Any mathematicians starting to wonder if math is better left

>>8417140

You're pretty much right. I'd advise against pure math graduate school unless you live, breathe, and shit [math] (\infty,1) [/math] TFQT topoi (or whatever esoteric object of study is relevant to your interests). Consider applied math or statistics if you want to go to grad school.

>>8417200

applied math is shit. 'look at these graphs for 5 hours and tell me what to do"

great for easy money if you're good at that type of thing, but if you have any kind of passion for math besides some autistic need for number crunching then that kind of job seems kind of boring.

>>8417200
Physics is cool too.

>>8417217
I agree, anon. However, the vast majority of jobs are kind of boring. And having a "passion for math" is no guarantee you would enjoy a pure math PhD program. It's OK to have a hobby that you don't base your life around.

>>8417200

Applied math is an engineer without having qualifications for engineering, sadly.

>>8417140
You could always go into physics

>>8417263
Nothing could be farther from the truth.

>>8417363
That's not a very realistic career plan...

>>8417140
I guess if you're the kind of person who feels like they need to be contributing to society to somehow be happy with their job.

But if somebody is going to pay you $100,000 a year or something for the rest of your life to play a game that you find fun and would do as a hobby anyway, why not?
(Obviously that's not all most researchers do, but it's close enough)

>>8417217

Thanks you just sold me on going to graduate school for applied math

then choose to study SPDE's if you care so much about applications.

Every new maths has always been viewed as novelty with no real applications, and what was once laughed at as not applicable bs is now basic shit

Yes. It occurred with me.

I entered graduate school with the idea that I was going to acquire a pure math Ph.D. and have a cushy job, doing mathematics all day. This turned out not to be the case, really; I had three primary options waiting for me upon graduation:

1. Education field. I love education and I enjoy teaching immensely, but I didn't want to spend the entirety of my life teaching mathematics without actually doing anything worthwhile in the field. It's a viable career, but it isn't something I naturally want to "do" for the rest of my life.

2. Actuarial work. This isn't bad, but they're exceedingly boring jobs with little to no intellectual benefit. It isn't just mathematics, either; you have to write code, know several languages and also engage in other corporate matters. I studied for the first exam and tested for it, passed it, but I lost interest. It isn't something that I enjoy at all and, again, I didn't want to spend 75% of my life doing something I loathe or, at the very least, find ridiculously boring.

3. Wall St. This isn't bad, but I didn't really have the background for it. I took tons of courses in pure mathematics and dynamical systems, but nothing heavy in stats.

I ended up leaving my PhD mathematics program and toiled for a year in an education job as a vice principal, armed with a BS/MS in Mathematics. Dynamical systems was always a huge interest of mine, so I kept studying it after work and I took control theory classes; out of all of my graduate coursework, I enjoyed that the most.

I applied to a PhD program in Mechanical Engineering (Dynamical Systems/Control Theory) specialty and got in. I left the job and I haven't had a second thought since. Employers find my background unique, since I have a strong pure mathematics background combined with very strong engineering foreground. It's nice.

>>8418002
You make people like me look dumb and pathetic with lousy life choices.

>>8417140
>I mean the rabbit hole has gone so deep that most people publishing "new" mathematics don't really have any idea why its useful, what it means or why we should even care.

Yes this is true. One solution: do mathematical physics or something like that. Another solution: do independent research on stuff that is actually meaningful. Or both, as I am doing. What I've heard about grad school is that you're basically forced to do whatever your advisor wants you to do, which is more than likely some arcane nonsense.

>>8417140
Yes. I work construction, am just finishing my undergrad in math now. Will do postgrad, but continue working construction. If in a few years somebody wants to pay me more money to do cushier work then I'd be a fool not to take it, but I like modern algebra and complex analysis and can't solve PDE's for shit, so I'm not holding my breath.

>>8417405
I was an intern at ORNL for a bit and the gist I got from Physics majors is that 80% of your time is playing with models and the other 20% is transforming your crazy ass dreams, day dreams, drug trips, and speculations into mathematical models for the expanding non-earth universe.

In other words, a lot of hot-air for hefty grant money. Not a bad gig but I;m more microbiology focused so it was a beyond my understanding of mathematics and physics.

I'm doing the same, but with physics, kind of wishing I went for something else like engineering, or is it a case of the grass is always greener on the other side?

I have no idea what I want to do once I graduate.

>>8419398
>I have no idea what I want to do once I graduate.
Story of my life. Im in a pure math program and while I love doing this shit I also want to, you know, make money using it. What are you considering?

>>8417140
>don't really have any idea why its useful, what it means or why we should even care.
>Implying I care about any of these
I just want to prove I'm smart

>>8417140
>math
>>>/x/

>>8421549
> Science and Math

>>8420827
Thinking about medical physics, I mean medics make good money, so that can't be so bad.
Admittedly I still have to research about the field actually is.

It's either that or something engineering related or being an experimental physicist.

I just can't picture myself as a professor, I greatly enjoy tutoring, but that is due to it being more personal than teaching a classroom (and the few lectures I gave where quite boring).
I always had this picture that I was going to be a theoretical physicist or a mathematical physicist or maybe even make the jump to pure math, and have been pushing towards that and then suddenly I can't see that as a career path anymore.

What have you been considering?

>>8421760
But math is not real, so they should be in >>>/x/