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Indominus
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13 Jun 2018, 12:33 am

To make the long story short since my post didn't go through:

after returning from college, parents are getting divorce. Sister is $2,000 short of her diploma and I haven't been able to get a job on time (though I'll be working tomorrow) and pay for the college algebra course and am reconsidering my major from engineering to math.

Need to know if math is a good major and recommendations. Will post more info later.



Darmok
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13 Jun 2018, 12:45 am

Yes, math is a good major, but engineering is also a good, or even excellent major in practical terms. Why the change?

If you change to math, look at combining it with another practical field. Math and computer science, economics, finance, accounting, insurance, etc. (The "quants" as they are called in finance generally make very good money, but their math background usually goes beyond a BA/BS.)


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Katie0405
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13 Jun 2018, 2:14 am

Indominus wrote:
To make the long story short since my post didn't go through:

after returning from college, parents are getting divorce. Sister is $2,000 short of her diploma and I haven't been able to get a job on time (though I'll be working tomorrow) and pay for the college algebra course and am reconsidering my major from engineering to math.

Need to know if math is a good major and recommendations. Will post more info later.


Math and engineering are good. In my case, I like engineering more. Choose the one you are interested the most.



Indominus
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14 Jun 2018, 11:47 pm

Darmok wrote:
Yes, math is a good major, but engineering is also a good, or even excellent major in practical terms. Why the change?

If you change to math, look at combining it with another practical field. Math and computer science, economics, finance, accounting, insurance, etc. (The "quants" as they are called in finance generally make very good money, but their math background usually goes beyond a BA/BS.)


The reason why I want to change it is that if I go into engineering after skipping college algebra, I would have a much more difficult time as I am right now, due to all the courses between labs, chemistry, and engineering/calc. whatnot. With math, it may sound a little more reasonable and I would be able to pick up things that I missed later on the go. However, with this change (and given how my community college has a dorm), my co-advisor mentioned that I will be part time in my last semester, which may be an issue given how you have to have 12 credits in order to be eligible for housing.

In addition, after coming home from college and trying desperately hard to find jobs (although I found one, albeit part time (though I'll get more hours as the summer goes by)), I found myself at my wits end in terms of how I was going to cope with the following years and so on, especially for my education. Given how long it took for me to find a job and how my family was unable to pay for the college algebra course (in addition to having to pay dozens of bills and my sister's HS diploma she didn't receive), obviously, I had to prioritize how I was going to continue my education, especially in the most lenient way possible. and I had to take precautions on how the next 4 semesters (due to how I have an extra year to complete my degree and such) would roll out so that I would remain a full time student and make sure I wasn't under a lot of pressure either. If I had continued to transfer to engineering with the aforementioned course requirements above and how I would skill college algebra in the meantime, I would have a much more difficult time coping for preparations and may even find myself at the short end of the stick in terms of required knowledge for courses such as engineering science. Granted, I don't want to take any risks, but in the meantime, I want a well paying job because God knows I'll need it. Besides, Mathematics is still a decent paying major and outranks a few engineering majors such as mechanical engineering on some sites, and if I choose to major it with computer science, my salary goes up quite a bit. In addition, actuarial mathematics is one of the highest paying majors and sometimes pays even more than engineering.

Because you mentioned combining it, I figured that once I transfer to a 4-year, I can double major my Math major with Computer Science.

I know it's unfortunate, but the differences between Engineering and Math in terms of ROI is not that big. Granted, on Payscale, Engineers tend to earn a little more, but in an in-state school like Stony Brook, the difference is not that big ($11,000 between the two careers)

Hopefully, all goes as planned. I have a pretty lonely life and given how my parents are divorcing, I've mainly been talking to none other than my godmother and a few trusted professors. I have seen my college's psychologist, but haven't been able to continue due to being caught up with schoolwork. Honestly, last semester was the worst.