Popular Career Choices For Math Majors
Teaching
The teaching of mathematics at the K-12 level is a high-demand field and the need is expected to grow in the future. For explicit career information, visit the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics homepage.
Actuarial Science
Actuarial science takes mathematics and statistics and applies them to finance and insurance. Actuarial science includes a number of interrelating disciplines, including probability and statistics, finance, and economics. Check out the Be an Actuary website for more information.
Statistics
The proliferation of statistics in everything ranging from business to government has induced many organizations to seek math majors. Statisticians use surveys–for example, opinion polls–to predict the patterns of behavior of large groups based on relatively small samples. They ask questions such as "How can we be sure that what we predict from our small sample is true of the population being sampled?" Probability theory provides the theoretical foundation for statistics. For more information, visit the American Statistical Association webpage.
Computer Science
Computer science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their implementation and application in computer systems. Mathematicians, with their training in logical and precise thinking, are highly prized in this field. See the student section of the Association for Computing Machinery website for career advice.
Operations Research
Operations research is an interdisciplinary branch of mathematics which uses mathematical methods to arrive at optimal decisions to problems in maximizing or minimizing things like costs or profits. The eventual intention behind using Operations Research is to elicit a best possible solution to a problem mathematically, which improves or optimizes the performance of the system. The group INFORMS is the world's largest society devoted to operations research/management science.
Biomathematics
Mathematical biology or biomathematics is an interdisciplinary field of study. It models natural and biological processes using mathematical techniques and tools. Results have been applied to areas such as cellular neurobiology, epidemic modeling, and population genetics.
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of hiding information. Cryptography is considered to be a branch of both mathematics and computer science. Not just for spies anymore, cryptography applications include the security of ATM cards and computer passwords.
Data Science
Data scientists leverage data from business, health, government, and other applications to make decisions, often working closely with business and financial analysts, physicians, and economists as part of a team to improve outcomes in their given areas. Visit Discover Data Science to learn more.
Finance
Finance is a field that studies and addresses the ways in which individuals, businesses, and organizations raise, allocate, and use monetary resources over time, taking into account the risks entailed in their projects. Mathematicians can build models to help explain and predict the behavior of financial markets. Several schools offer Master's degrees in Financial Mathematics. A quick web search will take you to their web pages.
Learn more about careers in mathematics.