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It's the time of year for prospective college freshman in the US to make campus visits, and I'm once again confronted with my lamentable ignorance when the students and their parents ask, "So what do math majors do after graduation?"

A web search easily turns up dozens of pages talking about what you can do with a math major, but here I'm more interested in practice than theory.

Does anyone know of any statistics about what jobs/careers undergraduate math majors actually do go into?

(Before anyone else suggests it, it would certainly also be useful for me to know what the math majors at my university specifically do after graduation; I don't know whether anyone here collects data on such things, but I plan to look into it.)

Added: I don't see how I could have been any clearer, but many of the answers below suggest that some people haven't understood my question. I am not asking for information about what people can do with a math major, nor for anecdotes about what any specific individuals have done. What I want is statistics about which jobs math majors actually do go into, and at what rates. Jessica B's answer is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for, but since I'm in the US, something comparable for US math majors would be even better.

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    $\begingroup$ The question seems immediately motivated by and related to OP's work as a mathematics educator. The question is close to asking 'What could/should I answer to the question "So what do math majors do after graduation?", which I get asked by students and their parents.' Except that the question as actually asked is less opinion based than this, which is an advantage. I would tend to consider this in scope. $\endgroup$
    – quid
    Commented Apr 10, 2016 at 17:43
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    $\begingroup$ I know math majors that double majored or minored in computer science and went on to code just like those who only studied CS and not math. $\endgroup$
    – user541686
    Commented Apr 10, 2016 at 22:36
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    $\begingroup$ There's a huge demand for people who know both statistics and programming. So maybe a related question is "what do math majors who don't like statistics do?" $\endgroup$
    – Aeryk
    Commented Apr 11, 2016 at 0:19
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    $\begingroup$ A math degree is considered to be difficult to get, even if it's not more difficult for people who are fascinated by mathematics enough to get such a degree. That being the case, having a math degree is generally seen as a good thing for many technical fields, especially those that do not require more specific training or licensing. It is also an ideal foundation for a large number of graduate degrees. $\endgroup$
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Apr 11, 2016 at 1:09
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    $\begingroup$ IME the usual destination is the finance and insurance industries. There's a lot of training but it's extraordinarily well-paid. $\endgroup$
    – pjc50
    Commented Apr 11, 2016 at 10:21

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From the UK:

Prospects offer some very basic stats. This CMS report has some graphs broken down a bit further, from p36 onwards. For instance, the graph below shows that of majors in math, statistics or operations research, about half went into education and financial services.

enter image description here

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    $\begingroup$ I'd very much like to see something comparable for the US, but I'm accepting this answer because it's the only one so far that actually answers the question I asked! $\endgroup$
    – Mark Meckes
    Commented Apr 12, 2016 at 12:17
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Some resources, which also have further links.

A book: She Does Math!

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High school students may well ask the same thing... One recommendation is to have available (in your classroom, or in the school library) books like

101 Careers in Mathematics

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    $\begingroup$ I am downvoting because this book doesn't answer the question: it's a showcase for the variety of jobs that math majors can do, rather than the statistical profile of the jobs where they are actually concentrated. $\endgroup$
    – user173
    Commented Apr 11, 2016 at 14:01
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    $\begingroup$ It would be great to have a US chart like Jessica's. $\endgroup$
    – Gerald Edgar
    Commented Apr 11, 2016 at 19:47
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    $\begingroup$ I upvoted because, while I do not believe this answers the OP's well-formulated question, I find the response "on topic" as it provides a fair amount of information related to different jobs for math majors. Anecdotal, yes, but (is "the plural of anecdote" = "data"?) there are many anecdotes, they are well-organized via the MAA, and (perhaps) have the potential for one to investigate further these various careers for add'l statistical information. $\endgroup$
    – Benjamin Dickman
    Commented Apr 12, 2016 at 17:33
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No one mentioned NSA, which reportedly employs more mathematicians than anyone else in the US. They're also Baltimore Gas and Electric's biggest customer.

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    $\begingroup$ I noticed this as well. But maybe the question is about bachelor's degrees in math, whereas NSA hires Ph.D.s (which are only a tiny percentage of that). $\endgroup$
    – Gerald Edgar
    Commented Apr 13, 2016 at 15:21
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Web developers!

Having a PhD in applied mathematics and having struggled quite a lot just last year in order to find my first job outside of the academia (guess what), I felt somehow compelled to post this answer. :)

Let me add some context and background to back it up. First of all, what follows is purely based on personal experience. However, I believe that having spent 10 years in the "math environment", hunted for a job in the industry, and eventually found one, should give enough credit to what I'll say.

