
Mathematical challenges take undergrad in a new direction - stmw
http://spectrum.mit.edu/summer-2019/academic-turn/
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lacker
A double major in math and X is often a pretty strong combination. Graduate
economics is really helped by math skills for example. Math alone is fine but
you usually end up looking for another field to get a job so why not start
with a double major? . I am biased because I got a double major in math and
computer science though ;-)

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derrick_jensen
I'm only doing a Math major currently, but start my own projects and get
involved in various CS organizations. I think not going along the traditional
CS path has more bang-for-your-buck in the long term, since it shows drive to
pick up things on the side (also the CS program here is notoriously difficult)

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kaashmonee
I don't mean to be sour here, but why is an undegrad switching majors news?

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whymauri
It's a magazine for donors.

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curiousgal
This is why I love statistics. You can dabble with integrals and functions and
all the fancy math tools and still end up with something useful to say about
the real world.

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SkyMarshal
Fwiw I think all of math has something useful to say about the real world,
it's just that some of it takes decades or more for us to figure out what that
is.

Like, the E8 Lie Group probably contains the secret to manmade wormholes,
faster-than-light travel, and manipulating higher dimensional space, but we
won't know it for hundreds of years. (or at least until we invent AGI).
Something like that.

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ghaff
Hey, I don't identify with switching to a math major because I always found
math the most challenging aspect of engineering. (I knew people who thought
Math was a pretty easy undergrad major. I know I would have had better luck
flapping my arms and flying than graduating with a math degree.)

But I did enter school interested in biomedical engineering--in part because
my parents were both in life sciences in various ways. And I probably liked
chemistry more than physics in high school. That more or less lasted through
taking organic chemistry which I did not... umm, connect with.

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mruts
If something is hard, it means it’s gonna make you better than something that
is easy. A lot of classes in college were in compsci (I dropped out before I
finished though), and in retrospect, it was a mistake. I was too interested
and too good, and had already learned all the stuff on my own. Better to major
in something that is hard and only mildly interesting. If it’s too boring,
you’ll just flunk out, so mildly interesting is a good compromise.

