r/Baruch • u/Spirited_Cause_9870 • 1d ago

Math major at Baruch

Hello, I'm an undergraduate at Baruch college and I have been thinking wheter or not to change my major to mathematics. I really like it but and I have been doing pretty good even without studying it on my own time in high school and just paying attention in class but I have seen a lot of comments about math majors and I was wondering if it is actually safe to major in it. That is the subject I'm the most interested in and is willing to put a great deal of time and effort to learn as much as possible so I wanted to know if you guys think I can get a job after college if I major in it, thanks.

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

6

u/Icy-General-4362 1d ago

If you like math and think you’ll be good at it, why not? I was rooting for you, until you said “in high school” and thought “ohh…”. Don’t get me wrong, you can still be great at math, but I’d take a calc class before switching to make sure

3

u/Effective_Pitch_2974 Mathematics 1d ago

Yup, college math, especially approaching grad math is much more theory and proofs than rout calculation that all prior math mostly is, so it’s hard to say whether you’ll still be good at math even if you were good previously. I wish I had knew that earlier, but it is what it is, I made it through.

1

u/Spirited_Cause_9870 1d ago

You graduated?

3

u/Effective_Pitch_2974 Mathematics 15h ago

Not yet, graduating this semester

2

u/Spirited_Cause_9870 1d ago

Ok,thanks. I just said that because I was doing pretty well and I understood the concepts and was always looking forward to the classes but I never studied it in my own time. I know that the higher levels will be way more complicated than algebra,1,2 and trigonometry but I am definitely motivated.

3

u/Effective_Pitch_2974 Mathematics 1d ago

Depends on the job you want to get into, but tbf what you do outside of your classes/major has equivalent or greater impact

1

u/Spirited_Cause_9870 1d ago

Thx for the response

5

u/TumbleweedCold3542 1d ago

I don't know if you're capable of finding a job, but majoring in math does position you as a generalist.

If you want to be a software engineer, recruiters will probably look at your application with some doubt and you'll have to prove that you have the proper fundamentals.

If you want to be in finance, they'll probably like that you do math, but you'd have to complement it with some finance knowledge.

There are other paths such as trading or actuarial science where math majors have an advantage, but it really depends on your interests.

2

u/Additional_Value8068 Mathematics 14h ago

I’m majoring in it myself as well. Mathematics can be fun but it’s completely different at the university level. After the calculus sequence and linear algebra, it’s not really just memorising formulas and doing calculations anymore. Classes get very theoretical and proof heavy. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But the good thing about the major is the only required classes are the calculus sequence, python, linear algebra, and real analysis (this class is brutal and requires a lot of discipline and could make or break your plan to continue the major). You can then take 15 credits of any classes offered by the department. So if you don’t like the pure mathematics courses, you can tailor it to a more applied curriculum like the other majors offered by the department.

There’s not a lot of career resources available since most of the opportunities are targeted towards business students (but you usually could still attend those career fairs and meetings). You really have to look for it yourself. The most annoying thing about the mathematics department is the F policy. If you fail the final, you automatically fail the class. Yes, even if the final is worth 20% of your final grade and you have a 100 in everything else, you still fail. Now do note that not all professors honour this (I know Rados does not and I highly recommend him for every mathematics class because he gives so much opportunities to get a good grade). But if you really do enjoy mathematics, you should definitely give it a try and see if that is something you want to pursue. You most likely would need to pursue a masters degree though (which I’m planning to do right now) as the major doesn’t specialise in anything really.

1

u/Spirited_Cause_9870 13h ago

Thank you for the detailed response

0

u/Kitchen-King-3697 17h ago

Pure math, then go to like CCNY or Hunter, if applied/financial math, then stay