<p>I know it changes between schools, but in general, what courses are absolute must-knows for pure and applied mathematics for undergrads? I have been looking at programs on my own, and I have some rough lists (below), but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything.</p>
<p>I suggest you major in your field of interet and minor in math. Those abstract courses are not necessary and won’t help your job prospects.</p>
<p>Math majors have very poor job opportunities as well as high unemployment rates. If you don’t want to waste your money on a junk degree, go for an engineering degree.</p>
<p>I’ve basically heard “Don’t major in ________” about every single major, even some engineering degrees. At this point, I’m just done listening to anything anyone says on here. I’ve heard science degrees are worthless more than I’ve heard art history degrees are worthless. And now mathematics is a “junk degree”?</p>
<p>As much as I hate to say it, I agree with csh123. You absolutely do not want to study just math by itself. </p>
<p>I was a pure math major who happened to pick up a physics minor along way. The past three summers I haven’t been able to find a summer internship. I just didn’t have any marketable skills that employers were interested in. I decided to spend an extra year and pick up a computer engineering double major and just by taking courses in c and data structures I was able to get multiple interviews for internships this summer. </p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with wanting to study math. Its very interesting. Just take as many cs courses as you can along the way. Taking physics courses won’t really help you all that much. Econ may possibly help, although, I have friend who is graduating this year, econ and math double major, and he is having a tough time finding a job. CS is honestly the best bet. </p>
<p>Even if you want to go to grad school for math and don’t plan on getting a job right after undergrad, I would take cs courses anyway because its always good to have a backup plan just incase grad school doesn’t work out for some reason.</p>
<p>No. They are just majors where it is relatively easy to find a job. If you study pure math by itself and nothing else you just aren’t going to find a job. Very few employers, if any, are going to hire you because of your knowledge of topology or abstract algebra. </p>
<p>I don’t regret majoring in math at all. In fact, I miss taking math classes, since I am done with the math major and need to focus on engineering. I plan on going to grad school for math. Its just that now, I have options. If I go to grad school and drop out, I have engineering to fall back on.</p>
<p>Linear algebra, as someone else mentioned. Don’t listen to those who say “don’t do major x”. They’re short-sighted. My brother did a major and then a master’s in philosophy, he had no trouble finding jobs (though he did have to relocate a couple of times for a while). He’s now starting his own business on the side, because he found a demand for something that wasn’t being addressed adequately…</p>
<p>That said, as I’ve mentioned in other threads, the warnings about taking only pure math courses are correct, few people care about those skills. Your applied math courses will be more useful in that regard. But that doesn’t mean you should avoid pure math. It just means you should complement it with a healthy dose of applied courses. Also, take at least 2 courses in computer science (most math programs nowadays require it anyway), your basic programming one and one on analysis of algorithms. </p>
<p>I’ve said it numerous times, what one gets with a math major is problem solving skills and the ability to think abstractly. It’s not a job specific training but it’s useful in a wide area of fields, so the job opportunities are everywhere, though few ads ask for “mathematicians”. If you can model things mathematically and analyze data, there’s something for you out there, you just need to know what to look for and how to present yourself to different employers.</p>
<p>Typically, pure and applied math major degree programs do not have huge amounts of required courses (and many students majoring in math skip some of the lower division courses anyway). So that leaves plenty of schedule space to take job and career enhancing courses like statistics, economics, computer science, etc…</p>
<p>Most pure and applied math programs will have the following common courses:</p>
<p>Calculus I
Calculus II
Calculus III (also called multivariable calculus)
Linear Algebra
Differential Equations
Analysis I/Real Analysis I
Abstract Algebra I</p>
<p>After that, one tailors their emphasis based on math electives (required or free).</p>
<p>Pure Math majors will probably have to take the sequels to Analysis and Algebra (Real Analysis II and Abstract Algebra II) and probably Topology and Number Theory.</p>
<p>Applied Math majors will take courses like Numerical Whatever, Combinatorics, Graph Theory, Operations Research/Optimization and selected Engineering and Computer Science courses.</p>
<p>Sorry, I also want to ask about this topic. My college offers applied math science too. BUt I also have a hard time to decide on pure math going with econs or applied math going with econs because I want to work in econs/finance field, but applied math courses here in my college offer a lot of chemistry and physics other than math, CS. I don;t know if chemistry and physics are going to apply for my economics. </p>
<p>A math major is also good for professional grad schools in business and law. Agree re taking a few CS classes and combining math with a science minor</p>
<p>These studies both disprove the idea that pure math is a bad major for finding jobs. There other studies that show the same thing, but TBH I don’t feel like finding them right now - do the research if you don’t believe me. Math is a very good degree in terms of earning potential and job prospects. It’s not up there with engineering or computer science, of course, but it beats out the majority of other things you can major in.</p>
<p>To answer the original question: Most pure math programs will require two semesters of algebra, two of analysis, and at least one of linear algebra and topology. A few technical electives will round out the curriculum. Not as sure about applied, but your list looks good.</p>
<p>I am/have to take these. I have a good balance of pure and applied, though. I am taking Operations Research right now which seems very useful to the real world.</p>