From: spencer@panix.com (David Spencer)
Newsgroups: sci.math
Subject: Re: Opinions Sought (Why major in math?)
Date: 1 Oct 92 14:14:28 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC

kbanerje@grad09.math.ncsu.edu (Kaushik Banerjee) writes:

>Why should one earn a math degree?

1) because math is interesting
2) because it teaches you to think.

>Assume that you do not want to teach or conduct research.
>What types of jobs are available for an individuals with
>a math degree (at any level)?

Modern finance is _highly_ mathematical. It revolves around
constructing securities which combine options, futures, debt
securities and equity securities -- along with hairy derivatives of
all these. One (highly lucrative) trick is to construct securities
that are mathematically equivalent to other securities, and then
arbitrage between them. Another is to construct securities that
isolate a particular risk, and use them to hedge.

Every institution that trades securities for its own account (major
banks, investment banks and trading houses) has mathematicians on
board. They are known in the trade as "rocket scientists" and they are
*very* highly paid. Competent rocket scientists make upwards of $1
million per year within a few years after getting a BA. They are (and
will continue to be) in great demand. (BTW, interestingly enough, the
best rocket science trading outfits are as likely to be found in
Montana as in New York. Information has no boundaries.)

More generally:

Forget about whether your degree is saleable. Unless you're learning a
trade (like accounting or law), the specifics you learn in college are
pretty irrelevant in the real world. Even if you're learning a trade,
you'll use very little of what you learn. And if you take a "trade"
major you only qualify yourself for a drone job. The problems of the
real world are far too interesting and complex to be encompassed in
the 25-50 hours of a semester course.

For a responsible job, employers want someone who's learned how to
think. Undergraduate major isn't relevant, as long as it's serious and
the student pursued it far enough to learn something hard. Employers
want someone that can cope with complexity under pressure -- not apply
some rote solution learned from somebody that probably has never had
to deal with the real world.

What employers look for in an undergradute transcript is seriousness.
I know whereof I speak: I review about 500 resumes and interview about
200 people per year. If you took basket-weaving, you'll not get in my
door. I want someone that took math or hard science or history or
economics or literature or art. I want someone that's interested in
the world and had the guts to devote time to learning about it.

I'm a partner in a highly successful law firm. I almost never use
anything specific that I learned in law school. In fact, I've
succeeded as a lawyer by _unlearning_ the things I learned in law
school. I have a math degree. Most of my partners have math, science
or literature degrees. The top five graduates from my law school class
had math or science degrees.

My wife is a managing director (read: big shot) at a major New York
bank. Her undergraduate degree is in fine arts. (No, she didn't go to
business school.)

Take what's interesting. You've got the rest of your life to be bored
with practicality.

dhs   spencer@panix.com
Newsgroups: sci.math