<p>“I’m worried, however, that someone who wants to do Engineering calculations will just get an Engineer of that degree and ignore a math major.” </p>
<p>I’m not certain I understand this but if a calculation involves electrical engineering for example, they will get an electrical engineer and sometimes a physics person especially if it involves electromagnetic fields.</p>
<p>I guess what I’m trying to say is, supposed I wanted a position as an Applied Mathematician: Would a degree in Pure Math be as useful as a degree in X Engineering in order to get such a job? Or if I took let’s say an engineering degree with a lot of applied math courses, I would be just as good if not better?</p>
<p>Is there such a position as an “Applied Mathematician?”</p>
<p>"I guess what I’m trying to say is, supposed I wanted a position as an Applied Mathematician: Would a degree in Pure Math be as useful as a degree in X Engineering in order to get such a job? Or if I took let’s say an engineering degree with a lot of applied math courses, I would be just as good if not better? "</p>
<p>Nobody where I work has the title “applied mathematician” Most more mathematical stuff which is what I do a lot, is done by physicists. A coworker who has a Ph.D. in applied math from Harvard does what I do.</p>
<p>When I say Applied Mathematician, I mean a math-heavy position. Whether it’d be in Engineering or in anything that requires a mathematician. Would an Engineering degree with several math courses be better than just majoring in Pure Math as far as job opportunities go? Or would even just the engineering degree be better than the Pure Math degree?</p>
<p>Yes an engineering degree would be better but if you want to be more math oriented, get a degree in physics.</p>
<p>So is there any point in obtaining, say, an Applied Math major attached with it, or a math minor, or maybe taking some Applied Math classes, or are even those pretty much not worth the money?</p>
<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I have BS degrees in chemical eng and another BS in applied math, plus a MS degree in electrical engineering and executive MBA.
I have been in hi tech industry for about 6.5 years so far.</p>
<p>The real life of engineer is different than what you learned from school. You may end up doing a lot of DOE and six sigma stuff in real life.</p>
<p>Based on what you said in your post, I highly recommend that you go for operation research or industrial engineering. I had studied operations and supply chain management from my emba class; and I also applied some of those concepts at my current job role too. I believe you will like it given that you dislike those tech stuff from the regular engineering courses. Hope it help. Afterall, you should go for the field that you are interested the most. Otherwise, it will be very painful. :)</p>
<p>Good luck with your school and your future career.</p>
<p>by the way, some schools have applied physics instead of engineering physics as the regular major, such as Cal Tech</p>
<p>Hey bubububu,</p>
<p>How many years extra did it take you to go to grad school for your Electrical Engineering MS after the BS in Applied Math and BS in Chem Engineering?</p>
<p>Also, are Chem Engineering courses anything like Gen Chem, O Chem, or Introduction to Materials?</p>
<p>No, chemical engineering is very different from the general chemistry courses.</p>
<p>to follow up, it really depends what you’re interested in:</p>
<p>if you love math and want to go to grad school for it, just major in pure mathematics</p>
<p>if you are drawn to the sciences – physics, engineering physics, and chem will all be excellent choices that will give you a variety of options</p>
<p>if you are interested in the business world, pair it up with economics for the ubiquitous yet highly versatile econ/math degree</p>
<p>if you like electronics/programming (you may not know it yet), definitely go for EE/CS. this will give you, arguably, the most options post graduation around and plenty of math intensive, yet highly applicable courses. take an honors intro programming course your first semester for sure.</p>
<p>applying math is really what technological innovation is all about. but to really develop an expertise in it, graduate school is usually necessary. if you want to work post-undergrad, i would choose a more specialized field. hope this helps and best of luck!</p>
<p>Hey bubububu, would you say the degree in Applied Math has helped you? I’m going to major in Chem E, but I have the opportunity to obtain an Applied Math major or graduate in 3 years, so I wanted to get in your opinion on it. Would you say it’s worth it to get it?</p>
<p>goofhead, it took my about 2 years to get my MS EE degree since I chose photonics as my specialty. If I chose telecom or electromagnetics, it might take me longer time.</p>
<p>Chem E is definitely better than Chem since you can make more $$.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Xav, If time let me go back, I would choose either physics or operations research instead of applied math.
:)</p>
<p>You need to apply manufacturing science if you wanna become a process engineer; or if you choose to work in the hi tech industry, you should have some background in device physics.</p>
<p>Really? No love for the applied math, or just no real benefit to having it?</p>
<p>Xav, I don’t see too much benefit out of it…</p>
<p>Operations research is under Math dept too, I would go for that one if I were you or you could go for physics.</p>
<p>Ah. Thanks for the advice. Do you think just graduating early(as opposed to getting a second major) is better in the long run? I’ve gotten a few opposing views on that, so I’m just curious as to yours.</p>
<p>Xav,</p>
<p>You can have your future company paid for your 2nd degree. I would suggest to get a MS degree or MBA instead of another BS degree. </p>
<p>There are lots of stuff that the school doesn’t teach you, and you have to get that skill from your job, such as DOE, statistical software and etc.</p>