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Fun Things To Do With a Math Or Science Degree?
bxwatso writes "My niece just took the ACT and got a perfect score on the math section. 25 years ago, when I took the test, the kids who aced the math section were pretty special. Her score, combined with straight A's so far in high school, suggest to me that she might be able to go to a top university (MIT?) based on her math aptitude. The rub is that she doesn't like math or science, even though she finds them easy. She doesn't want to be an engineer or scientist. I thought the folks here would be a great group to ask: What are some creative, not too nerdy professions that nonetheless require a talent for math, engineering, or science?"
You could calculate how much it costs to fly to China or India, which is where you'll be going if you want a job outside of teaching.
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
Most prerequisites for medicine (or dentistry, veterinary medicine, or chiropractic school) are science classes. If she does well as math and science, she may way to consider those paths.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Plenty of people go to MIT and don't end up in "nerdy professions"...actually that's probably true for the majority of people. If she can make it into someplace like MIT, she should go regardless of her exact interests...they will change, and there are certainly more than enough opportunities to keep her occupied. Just look at the Media Lab site http://www.media.mit.edu/ for example.
-MIT '93
Check out marketing positions for the types of companies in the fields you have probably already identified as good prospects.
Public speaking, preparing/delivering glossy presentations, personal interactions with all sorts of people made possible by the ability to discuss product applications or service capabilities in finite technical detail. International travel on the company dime.
After all, if she is not designing or using the product she will only need a level of technical knowledge that is 'easy' for a person like her to grasp and the ability to have an intelligent conversation.
I have a cousin who does something along these lines. She parlayed her technical skills into a non-technical marketing position with sweet benefits and travel to sweet locales.
If she is interested in this field buy her Mitnick's books and make sure she is aware that social engineering is not just a code word for lying. And make sure she understands that marketing and sales are not the same thing! There are guerrilla marketing books that might catch her interest too, though i can't recall titles atm.
Most economist get their money by teaching and writing books, or put up a lot of speaking engagements. In that case you will need to go all the way to a PhD in Economics. A master's degree is not enough.
New Economic Perspectives
Forgot to add the homework assignment. Do your freakin' research before your choose your goal. You'd think that would be obvious, but it apparently isn't.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
You took the wrong courses - plenty of undergraduate econ classes require fairly advanced Math - especially the ones that necessary for being able to succeed in grad school.
The econ classes divide into two different types - 1) the crap where you talk about lines on graphs where the most complicated math involved is y=mx+b. 2) The hard stuff that is required to prepare you for grad school. Most people self-select into the easy stuff.
Here's an example of an undergrad course that most every grad school econ student should have completed in their undergrad work - http://www.washington.edu/students/crscat/econ.html
ECON 481 Introduction to Mathematical Statistics (5) NW
Probability, generating functions; the d-method, Jacobians, Bayes theorem; maximum likelihoods, Neyman-Pearson, efficiency, decision theory, regression, correlation, bivariate normal. Prerequisite: STAT/ECON 311; either MATH 136 or MATH 126 with either MATH 308 or MATH 309. Recommended: MATH 324. Offered: jointly with CS&SS/STAT 481; A.
Look at those pre-reqs:
Math 126/136 - 3rd quarter of calculus or honors 3rd quarter of calculus - Introduction to Taylor polynomials and Taylor series, vector geometry in three dimensions,introduction to multivariable differential calculus, double integrals in Cartesian and polar coordinates.
Math 308 - MATH 308 Matrix Algebra with Applications (3) NW
Systems of linear equations, vector spaces, matrices, subspaces, orthogonality, least squares, eigenvalues, eigenvectors, applications. For students in engineering, mathematics, and the sciences.
MATH 309 Linear Analysis (3) NW
First order systems of linear differential equations, Fourier series and partial differential equations, and the phase plane.
MATH 324 Advanced Multivariable Calculus I (3) NW
Topics include double and triple integrals, the chain rule, vector fields, line and surface integrals. Culminates in the theorems of Green and Stokes, along with the Divergence Theorem.
They don't even bother to list differential equations as a pre-req as it is pre-req for other classes listed above.
Many years ago, I took the above mentioned ECON 481 when I was a senior in college (thinking I wanted to go on to grad school). I was very good at math and science I had tested out of freshman year calculus via AP exams (5 on the Calc BC), and physics (5 on the Physics C w/ Caculus and Physics E&M exam), and went on to take second year physics and second and third year of math and done very well in all of them.
Even with all of that preparation when it came time to take ECON 481, it was a struggle - probably the hardest class I ever took.
Instead of asking what you have here, I suggest you ask your daughter what she'd /like/ to do
Excellent point — I myself was pressed into (natural) 'science' because math was easy to me, which in the long run (decades) turned out to be a major desaster that I am still trying to recover from.
CC.
TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
Absolutely amazing and fascinating work is happening in image processing, such as the extraction of incredible latent detail from vintage images and super-res enhancements from Voyager data (Ted Stryck ftw!) JPL needs you!
My sister was like that, but she didn't hate math... she just wanted a different way to use it. Now she's a structural engineer (type of civil engineer), and after designing for a few years she now works for a company that does consulting and construction monitoring for big companies like JP Morgan. She flies all over the country (including Hawaii) to monitor new condos and office buildings and things like that, as they are being built, and point out things that need to be corrected or done differently. She spends a lot of time traveling and talking to people as a professional, not "growing mushrooms" in a cubicle, as she used to say. It's a really dynamic and interesting job.
As a career scientist, I'm not willing to bash an advanced degree, but nor is it the end-all and be-all. A degree isn't worthless in terms of experience or education, and the experience definitely hones you as a person and a life-long learner, but it doesn't always translate to financial rewards. Some people have a hard time coping with that, because it is a big investment of time and sometimes money. It's really important to do something you love. She will find a way to use her talents in some field that she adores. Looking for a less boring field that still focuses on something she doesn't like is the wrong way to look at it. Find what you love, then bring your talents into it....
A degree in math opens the door to many other areas: computer science, any other science, teaching or management. It essentially provides the flexibility and ability to think abstractly. Doing mathematical research is only one option, the actual work can be very applied. A good math education teaches naturally how to understand a complex issue, reduce it to a model which can be solved. Starting with "hard science" makes other areas easier to understand. A good reading for a student pondering the question whether math is an option is Ian Stewart's book "Letters to a young Mathematician".