<p>As I get ready to choose classes for my sophomore year, I'm facing a difficult decision. All along I've wanted to major in math and one of the sciences, with the goal of going to grad school and eventually either doing scientific research or being a math prof. But it sounds according to CCers like it's extremely hard to make it in either of those fields. As a result I've been thinking about switching to engineering. I think it's something I'd be good at and would find interesting enough, but I can't see myself enjoying it the same way I enjoy pure math and science: I like thinking about abstract and theoretical matters, not solving practical problems. Nonetheless, I want to make a decent living after I graduate, so I seem to be left with a choice between pursuing what I love and pursuing something more practical. Can anyone who's faced a decision like this offer some insight? Any suggestions? Which route is more likely to contribute to my long-term happiness?</p>
<p>If math is your main passion, you can take all of the pure math courses and still have room left over to add some applied courses like computer science, economics, statistics, etc. to give you some additional job and career options.</p>
<p>Which sciences in particular are you interested in? Be aware that biology and chemistry have significantly worse job and career prospects compared to other sciences and (applied) math.</p>
<p>I faced a similar question almost 40 years ago. I loved math, and didn’t want to teach and was not equipped to be a genius. I decided I needed to combine math with something practical, and without ever having seen a computer, decided to do CS. </p>
<p>Like pure math, software engineering, puts you in a world of concepts. I’ve enjoyed my career. The one down side, is I’ve pretty much forgotten all of the theoretical math I learned in college.</p>
<p>See my post at <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/12297888-post48.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/12297888-post48.html</a> for some ‘guidelines’ on choosing a major.</p>
<p>Major in engineering, and choose pure math/science as your minor.</p>
<p>I faced the same dilemma and found a niche in the opposite direction that somewhat combines the two: electromagnetic theory (EE with a math minor). You may be able to find your own niche like RF, communication systems, nanomaterials.</p>
<p>Think about what you would like to be doing in 20 years, then come up with the plan to get there.</p>
<p>Chemistry is the science I’m most interested in (thought I wanted to do physics, then discovered I really don’t enjoy it). Since the job market for chemists is poor, I’m thinking of doing chemical engineering, but I don’t know if enjoying pure chemistry guarantees that I’ll enjoy chemical engineering.</p>
<p>The other route I’ve thought of taking is pairing math with CS or econ, as a number of posters have suggested, which would allow me to keep the math major that I’m reluctant to give up. The difficulty there is that, though I don’t have much experience in either subject, I don’t envision myself finding CS/econ particularly appealing. From a career standpoint, I see myself enjoying a career related to the sciences more than a career in business or programming.</p>
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<p>Well, what I’d most like to be doing in 20 years is biochemical research or mathematical research, but is it safe to bank on jobs being available in those fields?</p>
<p>Major in what you love, but tack on ten classes or so in something practical, like a minor in CS or EE. If your university doesn’t have such a minor, it shouldn’t be hard to make one up for yourself.</p>
<p>major in chemical engineering because like you said chemistry majors don’t get very good jobs in comparison</p>
<p>If you like chemistry do chemistry, while chemical engineering and chemistry do have some overlap the two fields are actual quite different in content and motivation.</p>
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<p>haha, so what other science majors (Not counting Computer Science) provide a better career prospects besides Physics? Not that bio and chem have good job markets.</p>
<p>Just go with Chemical Engineering.</p>
<p>Chemical Engineering=The practice of doing for a profit what a chemist does for fun.</p>
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<p>These statements seem a bit contradictory…</p>
<p>^Actually what viciouspoultry said is true since the two majors teach different skill sets. What I meant was that ChemE has higher average starting salary, not the nature of the jobs are similar.</p>
<p>With that being said, a ChemE graduate can get a job that requires B.S Chemistry and sometimes do.</p>
<p>Chemical engineering is about designing chemical process and scaling up chemical discoveries. Your job as a chemical engineer typically design chemical reactors, analyze process conditions in order to limit waste both in material and energy as well as fix any major safety issues within a chemical plant. </p>
<p>Chemistry on the other hand is a very broad major where you can do everything from synthesis of chemical compounds to computational analysis of chemical bonds and interactions.</p>
<p>The simplified version of how a chemist and a chemical engineer interact is a chemist discovers something in his lab and a chemical engineer finds ways to scale it up so it can reach a mass market in a safely and as cheap as possible. Once again this is simplified as a chemical engineer could make a discovery as well, or a chemist could determine how to scale something that something up but usually that’s how to distinguish the two majors.</p>
<p>^^^^ good summary</p>
<p>don’t forget that a Chemical Engineering can also go into the process development and Research area that is an area that requires both of the skills you mentioned above.</p>
<p>The deciding factor here needs to be whether or not you want to go to graduate school. If decide to study math then you absolutely must go to graduate school for a PhD. Or go for a Masters in an engineering field. Otherwise you will basically be worse off than if you majored in something else. In particular,you wont be eligible to work engineering jobs because they typically require accredited engineering degrees (math may or may not be).</p>
<p>Graduate degrees in engineering fields are typically not necessary.</p>
<p>Jobs are available doing applied mathematical research.<br>
I hear bad things about biochem.</p>
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<p>Thanks for the input. A couple questions:</p>
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<li>Can you suggest any good way for me to predict whether grad school would be a good choice for me? I find the subjects interesting right now and generally enjoy learning, but it’s difficult to guess whether that’ll hold true five, six, seven years from now.</li>
<li>Do the benefits of getting a PhD offset giving up six years of a career?</li>
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<p>With an undergrad degree or a PhD?</p>
<p>1) There is no way to predict, if you find yourself in love (for lack of a better term) with a particular subject or your major and want to learn more about it then just the basics laid out in class then grad school is probably a good option for you.</p>
<p>2) It depends, if you really like a subject or a particular area of a subject and see yourself wanting to concentrate on that and nothing else then a PhD will likely offset six years of a career as you will find yourself doing something you love. If you have no particular interest than a PhD is sort of pointless.</p>
<p>Since you say you like chemistry, major in chemical engineering. You learn more chemistry than if you actually majored in chemistry.</p>
<p>Everything important in chemistry is required in the chemical engineering program. In my school, ChemE and Chem both take 3 years of chemistry: general, organic, physical, and the same physics/math prereqs. Where they diverge is year 3/4:</p>
<p>Chem takes theoretical inorganic chemistry, biochemistry, 1 class in instrument principles, 2 labs in instrumental analysis, and 5 more approved electives. All these are ChemE elective, but on the other hand, all ChemE classes count as Chemistry electives.</p>
<p>The theoretical inorganic class is totally useless and are based around endlessly repeating molecular orbital diagrams, character tables and memorizing group theory. The biochemistry class is also useless arrow pushing for 11 weeks.</p>
<p>ChemE takes 2 lower division courses in thermo, then for upper have fluid mechanics, heat/mass transfer, reaction kinetics, process dynamics, separations, 2 combined thermofluids/separations/process labs and 4 classes of elective.</p>
<p>I’ve learned far more about chemistry in my ChemE thermo and reaction kinetics classes than I have in any non-core Chemistry class.</p>
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<p>What didn’t you enjoy about physics? Physics would be a natural choice for someone who is interested in mathematics and theory. The other sciences are more empirical.</p>
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<p>Some practical engineering problems require a fair amount of theory in order to understand and solve, more theory than some branches of pure sciences. </p>
<p>I may be wrong about this because I don’t know that much about either area, but for example, doing research in biochemistry is much more empirical than designing an antenna.</p>