<p>I'm a senior in high school this year and until now i was thinking of getting a major in biochemistry or pharmacology because I'm pretty decent in science and the pharmacy industry is expanding greatly.</p>
<p>I'm personally much better at math and I enjoy it more than any other subject but everyone keeps telling me that a math major isn't as valuable as a science major.</p>
<p>Any advice? What careers can I get in to with a math major besides teaching. If you are a math major please let me know what you do for a living.</p>
<p>I am warning you: do not get a Biochemistry (or worse, Pharmacology) degree. It is 1 way track to McDonalds. What companies will hire a bachelors in biochemistry when they can hire a phd for the same money? there’s plenty of life sciences phds that can’t find jobs because there’s no market. look on careerbuilder, only 1000 biology jobs in the entire US, half of them need phds. you want to know what pharmaceuticals want? chemistry and chemical engineering. straight chemistry, no bio garbage. i worked in a pharmaceutical company, zero biology knowledge is required or even useful. my manager was a Phd in chemistry; my coworkers were all chemistry or chemical engineering majors. in fact, knowing biology may be harmful to your career in pharmaceutical industry because it will cloud your judgment. biochemistry will not give you the rigorous training in analytical techniques and organic synthesis necessary for success in pharmaceuticals.</p>
<p>math is far superior to biochemistry as a career. the most lucrative path in math is financial mathematics. go to wall street and cash in as a quant. otherwise just major in chemistry chemical engineering and work in pharmaceuticals.</p>
<p>Hopefully you are taking Calculus in high school for your senior year. Once you take calc (if it’s taught well) you should be able to see the real world applications of mathematics. Most real world mathematical analysis and applications (higher level analysis/applications) involves some form of Calculus.</p>
<p>Mathematics can lead to careers in almost any field; finance, economics, statistics, actuarial positions, engineering, computer science, etc. > which almost ANY industry/business uses these types of positions at one time or another.</p>
<p>btw I am currently taking AP calculus and so far I am doing exceptionally well (an average of 95% per test) so I think maybe the math direction may be better</p>
<p>but when I said I want a biochem degree I was planning on then going to pharmacy school and getting a pharm.D degree I wasn’t planning on stopping at a bachelors</p>
<p>You can get into pharmacy school with an Art History degree, or a Biochemistry degree, or a Chemical Engineering degree.</p>
<p>Two of them lead to McDonalds if you fail to get in. One doesn’t.</p>
<p>Pharmacist is only a tiny part of the pharmaceutical industry. The biggest part is the creation of drugs. That’s where chemists and chemical engineers come in. A pharmacist does not have the training required to create new medicines. Your salary will cap at 100,000… obviously that’s very wealthy already but nothing compared to the millions you could make as a chemist/engineer that sells a patent to a company or what you could make on wall street with a math degree.</p>
<p>On the other hand, someone could major in something they enjoy and then, as most college graduates do, get their non-burger flipping job based mainly on qualities beside what they majored in. Oh wait, I forgot that engineering students were licensed to talk down to everyone else - so sorry!</p>