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Careers for Mathematics Majors
What can I do with a mathematics major? How about with a mathematical sciences major? The goal of this page is to give some pointers about where answers to these common questions may be found. There are many sources of information, and we've only collected a few of them so far.
- The Mathematical Association of America published a book called 101 Careers in Mathematics (see the review on MAA Online, written by a Colby alumna). The department has a copy, and so does the Colby Career Services office. This book contains career profiles of people who majored in mathematics. It's quite interesting to see the wide range of things people ended up doing! Also worth a look are She Does Math! and Great Jobs For Math Majors. You can find copies of 101 Careers and Great Jobs in the Mathematics seminar room (Mudd 412A). The library has copies of She Does Math! and 101 Careers.
- There is similar information online at the MAA Career Profiles collection. You might also want to check the various pointers on the MAA Students and Student Chapters page.
- A new web site dedicated entirely to those who are interested in pursuing a career as an actuary was recently launched through a joint effort by the Casualty Actuarial Society and the Society of Actuaries. It is definitely worth a look.
- One very rich source of information and contacts are Colby alumni. We have compiled a list of math and CS alumni who have expressed a willingness to talk to current mathematics, mathematical sciences, or computer science majors about career options. (Note: the list is only accessible from a colby.edu address.)
- What kinds of jobs do mathematical sciences PhDs get? Here is a site which has lots of comparative information (broken link) on what kind of jobs people with PhDs (in general, not just math-related) get and how long it takes them to get those jobs.