Yahoo Finance Expand Career Options With a Graduate Degree in Math
Graduate school has long been a popular choice for people wanting to elevate their careers, but the number of students enrolling has recently jumped.
Between fall 2013 and fall 2014, first-time graduate enrollment increased by 3.5 percent, the largest spike since 2009, according to a September report from the Council of Graduate Schools. These new graduate students were studying education, business and other subjects, but the field that saw the biggest bump in enrollment was math and computer science.
It had a 21.3 percent increase in first-time graduate enrollment between 2013 and 2014, the report states.
With high demand for skilled professionals in the tech industry, it's easy to see the appeal of studying computer science. But a graduate degree in math can open up a range of career options, says David Borthwick, director of graduate studies for the mathematics and computer science department at Emory University in Atlanta.
[Learn which schools excel at teaching graduate-level math.]
"If you get an advanced degree in mathematics, it teaches you problem solving and analytical skills that can be applied in applications from medicine to computer science to all sorts of other disciplines," he says.
At some schools, the math and computer science departments are separate, but students in both disciplines often learn similar skills.
"The computer science classes have a very heavy mathematics component," says Tom Mrowka, head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's mathematics department. "You're trying to learn about algorithms that do certain things."
Graduate students can pursue a master's degree in math, but it's common for them to study for a Ph.D. Nearly 2,000 students earned doctoral degrees in math in 2013-2014, up 5 percent from the year before, according to the American Mathematical Society.
Math students also have a range of topics to choose from. At MIT, which offers only Ph.D. programs at the graduate level in math, students can focus on scientific computation, abstract math, algebraic geometry and number theory, among others.
"We span the gamut of what happens in mathematics," Mrowka says.
[Follow these steps for finding the right graduate school.]
The University of Minnesota--Twin Cities has 19 different fields that faculty members specialize in, including complex analysis and mathematical biology, says Richard McGehee, director of graduate studies in the School of Mathematics. Students pursuing a master's degree at Minnesota have fewer options for concentrations, but they can focus on topics such as financial mathematics or industrial and applied mathematics.
Master's programs usually take about two years to complete, but Ph.D. programs often last between four and six years. With a math background, graduates can teach or go into other types of work.
"The bulk of people go into finance if they don't go into mathematics," says Mrowka. "Some people go into consulting. They'll work for McKinsey or Booz Allen, or one of the big or small consulting companies. Some people go to software companies."
Others might work in labs, for the National Security Agency or for technology companies, such as Google or Microsoft, experts say.
[Learn how to improve your chances of getting into graduate school.]
Mary Agwang, a 31-year-old Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota--Twin Cities, hopes to work in the U.S. conducting research for a few years after graduating and then start an institute in Africa to help underserved groups learn about science and technology. She has a special interest in helping girls.
"I come from Uganda. It's a country where the girl child education is not really prioritized," she says. "I excelled in mathematics and then just felt the need to encourage girls in countries where there is a high illiteracy and where girls are not really encouraged to excel."
Prospective math graduate students who are trying to figure out which program is best for them should consider the culture at various schools, says Mrowka from MIT.
"If you've gotten into several of the top schools, realistically it doesn't matter," he says. "The most important thing is to try to get some understanding of the personality of the place." Some departments, for example, can be more competitive than others.
And because a math degree can lead to many career options, applicants should consider schools that will give them multiple paths to choose from and guide them along the way.
"You want a place that is big enough to offer you options," says Borthwick from Emory.
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