Careers: Where Will a Math Degree from IWU Take You?
The future is bright for those who graduate with a degree in mathematics.
Mathematics graduates can pursue diverse career paths, including high-tech industries, many areas of business, the medical sciences, communications, or education. Today's computer technology has led to a great demand for people educated in computational mathematics (such as operations research, statistics and numerical analysis) as well as in traditional mathematics. Read more about what types of careers mathematicians have, how much they make, and why it's one of the best business jobs, according to US News' Best Business Jobs for 2019 list.
Below is a sample of companies at which our students are having successful careers.
Actuarial Analyst at Allstate Insurance
Double-majored in Mathematics and Hispanic Studies
Math Teacher at Glenn Westlake Middle School
Majored in Mathematics
Implementation Consultant at FAST Enterprises
Double-majored in Math and Computer Science
Transportation Analyst at Caterpillar
Double majored in Mathematics and Economics
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Internships
Our students also explore their future career opportunities by completing internships at various places such as Allstate, Amazon.com, and Target. Below is a short list of companies our students have interned at.
Summer Intern at Citibank, Vietnam
Location: Hanoi, Vietnam
Major(s): Business Administration and Mathematics
Software Development Engineer Intern at Amazon
Location: Seattle, WA
Major(s): Computer Science and Mathematics
Sales Intern at Arthur Gallagher & Co.
Location: Itasca, IL
Major(s): Mathematics
Business Analyst Intern at COUNTRY Financial
Location: Bloomington, IL
Major(s): Mathematics and Risk Management
Below, you will find descriptions of a few of the many jobs in which mathematicians are employed. These range from private industrial jobs, to government agencies, to teaching. The fact of the matter is, a firm basis in mathematics provides the proper analytical skills to take you just about anywhere.
Finance
Wall Street has become a major employer of math majors. Investment companies are seeking mathematicians for jobs titled "quantitative analyst" to predict the future for them. Trying to match the outstanding success of multibillionaire Differential Geometer, James Simons (founder of the Renaissance Technologies Corporation and the top hedge fund, the Medallion Fund), many investment and financial firms consider mathematicians prized hires.
Information and Data Security
One area that is particularly "hot" these days is cryptography - the making and breaking of secret codes. Not only the CIA, NSA, and other spy agencies are devotees. Numerous businesses also require cryptography such as RSA key encryption. Number theory is the branch of pure mathematics which provides the theoretical underpinnings for much of the recent progress in cryptography.
Mathematical Modeling
In mathematical modeling, you write down equations to describe how a real world system behaves. The "system" might be drawn from many different fields. For example, most financial companies hire mathematicians to study financial models and make predictions based on statistical evidence. In physics or engineering you might be interested in how heat is dissipated through the heat shield of a space vehicle. In physiology you might want to apply the laws of fluid dynamics to describe how blood flows in vessels and what happens when blood pressure is increased. In economics you might want to predict how a strike in the automotive industry will affect other parts of the economy. As usual, the power of mathematics comes from its ability to handle general abstract problems and then to apply these general methods to an enormous variety of problems.
Biotech
Recent breakthroughs in the study of DNA and proteins have generated a great deal of interest in mathematical biology. Many biotech companies hire mathematics majors because of the high (and growing) mathematical content of the field.
Statistics
The proliferation of statistics in everything ranging from business to government has induced many organizations to seek math majors. Statisticians use surveys -- for example, opinion polls -- to predict the patterns of behavior of large groups based on relatively small samples. They ask questions such as: How can we be sure that what we predict from our small sample is true of the population being sampled? Probability theory provides the theoretical foundation for statistics.
Actuary
One business with an extreme interest in statistics is insurance. The (highly paid) professionals responsible for computing insurance rates are specialist statisticians called actuaries.
Computer Engineering
The computer industry provides many lucrative jobs for math majors. Beyond mere proficiency in computer programming, math majors are trained to address the more fundamental issues involved in the creation of new algorithms. Furthermore, many sophisticated applications of computers such as creation of computer graphics and the compression of video and audio signals (to name a few examples) involve a great deal of deep mathematics, and as a result, many computer companies specifically hire math majors.
Teaching
If you would like to give back to your community and serve children, teaching mathematics at the secondary school level can be very rewarding. A major in Mathematics can be paired with an Educational Studies major to ultimately certify to teach.
Graduate School
At the end of your undergraduate years, you may have fallen in love with the beauty of mathematics and want to learn more. You may wish to go to graduate school in mathematics or a related field (e.g., operation research, economics, computer science, etc.). In graduate school, students typically get paid (albeit not much) to pursue a Master or PhD degree. With a graduate degree, you may find a teaching or research job in academia, or a leadership position in industry.
