Graduates of the mathematics program at Dordt College gain problem solving and critical thinking skills that are valuable in many fields. This makes a degree in mathematics a flexible preparation to pursue a wide range of vocations. Our graduates have had success being accepted into graduate schools and finding jobs that suit their training and interests in a variety of careers in education, business, industry, and governmental agencies.
In 2012, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics predicted 23 percent growth for mathematicians by 2022. What kinds of jobs do mathematicians have? Opportunities in both teaching and non-teaching fields are readily available. Companies that engage in research or high-tech operations are looking for people with strong mathematical backgrounds because of their problem-solving and analytical skills.
Mathematics and mathematics-related jobs are consistently ranked as desirable, with high job satisfaction. The job search portal CareerCast.com ranked mathematician as the No. 1 job for 2014 based on five criteria including stress, working environment, physical demands, income, and hiring outlook. The job of statistician ranked No. 3 while actuary ranked No. 4.
Graduates in mathematics are qualified to pursue many career paths including:
- Educator: The demand for mathematics teachers remains strong as currently 31 percent of high school students are taught by teachers who are not licensed to teach mathematics (Gordon, 2013).
- Modeler: Modeling uses mathematics to describe real-world phenomena. This iterative process moves back and forth from the real-world problem to the mathematical description with an end goal of using the mathematics to better describe the phenomena or help solve a real world problem. Modeling is important to many fields including engineering, biology, chemistry, finance, and urban planning.
- Pre-med and pre-law: According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, math majors score the highest of any major on both the MCAT and LSAT, entrance tests for medical and law schools.
- Actuary: Actuaries combine mathematics (especially statistics) with business to quantify risk. Actuaries are often employed by the government, or insurance and investment companies. Dordt College offers both a major and minor in actuarial science.
- National security positions and cryptographer: Making and breaking codes has always been important to national security, but this field has grown given the amount of data that is transmitted online. For example, banks and credit card companies need to insure the security of their patron’s financial information, while cable television companies need to encode their signals and later decode to their customers. The security of these systems depends upon applications of number theory and abstract algebra.
- Operations researcher: Operations researchers use mathematics to optimize resources such as maximizing efficiency and profits or minimizing cost.
- Financial analyst: Analysts study the methods that individuals, businesses, and organizations use to obtain, manage, and allocate their financial resources. Models are often used to help describe the behavior of these resources.
- Biomathematician: Researchers in this field combine mathematics with biology to model natural and biological processes.
- Computer scientist: The logical and precise thinking gained as a mathematics major are also valuable in computer science. Dordt College has a unique joint mathematics/computer science major that combines courses from both fields into one major.
- Statistician: The proliferation of data that is available in the information age increases the need for individuals that can collect, interpret, and summarize data. Dordt College offers a statistics minor that is a great complement to any major.