<p>I hear very little about math majors compared to some of the other lucrative majors such as Finance, Engineering, or Computer Sciences. Ive got a bit of time left to decide a major and I would like to hear some of the possibilities that a UMich Math major provides to graduates. The math departments career section on UMich,edu is not nearly as aesthetically pleasing (not that this matters much) or as helpful as the Business School and COE's career pages.</p>
<p>Would some math majors allow me to have a wide variety of possible jobs depending on what I do in grad school? Is it possible to get into Finance with only an undergraduate degree in mathematics and no MBA, I was thinking job prospects right out of school and internships while in school, does the math college place well into these internships?</p>
<p>I have wondered the SAME exact thing, I was looking into math as another option if Ross didn’t work out or something, but I also enjoy math a lot too so I wouldn’t mind it.</p>
<p>Cant seem to figure out how to edit but I just wanted to point out that I didnt mean “math college” but math department. </p>
<p>I can’t find it, but there’s a post on this a few pages back. I think the general consensus was that you still have great job opportunities, especially in consulting, and lots of overlap with Ross. </p>
<p>are you solely interested in financial math? because math is not a common 2nd choice for students interested in ross. there are plenty of internship/full-time opportunities for math students. your placement is primarily based on your own abilities – it won’t be limited by majoring in math. </p>
<p>Right now (thank god I still have some time to choose) im interested in Ross, mainly finance, Mathematics, and possibly computer science/engineering. Finance is a interest of mine and provides solid career opportunities however it can be exhausting. Engineering I originally had as my first interest but once I really stopped and had a long thought about it I realized I don’t really have any passion whatsoever for most of the majors and I was really only interested in something like an Aerospace major which I feel would be silly to put so much time and effort into such a difficult major if I’m not 100% on board with the career opportunities and I thoroughly enjoy the subject. When it comes to computer science recently ive realized that I also dont possess any of the passion and I would be consistently beat out by kids who really love what they do as you often hear about with jobs such as programmers and software developers and whatnot. Math has always been my strongest subject and I figure it leaves me with tons of job opportunities, I would be able to still go into some Finance roles down the line especially if I were to do something with Finance in grad school if I choose that path. </p>
<p>I plan on applying to Ross after Freshman year which is a good incentive to keep my grades up in my courses. Ive heard from a few people that for Ross classes such as economics and calculus are very important when applying which I think is wonderful because while trying to gain admittance to Ross if I have any last minute regrets I would still be in a very strong place to continue on with a math major and maybe even something in the CoE.</p>
<p>Edit: Also I know this isnt a wise choice but I wont lie I am very interested in the total compensation that is usually offered for graduates in these majors. Luckily all of my interests have some of the more competitive job offers I think so salary is generally equal. I just dont want to be limited further down the line by my major that I choose at 18-19 years old.</p>
<p>We would get along well lol, I have gone through the same thought process even with engineering and everything.</p>
<p>I will be attending in Umich in the fall in LSA but believe it or not I am still waiting to hear from Ross about preferred admission…</p>
<p>Computer science >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> math. I advise you to seriously reconsider this. Math majors go into academia more often than not. Stats prob has more practicality than math. But still, CS would be what I’d do out of those three choices.</p>
<p>Yeah I have zero interest of receiving a PhD which isnt exactly the best mindset to have when going into math I feel. What are the job opportunities like for CS majors, I would really like to live in the NY area and dont have much interest in the bay area however I would consider moving farther away from home after a few years I just would really like a job in Manhattan which is why Wall Street appeals to me so much.</p>
<p>SupremeStudent I feel like a lot of us are having these same thought processes which may be why Ross and CoE are so difficult to get into! I keep telling myself I have two years to decide what I want to major in but I know that isnt the case with Ross since its a 3 year program and im not to sure on the CoE.</p>
<p>It’s one of the better majors in LSA because a lot of the flyers for company visits on North Campus say Physics and Math majors are welcomed. Plus, it’s something that requires a high amount of analytical work. Still you don’t have a career center. You can sneak into the COE and Informatics(still better than the standard careercenter) if you also declare for Computer Science or Data Mining Informatics, then undeclare later. Because then </p>
<p>I know of an international student who is working for Goldman Sachs as a consultant in the states. </p>
<p>Bit ignorant when it comes to this but may I ask what is it that a consultant does that requires such a quantitative background? </p>
<p>I should probably add that recently ive really become quite interested in Sales and Trading, mostly the buy side of things.</p>
<p>Bearcats might be a good person to ask, I don’t know much about these things myself. It’s my impression that none of these sorts of things are really math. You’re not going to write a proof in your work or anything like that. It’s just that they know the math major will have good general analytical skills, so they’ll be understand what needs to be understood. I’d wait for someone else’s response though, don’t rely on mine. </p>
<p>If you want wide job prospects or are interested in finance, I would advice against math, especially pure math. </p>
<p>Let’s say we arbitrarily split the finance world into two parts: non-quant and quant. Math is essentially useless in the former, which includes your traditional investment banking and fundamental equity research type of gigs. I wouldn’t bother touching on these jobs. Of course you can get these jobs with a math degree, but it wouldn’t be the reason you get these jobs.</p>
<p>Within the quant space, the only people hired who are doing the real theoretical stuff are the all phds, and even then most of them are physics or applied math phds. When people talk about “theoretical stuff” in finance, it is still very applied based. It’s just more theoretical than the rest of the stuff. Financial institutions aren’t universities/research labs. They don’t pay people to sit around and dream about useless (read: non-money making) theories.
Outside of the pure quants, you have pseudo quants, which is everyone else, people like me. People without phd who are hired for being generally quantitatively minded, can code a little when needed to backtest thesis/investment strategy, know enough statistical concept to analyze a dataset and form a thesis; people who know enough about basic calculus who understands how DiffEqs work and can arrive at a price of a structured product to quote the client given the right tools. A more applied based major like stats/engineering/computer science are better for psuedo quants, but again, a math degree wouldn’t preclude you from these jobs, but you are not going to be sought out by employers.</p>
<p>tl;dr version: your math major is not going to hinder you, but it’s also not going to help you for your goals.</p>
<p>Thanks for a great reply bearcats. I guess ill just have to wait and see and get some help from the academic advisers and such at Michigan. I here many people change their major over the course of their studies at least once.</p>
<p>Would you say for most types of finance positions excluding Investment Banking (not much interest) that a Finance major would be the best bet? Besides the fact that transferring into Ross is not guaranteed I feel like finance may limit my job opportunities a bit.</p>
<p>How difficult is it to transfer to the CoE?
Thanks again</p>
<p>There is no “finance” major at Umich only a BBA from Ross, so it won’t narrow your opportunities only to finance. I am incoming freshman (still waiting to hear from ross) so idk much but I suppose it depends on what classes you choose to take/focus on the most.</p>
<p>There is an applied math degree called Financial Math which is highly quantitative and probably closer to Financial Engineering.</p>
<p>Short answer: unless you truly love math and want to be a quant drone, it’s not worth it. If you want to get into financial services/ibanking, Ross is the way to go. </p>
<p>Alrighty, you guys are so helpful. Last question I promise!! Any tips you would give to an incoming Freshman with about 20 AP credits when applying to Ross? Im planning on rushing a fraternity first semester so I hear that can be time consuming. I think ive read on here somewhere that having strong grades in classes such as Calculus and Economics is helpful?</p>
<p>why not do financial math? it combines the two things you love!</p>