<p>Choosing a school that has strong math and engineering offerings can offer flexibility.</p>
<p>My son loved pure mathematics in high school and professed a disdain for applied mathematics, engineering and the like. At MIT, he started as a course 18 (math) major and finished with a double major in course 6 (EECS) and course 18.</p>
<p>Wow my$0.02 … MIT double major. That must have been extra hard work! Did he continue on to grad school?</p>
<p>colorado mom - he did the double major in three years and is using the fourth year to complete a master’s in engineering and a master’s in finance. </p>
<p>Course 6 grads are popular with investment banking recruiters, software recruiters, and traditional EE recruiters.</p>
<p>Wow again, my$0.02. I think your son get the award for the squeezing the most education into 4 years! </p>
<p>It’s interesting that you mention “finance”. So many differerent math-ish paths available. If you happen to remember this thread when your son gets his job, let us know more about it.</p>
<p>my$0.02: Does your son ever sleep?</p>
<p>My son felt a compulsion to maximize his educational consumption at school; since MIT allows registration for two classes in the same time slot, he was able to take a double load for a time by grinding out problem sets and exams without worrying about class attendance. He did make time to serve as president of the Association of Student Activities, to teach a section of 18.01 (freshman calculus), and to serve as president of his fraternity.</p>
<p>MIT students do well in finance/IB recruiting, since both fields require strong analytic skills and natural comfort with numbers. Some of the traditional IB (e.g., Goldman) houses tend to pigeon-hole MIT grads into analyst roles. </p>
<p>We did worry about his lack of sleep since we received emails and phone calls at all hours of his night. Home visits were marked by two or three days of sleeping marathons.</p>
<p>I will be doing a math major with a dual specialization in statistics and computational science with an econ minor. For grad school I will likely be doing either industrial engineering or something closely related (ops. research, statistics, analytics, computational sciences, etc…)</p>
<p>Thank you for this discussion. It has been a good read.</p>
<p>here’s my questionnaire for determining a major…</p>
<p>Do you think that mathematics is a thing of beauty and should not be sullied by practical applications? if yes, go with pure math </p>
<p>Do you think that mathematics is a tool; something to be used only if and when needed? if yes, go with a physics </p>
<p>Do you feel a connection with how things work in the real world and you want to make/build things? if yes, go with engineering</p>
<p>Do you feel a connection with concepts and you want to make/build things (at least conceptually) ? If yes, go with software engineering</p>
<p>Do you feel a connection with numbers and the power that they have to describe and model the real world? If yes, go with applied mathematics</p>
<p>^^^avoidingwork–you really need to go into career counseling. That was wonderful.</p>
<p><p.s. what=“” do=“” you=“” have=“” for=“” a=“” philosophy=“” major=“” history=“” minor?=“” ;)=“”></p.s.></p>
<p>avoidingwork I am going to have my son read that-excellent and understandable-even for me!</p>
<p>Research job market.<br>
Your personal preferences might not be reflective of job market situation and might lead to great dissapointments later.<br>
This was my position when my D. announced in 8th grade that she is thinking about Marine Biology. I knew where she is coming from, an accomplished swimmer who spent many breaks snorkeling in Carribean. These were not valid reasons for me. I went researching, on-line as well as asking around and discovered that there are no reasonable expectations of having a job as Marine Biologist. Well, it took several conversations during several years, but as of now D. is very happy pursuing medicine.
While this example is not directly related to math/engineering discussion, researching job market is very worthwhile before spending tens of thousands of $$ and several years in UG.</p>
<p>@UCBAlumnus, the school is GaTech.</p>
<p>Looks like Georgia Tech offers an [Honors</a> Calculus II (Math 1512)](<a href=“http://www.math.gatech.edu/course/math/1512]Honors”>http://www.math.gatech.edu/course/math/1512) course for students who scored a 5 on the AP Calculus BC test or are in the honors program. This course is [offered</a> in the fall semester](<a href=“http://www.math.gatech.edu/academics/undergraduate/projected-schedule]offered”>http://www.math.gatech.edu/academics/undergraduate/projected-schedule). In the spring semester, they offer [Honors</a> Calculus III (Math 2411)](<a href=“http://www.math.gatech.edu/course/math/2411]Honors”>http://www.math.gatech.edu/course/math/2411) as a followup course.</p>
<p>Note that Georgia Tech has a [career</a> survey of graduates](<a href=“http://www.assessment.gatech.edu/2011/02/17/fall-2010-career-and-salary-survey/]career”>http://www.assessment.gatech.edu/2011/02/17/fall-2010-career-and-salary-survey/).</p>
<p>avoidingwork, so what if I answer yes to the last three questions on your list? Triple major?</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus, I’m probably not going to take honors (I’m definitely not taking Calc BC - AB) so I’ll just go into normal Calc 2. That said, I find the initial explanation behind the stuff we learn (for instance, what I’m talking about is “why does chain rule work?”) fascinating, but I can’t imagine doing tests of half/all proofs just like I did in Geometry.</p>
<p>My S is passionate about both econ and physics and he is trying to figure out a way to double major. His school offers a BA or a BS in econ and the BS is very heavy into math. An econ/math combo looks like a better fit…but he loves physics.</p>
<p>A lot will become clear after the first semsester or two at the school of choice. Paasions may change and students find out a lot of insider information. The best thing to do is to plan the first semester to include needed courses for more than one option and let experiences take it from there.</p>
<p>That’s good advise from wis75.</p>
<p>I often tell engineering students to retake Calc in college, even if they already took AP. (But my son did so well in IB HL Math that we opted to let him start with Calc 3, and it worked fine for him). It occurs to me that a disadvantage to retake of Calc is that you loose the opportunity to get earlier exposure to the higher level math classes. So the decision depends a lot on the hs class, the college course intensity, and the student.</p>
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<p>Junior and senior level math courses tends to be mostly proofs and derivations. If you prefer to apply math to problems, then engineering (or some other field where math is applied, or where math like problem solving is done, like physics, computer science, economics, or statistics) is likely a better fit (although even in those subjects, there are some theory and proof heavy topics and courses).</p>
<p>A freshman or sophomore level honors math course is a good way to “sample” the types of problems (proofs, derivations, theory) that junior and senior math majors will see a lot of.</p>
<p>Note that a university level math course will cover material at a significantly faster pace compared to a one year AP Calculus AB course (which is generally seen as equivalent to one semester of university level calculus).</p>
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<p>Probably best would be to consult the math department of the university to see if it has specific recommendations. This often varies by score on the AP test. A student who got a 5 and thought it was easy could probably handle jumping straight into the more advanced course (perhaps even the honors version); if s/he starts over, it would only be worthwhile in the honors version (note: some super-elite science schools have only what other schools would consider the honors version). But a student who got a 3 or 4 and did not think it was that easy may want to start over.</p>
<p>UW-Madison offers a proof based Honors math sequence where 3 semesters gets you 4 of math (linear algebra plus 3 calculus) so it is a no time lost decision to start over for those students. The regular, problem solving based, calculus sequence is recommended for science and engineering students. They also often recommend that students start over with the first semester course as they cover more than the AP version and find many students who go straight to the second semester course struggle.</p>
<p>The above is an example of how to do things at a school with highly ranked math and engineering programs. I’m sure many other highly ranked colleges, both public and private, will have similar suggestions. It is good for students to take calculus in HS, but they should never consider AP calculus as being the equivalent of a rigorous college course- one reason some schools won’t give college credit for AP test scores (son got the college credits for his AP calculus as his college sequence was so different in content).</p>