switching out of engineering major to math major with business related minor

College Majors
1

<p>hey guys I'm gonna be a junior incoming fall and currently majoring in mechanical engineering.
I'm doing pretty bad with gpa around 2.6 and retaking 2 courses this summer (modern physics, and strength of material).
I feel like this is really not for me, so decided to pursue different path; math major and minor in business program.
I mean I like math(I can't go to sleep not until I finish every single problem).
but pursuing just math major seems to be limiting the job prospects, so I decided to try minors in business (which I had interests for a while)
people say this is a good approach (I hope).
I also plan to go to graduate school to pursue math/business in order to get higher chance
of getting a decent job.</p>

<p>here are my questions.</p>

<ol>
<li>what do you guys think about my plan?</li>
<li>do you need internships for math majors?</li>
<li>If my plan doesn't seem right(as economy is quite horrible these days), can you guys
provide any recommendations?</li>
</ol>

<p>thank you~!!</p>

2

<p>Is there a Math major that could prepare you specifically for Finance? Then you could use your Mathematics skills in practical business environment.</p>

3

<p>thank you for the reply,</p>

<p>I mean I researched a little but I could only find two types of math
applied math and just pure math.</p>

<p>applied math seems to be more going in the direction of programming, so pure math
seems to be for like others?</p>

4

<p>Pure math is basically abstract nonsense. (I am not poking fun at mathematicians here; I am a math grad student myself.) </p>

<p>Math is not at all useful by itself, but it can prepare you better for a variety of other careers you might be interested in. For example, engineers and computer scientists benefit directly from additional math courses. Some other careers paths (e.g. consulting, law school) praise the type of thinking that math majors learn in upper-level math courses, even though the subject matter is not at all relevant to the job at hand.</p>

<p>If you major in math, you probably want to do at least one of four things:

  • pursue in a double-major in something employable
  • pursue internships that will teach you employable skills outside of the classroom
  • pursue a graduate degree that will make you employable
  • graduate from a university that’s so prestigious (e.g. Princeton or Stanford) that your degree itself with open doors for you</p>
5

<p>Can you switch to industrial engineering? It seem to be very math based and not so much physics with better job chances.</p>

6

<p>Another vote for Industrial Engineering - you can certainly work with mathematics and have a business focus, and job opportunites are typically pretty good.</p>

7

<p>

Applied math is about using math for basically other purposes. Engineering and physics are both applied math in a way. Some applied mathematicians are working in finance, wall street, etc. Pure math is all about theories and proofs. Did you like the theory part of Calculus? Epsilon-delta, intermediate value theorem and all that? Or did you like actually USING calculus to find something? The problem at this point is that most of the math you have had (and liked?) was basically applied math, not pure theory.</p>

8

<p>whatever you major in, you need to be likable to get a job. that’s just the reality of things.</p>

<p>that said, STATISTICS. very high-paid, and not as chased after as IB or finance, because most people balk at crunching numbers all day.</p>