Math/Applied Math Prospects

<p>There seems to be one of two different views on how good the job prospects are for math majors. They're either comparable to some of the struggling physical sciences, or the prospects seem to be comparable to engineering. Is it to a large degree dependent on the other classes you take.....econ, cs, engineering?</p>

<p>Most of the job placement polls from Math departments seem to point towards the major being one of the best for job prospects. I'm interested in hearing people's opinions that work around or are math majors, because I have read tons job prospect articles on the web. I'm not really concerned with the teaching side of things because I have no interest in that. Thanks in advance.</p>

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<p>Finance or computer software seem to be common “good job” destinations for math majors (obviously, some supplemental elective courses in those areas would help).</p>

<p>Of course, if you are not interested in those areas, or teaching math, then you may just have to go for generic bachelor’s degree jobs in competition with biology majors, English majors, etc…</p>

<p>Thanks ucb, bump for opinions from math majors or those that work around math majors.</p>

<p>My undergrad major was Computational Mathematics (a variation of an applied math degree), but of course my route went towards software engineering. I DO work with quite a few math majors and they work in applied areas like cryptology, operations research and computational statistics/analytics.</p>

<p>I would agree that one needs to supplement their math degree with courses from another major: computer science (#1 choice), operations research, finance, etc. Personally, I feel that an Applied Math degree is wonderful because employers feel that they can “throw you” into some areas of engineering or finance and you will “pick it up”. It has happened to me in my career as I has zero experience in systems engineering and my employer (at the time) figured that I could get up to speed quickly in that field.</p>

<p>An applied math major can help with enrolling in some non-math graduate programs. For instance: MBA with Operations Research emphasis, M.S./M.Eng in Systems Engineering with Stats or O.R. emphasis, etc.</p>

<p>Thanks for the info GT, that’s what I’m wondering about. My interest are in the business side of things, but the practical job seeker side of me says I would be smart to supplement a math degree with cs or other engineering.</p>