<p>Exactly, what can I expect if I decide to major in math? Just write it out: it can be classes, internships, potential careers etc.</p>
<p>Junior/senior level math courses tend to be theory and proof oriented, more so in pure math. PhD study in math will involve proving new theorems.</p>
<p>Common career directions for math majors include finance, computers, and teaching. Obviously, appropriate elective choices and/or post-bachelor’s study would apply to each direction.</p>
<p>Will I be taking all levels of math again, for example, geometry, algebra and calculus or if I want to emphasize on a specific branch, like finance will I take math classes that actually connect to that particular area of study?</p>
<p>Many of the math topics you have seen in high school and the lower division college math courses will reappear in upper division college math courses as you prove them (e.g. in real analysis, you will be writing proofs for calculus theorems).</p>
<p>But the options you have in pure and applied math do determine which upper division college math courses you will take as within-major electives. You can check the math department web sites of various universities to get an idea of what types of courses are suggested for the various options.</p>
<p>Just from my experiences (CS major required to take some upper div math classes), I’ve taken upper div Euclidean geometry and a proof-based linear algebra class. I’m not sure if the latter is what you mean by algebra…if you mean high school algebra type material, I haven’t had to take anything involving that. As a math major you likely would take an algebra class along the lines of what ucbalumnus said. As far as the geometry class, in reality it was more accurately summarized as “a couple weeks reviewing high school geometry, then spend the rest of the quarter discussing other geometries”. YMMV depending on the school, of course.</p>
<p>Regardless, upper division math is much different from lower division math because of how proof-oriented it is. You won’t really know if it’s for you or not until you’ve taken one of those theoretical math classes. As ucbalumnus has already said, the specific classes you take would depend on your emphasis.</p>
<p>Here are example lists of courses for various types of math majors:</p>
<ul>
<li>Pure math: <a href=“Course Requirements: Pure Mathematics | Department of Mathematics at University of California Berkeley”>Course Requirements: Pure Mathematics | Department of Mathematics at University of California Berkeley;
<li>Applied math (various areas of application): <a href=“Course Requirements: Applied Mathematics | Department of Mathematics at University of California Berkeley”>Course Requirements: Applied Mathematics | Department of Mathematics at University of California Berkeley;
<li>Math for HS teaching: <a href=“Course Requirements: Major with a Teaching Concentration | Department of Mathematics at University of California Berkeley”>Course Requirements: Major with a Teaching Concentration | Department of Mathematics at University of California Berkeley;
</ul>
<p>I have a BS in Math so maybe I can help. My course requirements under math major is all of Calculus I-IV (it was a quarter course, semester course might be different), about 5 upper math division courses, one computer programming language, a technical writing course; required elective courses from pure science, math, or engineering courses (I elected 4 physics courses and 2 chemistry course since I transferred from physics major); and then all the courses your college/university wants all students to take to graduate, like Physical Education, History, Speech, English, Political Science, etc. With internships, you may have to take a college course for that to make you interned with a company. I don’t remember my college having any internship courses in math. After earning a bachelor in math, you have the option to be a teacher in kindergarten to high school. There may be government or private companies for math graduates, but very rare for only a bachelor degree. When you get a master in math, you can teach in community colleges also. After you get your PhD in math, you can be a professor in a university and you may find some jobs in the government or private sector, depending on your specialty. In summary, there are not a lot of visible career options for math majors other than education. And since there are not a lot of math majors, you can easily get a job teaching high school math or even calculus to advanced students.</p>
<p>@PhantomVirgo You said, “You won’t really know if it’s for you or not until you’ve taken one of those theoretical math classes.” Does that mean that I will have to wait until I am in upper division math classes to see if a math major is the correct major for me? </p>
<p>@mathbscs From your name I see that you have a BS in Computer Science? So by majoring in math you can become an engineer without having to take the “engineering” major route? Also, you said, " After earning a bachelor in math, you have the option to be a teacher in kindergarten to high school." Do you know if this applies to other subjects, for example, science majors or English majors? Lastly do you happen to know about the subsequent work I would have to do to earn a teaching credential in math?</p>
<p>My BS is in Math. My current major is CS. Employers will not hire you as an engineer unless you already know your stuff. If they hire you as a software engineer, that means you already know how to write programs in C++ or whatever language. If your major is CS and your minor is math, employers will like that but if your major is math and your minor is CS, they will take those who major in CS before you. As far high school teaching goes, the shortage of qualified teachers are in math, science, and special education. If you major in these areas, you will have no competition because of the shortage. For subjects without shortage, you will have competition from other teaching applicants. As as community college teaching goes, some subject areas require doctor’s degree because there are many applicants, examples are English and other liberal arts degree. Math and other science subjects doesn’t have a lot of applicants for teaching, so they may hire masters degree for community college. As far as teaching credential goes, you might take one year in college after math, unless your math degree is in Secondary Teaching. Some college have that option.</p>
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<p>If your school offers honors lower division math courses, or a proof techniques type of course to prepare students for upper division math courses, those courses can give you an idea of what upper division math courses may be like.</p>
<p>I’ll paraphrase the explanation that a math major acquaintance of mine gave me when I was asking her about upper division math classes: Think of lower division math as being taught the product of mathematics and how to use it; upper division math is when you get to the actual mathematics behind what you’ve been taught. From the classes I’ve taken, it’s pretty accurate.</p>