I study from 0-16 hours a day [mainly 2-8], but I am also an economics major [ but luckily my school’s economics department is very quantitative, so there is not much reading]. I am on a quarter system and take 4-5 classes a quarter (16-20 units). No regrets except I wish i knew I wanted to major in math earlier, so I would not have waste units on useless courses, since I want to take as many math courses as I can. Have you taken any upper division math course? It is a big difference from lower division.</p>
<p>I am a math major. I picked math because I knew I wanted to do some kind of science or engineering but wasn’t exactly sure which one, and I knew math was what linked them all, so it seemed like the best choice because of how broad it is. </p>
<p>My college experience so far has been great, the math department at my school is pretty small, and there are few math undergrads. I wish I had picked a school with a bigger math department. My school simply does not offer their upper level math courses often enough. In the past 3 years they have not offered differential equations or complex analysis once. They offered topology this past spring semester for the first time in god knows how long. </p>
<p>I generally take 4 classes a semester. I go to liberal arts school, so its a mix of math and gen ed requirements, but I try to take at least 2 math classes per semester. I have no idea how many hours I spend a day studying.</p>
<p>Unlike one of the other posters above, I think I spend more time reading than doing problems. I am genuinely interested in upper level pure abstract math, like topology, differential geometry, manifolds, algebra, algebraic topology and differential topology, and as such do a lot of reading about theory on my own. I should probably do more problems. </p>
<p>I really would like to go grad school for math, and get a phd. It is not what I planned on doing when I started out, but I have since gotten sucked into math.</p>
<p>Something else that is available–and perhaps one of the math majors can more clearly explain it–is applied mathematics. You major in applied math, but concentrate in something like computer science or physics.</p>
<p>Applied math majors tend to focus more on math methods than on math theory. For example, analysis, algebra and topology (the core courses for pure math) might get replaced with courses on statistics, numerical analysis and mathematical modeling. Applied math usually requires a few courses in allied fields, but the focus is still on mathematics.</p>
<p>The OP never mentioned what he would like to do after completing his Mathematics education. This information would help us help you more efficiently. Thanks!</p>
<p>@ Enginox,
Agree. But I think the OP is concern about what is likely to be the career path for a math major, since he’s returning to college again.</p>
Well, yes, but reading is something we do for fun, not for degree requirements :)</p>
<p>It sucks that your course options are so limited. I know the feeling, although I am better off because I can take classes at a bigger university in the neighborhood. I am curious, did you know that you wanted to major in math when you were applying to college? Were you concerned about the limitations of a small school when you decided where to enroll?</p>
<p>I am asking because the lack of upper-level electives seems to be a big complaint of many students attending small colleges (myself included), and I am curious why all of us decided to attend the school we are at anyway. Personally, I realized how limited my course options would be, but I didn’t expect to get interested enough in a single field that I would wish for a variety of advanced courses.</p>
<p>My story is kinda weird. I applied to a bunch of engineering schools, and 1 liberal arts school. I never thought in a million years I’d go to the liberal arts school, or that I would major in math. I thought I would end up doing engineering, but wasn’t exactly sure what kind of engineering I wanted to do. </p>
<p>In the end I decided to go to the liberal arts school because they are “affiliated” with Columbia and the 3/2 program (you go to the liberal arts school for 3 years major in math, physics, chem, or cs, and then go to columbia for 2 years and do engineering). I didn’t think I would get as into math as I am.</p>
<p>I am glad I decided to go to the liberal arts school, because looking back none of the other schools I applied to had as good a pure math program, and most only had applied math programs. </p>
<p>I think I am still going to do the 3/2 program. But my plan now is to just use Columbia as a stepping stone to get into a top grad school for math, by trying to do some research and trying to take some more math courses. If it doesn’t work out in the end I’ll still have engineering as a fall back. I am pretty interested in electrical and computer engineering, but not as much as interested as I am in math.</p>
<p>b@r!um pretty much explained applied mathematics.</p>
<p>my undergraduate major was computational mathematics which is a branch of applied mathematics. The emphasis is on the numerical techniques and algorithms to solve problems from Analysis (calculus), Linear Algebra and Engineering. The way my program was structured was the traditional math program but replacing Real Analysis I & II, Abstract Algebra I & II with Combinatorics, Graph Theory, Operations Research and more advanced Numerical Analysis courses. In addition, the Comp Math major had to take at least the Programming, Algorithms and Data Structures courses from the CS department.</p>
<p>Why I picked math? It is a major that can used in many areas whether engineering, business, teaching or science.</p>
<p>College experince in Math: I started of as an EE major but always liked math. I have to admit, it was a good way to meet girls because SOMEONE needed help with math, lol. Also, it was less pressure since you did not have to earn 3.3, 3.4 or 3.5 GPA’s just to stay in the program (like engineering). I still averaged about 15 credits a semester with just one math course each semester for my first two years. In my junior and senior years, I had 2 math courses a semester.</p>
<p>I have no regrets earning a B.S. in Computational Mathematics. To be honest, what I would have done differently is starting as a math major instead of engineering. Since college, I have worked in the I.T./Engineering industry.</p>
<p>I am a double major in math&CS.Although i was into the humanities in high school,everyone seemed to respect math whizzes,so i ended up ignoring the arts to focus on math,for the prestige.Unfortunately,i totally fell in love with the subject,and wont mind getting a phd in it.I usually take 9 math credits(3 courses) every semester</p>
<p>Some mathematicians do make great statisticians, but I would never say most. Most mathematicians wouldn’t touch statistics with a ten-foot pole. While there are some really neat mathematics to be done in statistics, purely working on the abstract side of statistics isn’t what statistics is all about. I’ve seen so many papers with completely useless results because they were not based on real data, methods no one will ever use because there’s no way to implement them in a real life situation.</p>