Majoring in Math or Stats...some questions

<p>Im 19 and plan on enrolling for the next fall semester. I love math and I know I want to major in it, or something math related. Im still not exactly sure what I want to do for the rest of my life, but I would like to avoid jobs in accounting, finance, and teaching. Some options Im thinking of are economist, actuary, and especially Statistician.</p>

<p>However Statistician is a pretty unspecific title. What are possible subjects I could double major or minor in that would be relevant to stats? I remember I read an article of a woman who was a statistician and she did work regarding animals & the environment. She was always working on something new.</p>

<p>So, my questions are:</p>

<p>1) What are some practical math related careers?
2) Is Stats, in your opinion, a solid major(would i be likely to get a decent job)?</p>

<p>Statistics is relevant to any number of fields for a double major: Economics, Psychology, Biology, Political Science, Computer Science, etc. </p>

<p>Here are some links about math and statistics careers to check out:
[Careers</a> in Mathematics](<a href=“http://www.toroidalsnark.net/mathcareers.html]Careers”>Careers in Mathematics)
[Other</a> Career Resources | American Statistical Association](<a href=“http://www.amstat.org/careers/otherresources.cfm]Other”>http://www.amstat.org/careers/otherresources.cfm)
[CAREERS</a> INVOLVING PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS](<a href=“http://www.ma.utexas.edu/users/mks/statund/careers.html]CAREERS”>CAREERS INVOLVING PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS)
[Statistical</a> Science Web: Careers](<a href=“http://www.statsci.org/careers.html]Statistical”>Statistical Science Web: Careers)
[YouTube</a> - Careers in Biostatistics](<a href=“Careers in Biostatistics - YouTube”>Careers in Biostatistics - YouTube)
[Statistics</a> Serving Biomedicine. - Science Careers - Biotech, Pharmaceutical, Faculty, Postdoc jobs on Science Careers](<a href=“http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2010_01_22/caredit.a1000010]Statistics”>http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2010_01_22/caredit.a1000010)
[Unusual</a> Careers in Medical Statistics | eHow.com](<a href=“http://www.ehow.com/list_6641731_unusual-careers-medical-statistics.html]Unusual”>http://www.ehow.com/list_6641731_unusual-careers-medical-statistics.html)
[Systems</a> Biology and Bioinformatics: Something for Everyone - Science Careers - Biotech, Pharmaceutical, Faculty, Postdoc jobs on Science Careers](<a href=“http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2010_04_09/science.opms.r1000087]Systems”>http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2010_04_09/science.opms.r1000087)
[Careers</a> in biotechnology, part V. Bioinformatics in an academic lab : Discovering Biology in a Digital World](<a href=“http://scienceblogs.com/digitalbio/2007/08/careers_in_biotechnology_part_2.php]Careers”>http://scienceblogs.com/digitalbio/2007/08/careers_in_biotechnology_part_2.php)
[Getting</a> Started in Computational Biology](<a href=“http://www.life.umd.edu/labs/delwiche/bsci348s/BioCompCareers.html]Getting”>Getting Started in Computational Biology)
[AMS</a> - Career Information](<a href=“http://e-math.ams.org/careers/]AMS”>http://e-math.ams.org/careers/)
[Math.com</a> Careers in Math](<a href=“http://www.math.com/students/advice/careers.html]Math.com”>Math.com Careers in Math)
[SIAM:</a> Careers](<a href=“http://www.siam.org/careers/]SIAM:”>Career Resources | SIAM)
[Career</a> and Grad School Planning - Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science - Macalester College](<a href=“http://www.macalester.edu/mscs/aftermacalester/career/]Career”>http://www.macalester.edu/mscs/aftermacalester/career/)</p>

<p>Have you considered:</p>

<p>Physics
Engineering (Mechanical, Civil, Electrical, Aerospace, Chemical, or Industrial)
Chemistry</p>

<p>since you wanted to avoid financial and teaching jobs.</p>

<p>thanks zapfino, im still working my way through that list of links.</p>

<p>Statistics is a good major (I’m biased). </p>

<p>It’s classified as a “Quantitative” Major, so it opens the doors for a lot of jobs in quantitative fields.</p>

<p>Getting a BS degree in Statistics is part (applied) math, part computer science, part social science, part hard science.</p>

<p>Data and statistics are used in nearly every field in the real world, so the job fields are nearly endless. Plenty of good paying jobs require a MS or PhD in Statistics, though. Entry level jobs still pay well because of a lack of people with quantitative degrees.</p>

<p>Business, government, academia, medical, health care…they all use statistics, even though your job title might not be “Statistician”. Other job titles may be financial analyst, data analyst, operations research, auditor, etc. They all come back to using statistics.</p>

<p>Don’t forget, if your job title is “scientist”, there’s a good chance you’re actually a statistician. Statistics is the cornerstone of modern science.</p>