Senior year math major

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>Hi All, I have never been to this forum - nor any forum ever. My major, and possibly this university, is making me miserable. I don't know whether it is adjusting to the speed of the quarter system, or me not being cut out for being a math major, but I have been doing just awful. I am passing, but last quarter was the first time I had to drop a course because there was obviously no hope for me passing it, along with the fact that I had to get myself on anti-depressants because I was so confused about what to do that I would just lay around and sleep all day, which doesn't quite work when you are a math major (expected to be up all day [and night maybe] giving your life to your math homework). I guess over the past years I have just become interested in so many other things - aerospace, airplanes, flight, satallites, astronomy, then there are the things that seem to give value in life i feel stripped of: love, helping people, etc. since math is so disconnected from these things. I am losing the sense that it has a purpose at all. I am forced to take these required classes like abstract algebra and real analysis that are all proofs about random objects that seem to have no purpse. The most purpose I can find in it is a logical exercise, but when it comes to applicable skill, I feel like I am wasting time with this upper division math and don't know what to do since I am almost dnoe. I guess first of all, I should mention that I didn't realize what I was getting myself into it. I started with math and I was good at it, but I had never been that great at it (always had to work hard) and I thought if I was going to go into physics I would have to get better at math. So that was my plan - go to undergraduate school in applied math with physics concentration, go to graduate school in physics. Now I feel unprepared for graduate school in anything (there is no way I would go for math). If I was to go to grad school in what I wanted to do, I would be surrounded by people with 4 years of experience under their belt, I feel like I would drown. Now I see that more applicable things would have been a better choice: engineering of some kind. I have about 1 1/2 years left of school (maybe 2 since I can't handle a whole lot of units in the quarter system). </p>

<p>On a side, I'd really like to be an aviation major, and get my pilots license. But people laugh at me if I mention it, and it is really expensive.</p>

<p>I also would really like to do aerospace engineering, so I started to take some pre-requisite engineering courses like dynamics, and was planning on doing those while getting my bacholers, but still feel like I would be under prepared for graduate school.</p>

<p>Does anyone out there have experience transferring to a grad school in a different major? I am worried that if I finish my undergrad in math, all I will be able to ever get is this stupid bachelors in math I don't really want. I am only going to school of federal aid & loans, am already in a bit of debt, and am worried there won't be money for a second degree once I finish. </p>

<p>Anyone at all - please help me. I need help. I broke it down into a few options.</p>

<ol>
<li>Finish my math degree and pursue a degree in optical or aerospace engineering.</li>
<li>Finish my math degree and pursue graduate degree in physics</li>
<li>Start over - move to another city & go to a community college and do engineering courses or whatever major I choose. This could lead me into aviation or optics (two main interests)</li>
<li>Finish my math degree - and apply for a job that will pay for my other degree or masters degree. For example, try to do the academic-work study at JPL...some thing like that. Somewhere they don't mind training me for something I find interesting because I am a math major. I am interested in working with space, telescopes, satallites, aviation etc.</li>
</ol>

<p>help!!</p>

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<p>Another option - </p>

<ol>
<li>Switch universities to finish up the math degree (if it really is just the speed of the quarter system & the school)</li>
<li>Switch universities to major in engineering (Can’t switch to engineering at my school because 1. i don’t want to stay there longer and 2. engineering is impacted)</li>
</ol>

<p>and another interest is in photography, telescopes, aerial photography etc.</p>

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<p>Math is not stripped of love and helping people.</p>

<p>I’m a public health PhD student with a passion for eliminating health disparities and helping people get affordable, quality health care. I use math every day in my job, and will if I continue to be a researcher in this field. In fact, I wish I had minored in math in college - or at least finished the calculus sequence, because it’s essential to the statistical applications I use to model relationships. Social scientists use math every day. So do nurse researchers - not just academics, but nurse researchers who use medical knowledge to control infections in hospitals, for example, or analyze experimental procedures to see if they work. Operations research analysts use higher-level math in their jobs to make businesses run more smoothly. Actuaries use complicated risk models to set health insurance prices. If you’re interested in aviation and astronomy - astronomy uses a ton of math and meteorologists use a lot of math to determine weather patterns. Aviation uses analysis too.</p>

<p>There are a lot of fields for which a math degree is appropriate. Do some Googling and visit your career center. For example, if you are interested in airplanes and flight, a math major would enable you to enter the Air Force in a couple of different fields, like aircraft maintenance or combat systems - or the Navy, doing cryptography, intelligence, or information warfare. Cryptography/information warfare are highly technical and require strong math skills!</p>

<p>Don’t start over; that’s ridiculous. Finish your mathematics major. While you are still in school, take some classes in other fields that you feel will give you some technical skill or advantage - maybe some physics classes, astronomy, whatever. Then get a job! Spend some time working, and figure out what it really is you want to do. You have a lot of interests, and before you go to grad school you need to narrow down exactly what it is you are training for. You don’t want to run into something else and realize halfway through that actually you wanted to do a third thing; then you’ve wasted money.</p>

<p>If you’re a senior transferring might not be an option because most schools will take a maximum of 60 credits and require at least a year in residence, so you may lose some progress. Transferring to major in engineering may be an option, but that will likely lengthen your time in school since engineering often takes 5 years anyway, and you are already a bit behind.</p>

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<p>Relax. It is darkest before the dawn! Complete your math degree, and then apply for a commission in the United States Air Force. Your degree will automatically make you eligible for a commission. The Air Force does employ commissioned science officers, and you have the appetite for it already. They may even pay for the college debt you accrued for the math degree.</p>

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<p>I’ve come across wanting to switch my major heading into senior year as an applied math major. I think it’s best to just ride it out, completely throw your all into it, and get the heck out of university. I was thinking about switching to political science too.</p>

<p>I was thinking about going to graduate school for physics. Now I’m thinking I’ll just finish my minor in physics and become a patent lawyer. Math is becoming less enjoyable (especially because of Operations Research…if this is what I have to do in the real world…forget it), but I never expected it all to be interesting. Courses like upper-divison Differential Equations are REALLY interesting.</p>

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<p>Maybe if you weren’t clinically depressed at the moment, you’d be happier in your major. Depression can take on a life of its own sometimes.</p>

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<p>I get the impression that at most grad schools grades don’t really matter, but (depending on the school) you may have to pass qualifying exams. What counts is whether you can be a productive researcher, and a lot of times you can learn the necessary background on the job. So you wouldn’t necessarily drown, especially if you are smart enough to get decent grades in a math major. If you are worried, maybe take a physics minor or at least a few physics classes.</p>

<p>For admissions purposes grad schools don’t actually care about your preparation so much as your research experience. They want people who can publish for them, not necessarily people who know everything about physics.</p>

<p>I was a math major for three and a half years and quit partly for your reasons. Then I switched to computer science, took like four classes, and got into Stanford and CMU. I also have a friend who got into Harvard and Stanford for chemistry despite majoring in physics and biology. But we both had strong research experience, which is more important than having a good background.</p>

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<p>If you’re thinking about this why not just switch majors and stay an extra couple years?</p>