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Division of Natural Sciences & MathematicsDepartment of Mathematics

Degree Programs

Degree Programs

Why major in math?

First of all, you like it and/or you're good at it. Do you really need another reason? If you need a little more convincing, read on.

Professional graduate schools (business, law, medicine) think it's a great major because they realize that studying mathematics develops analytical skills and the ability to work in a problem solving environment; these are skills and experience which rank high on their list of assets.

Jobs in the private sector abound; careers where a mathematics major is particularly well suited include:
  • Actuarial Science
  • Computer analyst or programmer
  • Cryptographer
  • Economist
  • Elementary or secondary school teaching, college professor
  • Engineering analyst
  • Information scientist
  • Marketing research analyst
  • Mathematician
  • Meteorologist
  • Numerical analyst
  • Operations research analyst
  • Statistician
  • Systems analyst

Whether you're interested in developing models and interpreting their results, or are interested in developing efficient algorithms to expedite known processes, mathematics and computer science are the tools of choice.

Models are needed to investigate air flow across the surface of aircraft wings, chemical and biological processes, astronomical trajectories and urban development. These models need to be designed, created, the data from them collected and analyzed, conclusions drawn and predictions made from them.

Math and Top Jobs

In the recent book The Jobs Rated Almanac author Les Krantz ranks 250 jobs according to six criteria: income, stress, physical demands, potential growth, job security and work environment. He obtained his data from the government, trade groups and telephone surveys. The to ten jobs according to Krantz are:

  1. Web site manager
  2. Actuary
  3. Computer systems analyst
  4. Software engineer
  5. Mathematician
  6. Computer programmer
  7. Accountant
  8. Industrial engineer
  9. Hospital administrator
  10. Web developer

Note that the jobs rated higher than Mathematician also involve significant mathematical reasoning and knowledge.

Links to jobs for math majors

Here are various links to nonacademic job opportunities for mathematics majors.