I tried to be an actuary, spent 4 years after college failing exams and being depressed about it.

yeah freak that.

Now I work as an underwriter assistant, trying to eventually become an Underwriter.

aint no actuarial money, but still a good career and no more exams!

in any field, there must be a company that would have use for a math person. however, most lucrative ones will be government or private sector research/consulting/analyst positions and require substantial post-doc experience.

I'm currently looking for a job. I don't have the math grades (major gpa B/B-) to get hired nor do I have any noteworthy math awards (did math competitions in hs but no awards there) so am working on computer skills (programming etc). it's kinda tough.

I'm trying to find something in finance and see if I can get into a quant type position; if not I'll try the actuary exams... and if not that I guess a cfa lol

just curious what kind of math degree track are you on (guessing applied)? I did an applied degree but my college had meh electives (actually enjoy pure stuff more but that's beyond me atm). I might go back years later for a "pure" degree and maybe even grad/doc track if I think I'm capable/ready.

also what courses have you taken? I find (mathematical) statistics to be the worst course I ever had. it didn't help the professor was one I had for probability theory (he's terrible).

Upgrade to an engineering degree :-p.

You will realize you chose the wrong major when you don't get a job.

Ever.

Or until you teach high school math.

So yeah, you pretty much have to do some academic shyt after undergrad with a math degree. Like Jekki said, the actuary exams suck.

Go get an MBA or something and do something finance related, I guess.

work for the govt maybe?

@Seventh upgrade? i wouldn't consider mathematics a subcategory of any type of engineering field. in fact, engineering is entirely dependent on the findings made in math and physics.

anyway, if you love math, stick with it. it may mean you need a to get a post-doc, but that may not necessarily be the case . i recommend you talk to your mentor or a maybe a math professor you trust, they're bound to know more than a few random cags.

Chacrama talkin about post-undergraduate hustle like he aint tryin to be a lawyer lol.

at the very least, take some actuary exams, if u can at least pass the 1st one out of college it will help get you a few interviews at least.

@Wiggins: In "The Real World" an engineering degree is indeed an upgrade compared to a(n undergrad) math degree. Hell, I took enough hardcore math classes (Calc I-IV, Diff Equ, Matrices) required by my Aerospace degree to almost qualify for a math minor.

@Ski: If you have any interest in the physical sciences at all, I implore you to take some physics/applied mechanics courses. You dont have to go full-out E-degree, but even though your math skills would benefit engineering companies, most wont take a sniff at you without some applied science under your belt. Also, you could look into computer science as an option. I had many friends that were Math/Comp-Sci majors.

Otherwise, you may want to look into the finance side of things. Perhaps take some tax and contract law classes.

But I dont personally know anyone who went pure math degree that didnt want to go into academia.

I know only one math major not in academia. She has a Ph.D. though.

As for Engineering, I too had to take Calc I-III, an abstract math class, a probability class, Diff-Eq, and Matrices as well. They used to require Statistics as well. My college didn't allow minors for Engineering majors, but for any one else, it was like a course or two from a math minor.

I will say that physics developed most of Engineering though....

Edit: Actually, I think it was just the electrical and computer engineering department that didn't allow any minors, probably cause 128 out of 131 credits was mandatory...