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Math is a useless degree. The math teacher shortage is a scam, and in the private market, a math degree is worth nothing more than any old dumbass degree like basket weaving.
Over the last 14 years, I've been keeping track of the number of jobs I've seen advertised that require a math degree... not "math or accounting or basket weaving" etc., just math only. It's not a few, it's not just one, it's ZERO.
Become a plumber. Obviously a college degree in anything is worthless since not everybody can get a job without working at it. Heck you should get a college degree and then people should be camping out on your lawn to hire you. If not, then a college degree is clearly a waste of time.
Look 50 years ago, a college degree was something that got you a job. Now, nearly anyone can get into college. College is the new high school diploma. For any job a college degree is the base requirement. You need to look for skills that are beyond a college degree, and then you have to go back and hit the pavement. Using the internet is what everybody does. You want to be distinguished, not be everybody. But that's the way it always was. If you do exactly what the herd does, you will not find a distinguished job. You have to find ways to make yourself stand out from the pack.
Most people don't. I have a behavior specialist who works for me. I told him that he could go to the department meeting on some program the community is offering. He said why? I told him it was only 15 minutes, and it would make it possible for people to say that he went beyond the normal for his current job. I was effectively saying that I would give him a dynamite rec if he did something like that. He declined to go. To me he is pretty average in his ability. He does nothing in his current job to distinguish himself in any way from the pack.
A Math BA doesn't get you a teaching job since you aren't certified and school systems are being rated/judged on number of "highly qualified" (meaning holding a state teaching certificate) staff members are employed.
If you want to teach your degree should be BS ________________ Education. And no, your time isn't taken up in pedagogy classes. I had to have 60 credits just in my major, in addition to the general requirements, in addition to pedagogy classes to get my original teaching certificate.
The problem a lot of you guys on here have who want to teach is that you didn't get a teaching degree but a BA. Aren't college advisors doing their jobs?
My college experience was 14 years ago. There wasn't a No Child Gets Ahead law, but the pay was terrible, which is why I decided not to teach. Then I tried again recently and got hit by the teacher glut.
That's depressing that I basically have just a high school diploma. My college diploma is folded in half in a box, and I haven't looked at it in 12 years. I may as well burn it to save myself a small amount of unnecessary weight when I move the box, since the paper is large and thick.
JS1, have you looked into actuarial work? I'm thinking actuaries need a math degree, though maybe it's a masters, and the pay is good. I agree with zarathu though; a degree isn't enough--you have to figure out how to position your degree and what extra education you're going to need to get a job. I think you made the mistake that I and many other college graduates made--you didn't have clear enough career plans when you graduated.
JS1, have you looked into actuarial work? I'm thinking actuaries need a math degree, though maybe it's a masters, and the pay is good. I agree with zarathu though; a degree isn't enough--you have to figure out how to position your degree and what extra education you're going to need to get a job. I think you made the mistake that I and many other college graduates made--you didn't have clear enough career plans when you graduated.
Actuaries need a degree is Actuarial Science. Even 42 years ago that was required. And beyond that there are a series of very difficult certification tests that potential actuaries must pass to get any job at all. I believe there are 12+ levels. Even graduates in Actuarial Science have to move through these tests. I remember an acquaintance who has straight A's and who was at the considered amazing level of 4 or 5 in the tests when he graduated.
Actuaries don't need any specific degree - in theory, they don't need a college degree at all. In practice, no one will hire you without a technical degree of some kind, but it certainly doesn't have to be Actuarial Science.
You don't need to pass ALL the tests before you get a job - one or two should be enough to get you in the door. After that, the job usually pays for the exams and books, AND provides comp time to study for the tests.
Yes, the tests are difficult - so is life. If you can complete a BS in Math with good grades, you should have the brainpower to pass at least the first few tests, and can teach yourself the rest over the first 5-10 years of your career.
Actuaries don't need any specific degree - in theory, they don't need a college degree at all. In practice, no one will hire you without a technical degree of some kind, but it certainly doesn't have to be Actuarial Science.
You don't need to pass ALL the tests before you get a job - one or two should be enough to get you in the door. After that, the job usually pays for the exams and books, AND provides comp time to study for the tests.
Yes, the tests are difficult - so is life. If you can complete a BS in Math with good grades, you should have the brainpower to pass at least the first few tests, and can teach yourself the rest over the first 5-10 years of your career.
And this all is probably true. But once again, nobody is going to come beating to your door, since everybody who want the job is taking all these requirements. You need an internship that matters, and other stuff. And if universities are offering specialized degrees in Actuarial Science as they were in 1971, this will immediately put you ahead of the group, and if passing only 1 or 2 of the tests is what everybody does, then this just makes you part of the pack. When there is a and advertised job opening and the pack is 500 resumes, you need to not be part of the 500. You need to personally visit the boss, not HR, but the person who will contact HR and say that s/he wants to interview you. When my wife applied for a kindergarten teaching job in 1973, they had more than 200 resumes to look at. Her mother contacted a friend of hers who was a school board member. The SBM recommended her and she got an interview. Once she had the interview she was on her own, but she got herself recognized.
Let me give you a couple of examples.
When my son graduated college with departmental honors and a double degree in both math and physics, and a previous internship in the summer of his Junior year with a prestigious university in physics, he was fixed to get an entry level at a a good school. He was going to take a year off. I told him very clearly that if he wanted a PhD THEN, he would either have to work his tail off in an incredible physics job in that year, or he would need to marry a very rich woman. He took my word, and scouted a post BS internship with the same prestigious university that he did the undergrad internship. But he was luck enough to be offered the same internship, but in Germany. With a little urging of his advisor at college("Edward, I have a PhD in physics from Harvard University, and nobody ever offered me an internship to work with _________ in Germany. You must take this.") He did, and was just "put" int the grad program.
At the same time his girl friend was looking for a library law job with her poli-sci degree, hopefully at the university that he was going to grad school at. She applied hoping for such a job. None was offered. he told his girlfriend to research the university need for such a position to do law research and to supervise undergrad interns. She made up a proposal to them, and met with the department chair to offer it. Because of her willingness to do something like this, even though they had no such position, they hired her on the spot, and took her proposal to open a position that they agreed that they needed. She now has her Master's in Library Law, a solid position and a promotion, and is looking to parlay that into a great Law School somewhere on the west coast or in Europe.
Its all about marketing yourself so that you are better than the pack.
Z
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