<p>I have a question regarding the difference between these two majors. If I were to major in applied math concentrating on business, I suppose my career would be in analysis or an actuary. However, could I still be an analyst or actuary majoring in pure math and minoring in business? The reason I want to do this is because I'm not sure yet whether I want to work in business as an analyst/actuary or if I want to become a college math professor after getting a PhD (I know, long way away). Would pure math be the way to go, or could I still get a PhD in pure math if I major in applied math?</p>
<p>For those who have read my other posts, this isn’t the usual guy who posts from this account. This is a friend, I’m not ■■■■■■■■ because I know most of his posts are about environmental science or computer science lol.</p>
<p>I think they are somewhat exchangeable.</p>
<p>In many cases, the pure and applied math majors do not require that many courses, so it may be possible to take enough courses to fulfill both majors (though they may not be willing grant you both degrees for a “double major” in pure math and applied math).</p>
<p>For an actuarial career, any type of math major, supplemented with courses in statistics, economics, and finance, should be good preparation. See [Be</a> An Actuary - Preparing for an Actuarial Career While in College](<a href=“http://www.beanactuary.com/college/preparing.cfm]Be”>http://www.beanactuary.com/college/preparing.cfm) and [Validation</a> by Educational Experience](<a href=“http://www.soa.org/education/exam-req/edu-vee.aspx]Validation”>Validation by Educational Experience (VEE) | SOA) .</p>
<p>It’s much easier to go from pure math to applied math than vice versa.</p>
<p>If you are interested in actuarial science, add two statistics classes to your math major and you are good to go. Almost all “applied math” careers outside of the actuarial sciences require a graduate degree anyway, and grad schools in applied math are happy to accept pure math majors.</p>
<p>The converse is not true: pure math graduate programs don’t like applied math majors. In fact, there’s a strong correlation between the number of advanced pure math courses you take as an undergraduate and the selectivity of the graduate program that will accept you. Successful applicants to the top 10 programs usually take graduate courses as an undergraduate, while not taking the core courses in pure math is almost guaranteed to keep you out of the top 40.</p>
<p>Long story short: if I were you (or your friend :)), I would stay on track for pure math until grad school in pure math is out of the picture.</p>
<p>thanks a lot guys!</p>
<p>I don’t think it really matters. Don’t take business courses though. They’re a waste of time and money.</p>
<p>Sources: friend</p>