Notes:

  1. I have been doing research/working in Japan for the past 4 years, but I think this should not be a big discriminant.

  2. I will focus on the private sector, that is, I will not consider research centers etc. that are also an obvious career possibility. I also won't consider the education sector (public or private) in general.

Anyway, what I realized during my job-hunting quest as a mathematician is that the majority of jobs for what you will be actually considered (in my case meaning that I had at least one interview) comes from the following type of industries:

  • IT;
  • Insurance;
  • Finance;
  • Pharmaceutical;
  • Consulting.

I would say that more or less that's it. In most cases though, whatever the type of industry, most of the employers will be interested in two things when looking at a mathematician: programming and problem solving (mindset) skills.

The only area in which I honestly have the feeling that some serious mathematics is actually employed on a regular basis is finance (you can google for "quant jobs" and find tons of information). I had a few quant interviews and I was actually asked quite high-level purely mathematical questions. Those times only. Even in the quant case though, often programming skills are essential... At this point you should be able to start seeing where my original answer is coming from.

In the end, I have started working in a Fintech company, where eventually I might join a quantitative team and at least have the feeling of doing a job that is related to my background. For now, I am working as a web developer doing web applications. The level of mathematics I use is zero, and math comes into play only in the sense that it helps when it comes to logical thinking (that is obviously at the core of programming). So although there is an obvious pinch of irony in my first answer, there is at the same time a little bit of disappointment. The truth is that the business world and mathematics are still quite far from each other, despite what some will say. At least in the majority of cases.

Even among friends or former colleagues, if I think about people that now work in the industry they all belong to one of the above categories (many of them not doing or using any math at all). So I guess it is quite true in the end, you indeed find math majors in a variety of fields. It is how you get there to be tricky.

Off topic: The above was just my personal experience to give a small insight of what math majors do after graduation. However, I would like to add that what I have learned, in the end, is that the most helpful thing a math major could do to himself/herself is to understand in advance what he/she wants to do next and work his/her math in that direction.

I never really given too much thought to that and when I decided to drop research I realized the hard way that finding a job was much more difficult than I expected. Definitely having a PhD and research experience was a double edged sword for many reasons, but this is another story.

Anyway, I would boil it all down to this:

  • If you love math as a subject and that's what you want to do, I hardly see any career other than the standard academic one.

  • If you want to find a regular job in a company, it definitely helps to improve coding skills focusing on maybe numerical analysis and/or applied mathematics. And be prepared not to see any math at all again.

  • When it comes to money, maybe the most financially rewarding career for a mathematician is still in the financial field working as a quant. They are notoriously tough jobs to get, but knowing in advance that that's your goal might be an advantage so that you can for example drop that algebraic topology class and attend stochastic calculus instead.

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    $\begingroup$ Or just maybe do both algebraic topology and stochastic calculus. The former is used in topological data analysis (TDA). See ayasdi.com/technology for an example of a company using TDA in various domains, including financial services. $\endgroup$
    – J W
    Commented Apr 13, 2016 at 20:22
  • $\begingroup$ Look at that, interesting.. You see, that's the beauty of math. It always turns out to be much more powerful than you could imagine. $\endgroup$
    – Tommy
    Commented Apr 14, 2016 at 4:31
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At http://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/sestat/sestat.html you can query the National Science Foundation's database for the National Survey of College Graduates. For example, it indicates that only about 1% of those graduating with undergraduate degrees in mathematics end up with "mathematician" as their job title.

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Earned a BS in Mathematics with CS minor from a Liberal Arts University. I was interested in a career in software development. I found in my interviews that my degree in Mathematics was a competitive edge over CS Majors due to the difficulty and rigor. Any deficiency in my CS background would be made up with on-the-job experience and training.

I have to say that there hasn't been a need for my experience in Real or Complex Analysis in my 16 years of professional experience, but my degree gave me a competitive edge, a boost at the beginning of my career, that has paid off very well over the years.

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My brother is a Math major, from the Old Dominion University, Virginia and now he is in the strategy management department in the US navy. Math can get you anywhere in any field because as long as you have a good logical mind, you will be welcomed anywhere. The organizations look for specialisations in a particular field so that the one who they are hiring doesn't need a lot of time to come in pace but in the long shot, everyone kinda know that the people with Math majors can pay off better that the others.

This list provided by UCI shows various areas you can think to work in.

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    $\begingroup$ As you long as you have a logical mind....and a friendly disposition, and reliable work habits, and sensitive communication skills, and an understanding of the business goals, and up-to-date technological skills, and relevant formal credentials, and an appropriate citizenship or work permit, and nothing to set off the prejudices of an employer, and perhaps a connection or two...yes, you will be welcomed anywhere. $\endgroup$
    – user173
    Commented Apr 13, 2016 at 12:34

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