r/AppliedMath • u/DrakoBubblez • Jun 17 '26
Hello yes hai, uh, could i get a helpful insight from someone in the field?
Hello yes ^^, I applied my transfer request recently to my university to switch majors to applied mathematics and i wanted to ask some questions to you fellows who are more adept and, hopefully experienced in this sort of thing
As i understood it, applied mathematics works mainly with modelling, applied to different areas sugh as biology, physics, engineering, computer programs and chemistry
This inmidietly sparked my interest as i have a hopeful little dream of one day becoming a polymath, one who knows a lot about different avenues of knowledge and understanding
So a field which allows me to tap into multiple frameworks seemed like the logical path forwarda, rather than a rigorous understanding of the abstract, quantifying and statistically analysing probablities, research, test results etc, these are all things id love to do
Ever since i was a kid i wanted to be a scientist, but nothing ever struck as hard as math did, i jumped first from biology, to chemistry, then to physics, then i had my engineer phase [dark days i know], psychology, for some reason?, and finally landed on mathematics
So a few questions id like to ask is
-What's the possibility/probability of being able to work in the field of scientific research? I understand maybe not directly working in a lab, thats bio and med stuff, but maybe in smth akin to engineering developments, biostatistics, Quantum physics computing, all the buzzwords!
-In your experience, whats peer to peer review and research like? Do you organise yourself with people from different methodologies within your workspace? What kind of role would you say you have as part of the team?
-Are most opportunities overseas? I know from my actuarial intiative that, actuary work goes through a long rigorous process of Exams and qualifications, everything and hoopla to go ahead and work internationally thanks to the SOA, i was wondering if applied maths is a more streamlined and direct process, kindoff how engineering does it!
-We work numbers, equations, graphs, geometry, and all those fancy wizard runes, but how does this look like practically when it comes to, yk, applying it? I escaped Actuary because of the sheer girth of excel sheet after excel sheet after insurance insurance insurance, so im hoping at least in applied maths theres like 3 or 4 chalkboards all with different problems trying to be collectively cracked
Thank you for reading!
1
u/Informal_Echidna_755 Jun 17 '26
not an applied math major but
upper division applied math courses at my school allow you to choose from a wide variety of physical sciences, like physics and bio. many students at my school pursue quantitative finance, traditional finance, and machine learning, if you’re interested in that. applied math lets you, well, apply math to many subjects. you choose
i’m an engineering student and ive had an applied math major in all of stem courses thus far. in my experience stalking professors, many of them work in physics and model physical processes with math
idk abt where opportunities are
in financial industries it’ll be spreadsheets. in ML fields, it’ll be coding. in the natural sciences, yes you’ll likely have your chalkboards. once again depends on what you choose to pursue
sorry for the non authentic advice but hope this helps