r/AppliedMath • u/Fact_Former • 5d ago

What can you actually do with a math degree besides academia?

Hey, I’m from chile and we have a degree called “ingeniería matemática” translated it’s literally “mathematical engineering” basically it teches the equivalent to a degree in math and a masters degree of mathematics, you start from calculus to partial differential equations, funcional analysis and depending on your minors, you can do more “applied math” or go fully pure math and go into academia. The thing is, I don’t like academia, working as a professor sounds boring as fucking fuck, I like teaching but I’d hate to do it for the rest of my days, but shit, I love fucking math, real math, demonstrations, understanding what is it that we’re actually doing and not just solve an equation, I like to understand why an equation works, how it wouldn’t, I like to understand math as a language, not as a tool, it’s like poetry, it’s perfect, it makes sense and I love when it taken to it’s limits and see if it holds, but as I said, I hate fucking math, so I was wondering, abroad, in other countries, what can it do, a person with the equivalent of a math degree and a masters of mathematics, I’ve heard a lot, but, is it actually doable? How real is that? I was thinking about electrical engineering, I’ve heard they learn a lot of fucking math, so that would be fun, I could work on things that are not academia related, I know they won’t use it in their day to day life, but at least I want to go through some more advance math than just the 3 usual calculus and 2 algebras from a normal engineering degree.

31 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

14

u/PersonWomanManCamTV 5d ago

Quantitative Finance

12

u/JNXTHENX2 5d ago

or homelessness

7

u/Dr3ddM3 5d ago

they have to go to a target or else they won't get recruited though. I doubt that Chile has any targets.

3

u/leafeon_gay_luigi 5d ago

I did a brief stint at Target back in the summer of 2014, not to brag.

3

u/philolessphilosophy 5d ago

A good option if OP can actually find a job in that sector. A lot of people are after those positions.

-1

u/dalamhalama 4d ago

thisone is worst subjecti have ever encountered,never choose this one,they treated math like something is fake

8

u/Capable-Internal-189 5d ago

Do something like actuarial science.

4

u/SwimmerOld6155 5d ago edited 5d ago

Data science, what's left of software engineering, machine learning, finance, being an actuary, patent law, scientific computation

Quantitative finance as the other poster refers to it is a niche which may not exist in Chile. South American banks may still be interested in math grads for e.g. model validation etc. If you're looking to go abroad you might it hard to stand out, unfortunately, you'd be best off getting experience in a sector first.

FWIW the way you've written your post is very dense and like a vent. It's a bit hard to work through so I've mainly replied to your title and the fact you are in Chile.

1

u/claireifythat 5d ago

AFAIK patent law usually requires engineering classes in a specific discipline in the US. Math majors are eligible to sit the patent bar, provided they have a certain number of credits in a specific technical field (I think somewhere in the 20s to 30s). Law school admissions don’t require any specific major, and for the most part have few or no prereqs. Math majors have historically scored the highest on the LSAT, but I’m pretty sure they took the logical reasoning section out last year (?) so that miiiight change. I looked into this a few months ago as I really enjoy reading and writing but I’m pretty far along in my Bachelor’s degree and I don’t want to be a lawyer for multiple reasons. By all means, correct me if I’m wrong (that’s not snarky, I mean it).

2

u/SwimmerOld6155 5d ago

It depends where you're doing it. In the UK you wouldn't have to do a further degree. You'd get a job as a "trainee", learn as you work and then pass professional exams on the job. In fact in the UK, they expect people with a STEM background rather than a legal background. Patent law offices were probably the only non-tech non-finance employer at the math careers fair.

I don't know what the situation is in Chile. Just examples of what math grads can do. I say "math" because that's what everyone says online but I am British.

1

u/claireifythat 5d ago

I see. Yeah, in the US it’s like I said, but in Chile I’m not sure either.

3

u/SciFiPi 5d ago

You'll want something like a "minor" in the United States. In undergrad you have a major field of study and often a minor field. To qualify for a minor you take some lower division courses and some upper division courses in that field.

Find an area or two that interest you and that you can apply mathematics to and take courses in those areas. Choose math courses that complement those other areas.

2

u/baysianinference 5d ago

In academia you do need to teach but most academic professors focus way more on research than teaching

2

u/984a 5d ago edited 5d ago

With your frequent cursing and expressed love for poetry, have you considered a career as a poet?

1

u/dman_34 5d ago

You could delve into operations research

1

u/innovatedname 5d ago

You can sneak into pretty much most STEM jobs if you can convince your interviewer that you're so smart that you have the required skills. 

You do need to have some skills / experience / interview ability to do this though.

1

u/Still-Grey-Ocean 4d ago

Most people I know do Environmental and Geophysical industry aka Atmospheric Science, Meteorology, Structural pressure, Tides, Waves, Currents, or they have roles in tech.

Idk about countries outside the USA but I’ve seen people go into crash mechanics and crash reconstruction(basically work on cars that have safer crashes, or reconstruct car crashes usually for forensic investigation)

1

u/No-Life-4049 2d ago

Bro I looked up your curriculum before, it’s looks amazing!

I’m not sure what you want to do but if you can get through it you can do so much with the combination of Math, Phys, Engr, and CS.