Maths degree advice

[sullden88]

DS had his finger hovering over the UCAS application submit button today to do Maths and something else when his Maths teacher said he thinks he'll find it boring! Apparently that isn't code for "not being good enough" (predicted A*) but Maths degrees are about proof and are abstract.

I'm pretty clueless on the subject but can anyone confirm this or offer advice? Are there ways round it - doing a maths degree that is more mathsy (pure/applied) and less abstract/reasoning, maybe with something else?

Has he not looked at the course content of the degrees he's interested in? They'll all list the core and optional modules.

Maths degree courses do vary, but if he enjoys Maths A level I don't think he'll find it boring - it's a great degree! If he wants more of a "practical" element to it he could maybe consider engineering?

I have a maths degree and it wasn’t all proofs and abstract.

Depends on the modules. I did applied mathematics, mathematical biology, optimisation to name a few. All very interesting.

titchy yes he has looked at course content in detail and the ones he was/is applying for are so varied. He's just thrown by his teacher's comment.

Maybe it's code for the maths teacher's feeling jaded and he finds it boring.

Maybe the maths teacher didn't enjoy studying maths that much but has somehow ended up teaching it to pay the mortgage.

Ha ha OutwiththeOutCrowd that could be true: I know he was an engineer before!

What do you mean by 'maths and something else'? A joint degree?

I did maths and study abroad and it was nice to have something different on the side. He might have the option to take random modules in other subjects as part of the maths degree as well.

@sullden88

titchy yes he has looked at course content in detail and the ones he was/is applying for are so varied. He's just thrown by his teacher's comment.

I doubt the maths teacher has much of an idea of the content of the different maths degrees these days. Agree with others he's basing his experience on his degree and feelings about it.

noblegiraffe it's more like 75:25 so maths with Portuguese for example although one is a joint/flexible degree where he can pick a few subjects. It's the perfect combo for him or so he thought.

If the maths teacher did an engineering degree, I think he was reflecting on the difference between maths and engineering. Nothing more.

I also know lots of maths courses offer joint modules with, for example, economics or accountancy degrees. Also a year abroad is a very good way of adding in something new in another country. You don’t have to learn another language for North America or Australia.

I am in no way a mathematician but I'm stuck on the idea that a degree with more pure maths would be less abstract and concerned with proofs.

Does his teacher actually like maths himself?!

I found Maths & Further Maths a walk in the park (mid 80s).

I found my maths degree totally impossible hard.

The pure maths was very abstract and lots of proofs.
The applied maths was a load of problem solving that I just couldn't do.

In my final year I selected a load of modules that didn't build on years 1 & 2, things like coding theory, mathematical economics, stochastic processes etc. They were all pretty interesting.

If he loves maths, likes solving stuff, doing proofs etc, go for it.

Loads of options are available. As said above, there are joint degrees such as maths with economics or computer studies or physics etc. Some unis do natural science where students can take, typically, 3 subjects, such as Maths with physics and economics or maths with chemisty and computer studies. My son didn't want to do a solely Maths degree as he's not really in to the science/engineering side of Maths so looked at lots of joint honours and natural science but ended up doing financial maths, which is maths with some accounting, some economics, some business studies, and then maths re banking, financial markets etc. Your son needs to look at all the options available, the unis have the course content/modules on their websites and find a course that sounds interesting to him.

My maths degree was super flexible - there were some compulsory pure modules which did get quite abstract and proof heavy, but alongside that there was plenty of choice - modules specialised in stats, engineering, accountancy, maths education etc depending on what you wanted. Or, you could choose more pure abstract maths (like me!)

He might want to look at Statistics, Mechanics, Engineering, Accounting, Physics to name a few alternatives that are maths heavy degrees and may be more interesting.

I think it was the teacher who thought maths wasn’t interesting. The maths teacher is an engineer.

Data science might be worth looking into. It's an expanding area, so there should be a good choice of jobs after he graduates.

Isn’t that a job that could be done by a maths or stats grad? Maths is the best degree in that scenario as its more flexible in the jobs market.

Seems absolutely mad for a teacher to discourage an A* maths student to not apply for maths. It's such a versatile, impressive degree to have under your belt.

@misselphaba

Seems absolutely mad for a teacher to discourage an A* maths student to not apply for maths. It's such a versatile, impressive degree to have under your belt.

That's what I thought. DS spent all of last night looking at other courses but I'll tell him about some of your comments later and hopefully that will encourage him to stick with his original plan.

And maths grads can work in so many areas of work afterwards. Unless he thinks engineering might be an interest (and if he’s done nothing towards his ps for that it’s a non starter) then stay with maths. Teachers don’t know everything!

DD is in her first year of a maths degree. When we were at the open day stage, a couple of unis tried to explain the difference between A level and university-level maths. I can't really articulate what they said (because I didn't really understand it!), but there was definitely an element of uni maths being more abstract and requiring a different way of thinking.

Nottingham was one of the unis who had a whole session on this at their offer-holders day. Might be worth a look at what they have on their online open day site.

But overall I tend to agree it sounds like he has a maths teacher who isn't really a mathematician at heart. The question is - is your son excited by the abstract stuff? If not, taking a good hard look at the module options and what subjects you can mix things up with sounds like a good plan.

If he enjoys the pure maths, then he needs to ignore the teacher.

Within any maths degree there is likely to be the opportunity to take different combinations of modules in the second/third years - some will stick with mostly pure maths, some will do more applied/physicsy stuff, some will get into statistics and data science.

If he's interested in another subjects as well, and not sure what interests him most, then he should look at how much the flexibility the different universities offer. For instance, he might find that if he started off doing "maths and economics" in the first year, he might be able to move to mostly maths or mostly economics in the second year, although it would vary between universities depending on how they structure the courses.

My DD is 4 weeks into her maths degree.
I took her to lots (8+) open days. I didn’t understand a word of it.
She considered Maths and a language or Maths and economics but decided that, since maths is the love of her life she would solely study that.
Oddly enough the university she is at wasn’t one of the ones we visited

Maths degrees also include a lot of coding and applied problems. Yes there are modules on proofs etc, but it's by no means the bulk of the course. Definitely do a maths degree, he'll never be without a decent job!