MATH MAJORS/MINORS: Need Advice

[ChristianTroy1]

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I am a 3rd year Chem major right now, but I really want to either change my major to mathematics or minor in it. I have room for one Math class in my schedule next quarter to see if I like it or not. So far I have taken Calc 1,2, and 3, and Ordinary Differential Equations and received A's and A-'s in all of them.

I want to get a feel for how being a math major is. I have two options for classes, since there are only 2 classes open right now (Damn UC Budge crisis). Should I take "Linear Algebra and its Applications" or should I take "Combinatorics" ? I have done the pre-reqs for both.

My question is, which did you guys find more enjoyable? Which do you recommend? And how is the life of being a math major pre-med? Thank you math people.

 

[ChristianTroy1]

Because I am interested in mathematics and don't want to be like every other pre-med robot out there.

 

[theWUbear]

ChristianTroy - I am a future medical student (accepted), and did a math major in undergrad. It beat my GPA up badly. What I wish I did (besides not do it at all) is take as many statistics-related courses as possible (intro through advanced prob/stat, experimental design, biostats, etc).

I will say that your desire to branch out and be unique is noble.

My other major regret is not learning/taking as many language courses as possible. How's your Spanish? If you care about being able to help the maximum amount of people as a future physician, consider taking a few Spanish classes 🙂

And if you end up going in the route you were going to go in, I would without a doubt take linear algebra and (as I did, and rightly so, during undergrad) stay the heck away from any proof-based courses

All just my two cents. Good luck

 

[ChristianTroy1]

ChristianTroy - I am a future medical student (accepted), and did a math major in undergrad. It beat my GPA up badly. What I wish I did (besides not do it at all) is take as many statistics-related courses as possible (intro through advanced prob/stat, experimental design, biostats, etc).

I will say that your desire to branch out and be unique is noble.

My other major regret is not learning/taking as many language courses as possible. How's your Spanish? If you care about being able to help the maximum amount of people as a future physician, consider taking a few Spanish classes 🙂

And if you end up going in the route you were going to go in, I would without a doubt take linear algebra and (as I did, and rightly so, during undergrad) stay the heck away from any proof-based courses

All just my two cents. Good luck

What specifically did you not like about your major if you don't mind me asking? And how could you stay away from proof based courses if math is your MAJOR ? Isn't that the essence of math?

My problem here is this. Chemistry isn't a whole lot easier than math. I really don't like a lot of aspects of chemistry, and I am not looking forward to the P-Chem Labs, the Biochem Labs, the Organic Chem Labs, etc. I just figure that I'm heading down a long road of pain and misery either way.

As far as Spanish goes, I plan to take 1 full year. I think I am 4th generation American, and as you can probably assume, I am really only proficient in English. My main concern at this point (as is every other pre-med's concern) is getting into medical school.

I've done all of the med school pre-reqs and I have also taken Genetics. I am currently enrolled in Biochem and P-Chem, so after this quarter, I will have basically completed all of the "recommended" courses some med schools want.

Thank you for appreciating my desire to branch out and try something new. Life is all about taking it a step up, and broadening your horizons. Any more insight as to why not math would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all !

 

[IMSingular]

I would suggest combinatorics. It is strongly tied to probability theory and statisitics. Combinatorics will help you understand drug testing and epidemology at a deeper level. Experimental design of tests in medical field is all about combinatorics; latin cubes etc. Combinatorics is also very useful in genetics and uderstanding gene expression. With deep interest in mathematics you probably should aim for MD/PhD. Combinatorics will be quite helpful in reserach. Linear algebra is simpler; you can learn it by your self; you might have already learnt it in ordinary differential equations if your course has covered higher order differential equations where you reduce them to many first order equations, and solving them is essentially linear algebra.

 

[synthmonsterjax]

most math programs will require you to take upper-level real and complex analysis, abstract algebra, topology, (differential) geometry, (algebraic) number theory, etc. all of these courses require significant time investment.

i would suggest sitting-on on a basic point-set topology course for a semester to see if you'd like spending your time doing proofs. typically, topology is one of the first "upper-division" classes students at your level take, so if you opted for the major, you'd probably be taking it immediately.

in the abstract, math is beautiful and fun and everything, but these classes are not so fluffy-fluffy.

 

[Lil Mick]

Don't do an MD/PhD in math. You'll wind up choosing one over the other and resenting the other part of your training (in my own experience).

As for math courses, I'd recommend statistics (maybe logistic regression/multiple regression) or combinatorics, though linear algebra, biomathematics, or computational mathematics courses may help you understand mathematical biology/biophysics... research, as well. Math is very interesting, and much of it is relevent to biology/medicine. However, if you're a third year student, I doubt that you'll have time to major in it, learn it thoroughly, and graduate on time. A minor can be a good option to sample interesting topics without committing to such a rigorous course of study (math can be brutal on the gpa if you aren't the type to understand math very quickly or follow proofs well).

Also, if you are not enjoying pchem, the math major may not be the best option, as the thought process in quantum mechanics/thermodynamics is somewhat similar to upper division math courses.

 

[circulus vitios]

Linear algebra has a lot more application at the undergraduate level. It's used in differential equations, operations research, physics, statistics, engineering, etc.

I also started off as a chemistry major. I got bored and frustrated with organic and analytical chemistry, so I switched to math because I did well in calculus 1 & 2. The upper level classes aren't as interesting as the calculus series. ODEs were fun, but probability/statistics, PDEs, linear algebra, operations research, etc. have all bored me to tears.

I'm not saying that you will find them boring, too...just think it over before you jump into math. If you're like me and you enjoy applications of math more than you enjoy math itself, think about engineering.

 

[theWUbear]

What specifically did you not like about your major if you don't mind me asking? And how could you stay away from proof based courses if math is your MAJOR ? Isn't that the essence of math?

My problem here is this. Chemistry isn't a whole lot easier than math. I really don't like a lot of aspects of chemistry, and I am not looking forward to the P-Chem Labs, the Biochem Labs, the Organic Chem Labs, etc. I just figure that I'm heading down a long road of pain and misery either way.

As far as Spanish goes, I plan to take 1 full year. I think I am 4th generation American, and as you can probably assume, I am really only proficient in English. My main concern at this point (as is every other pre-med's concern) is getting into medical school.

I've done all of the med school pre-reqs and I have also taken Genetics. I am currently enrolled in Biochem and P-Chem, so after this quarter, I will have basically completed all of the "recommended" courses some med schools want.

Thank you for appreciating my desire to branch out and try something new. Life is all about taking it a step up, and broadening your horizons. Any more insight as to why not math would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all !

I did math because at the time it was something I liked, and I also enjoyed being different, in a versatile field of study. The upper level math courses kicked my butt 😛 But that was I'm sure a product of my effort as much as it was a product of the difficulty of the classes.

My math major was able to be done in different 'tracks', (applied/theoretical/statistical). I did applied, and ensured I did not take any upper level proof-based courses.

I was in an SMP and I have taken a few medical school classes. As much as people (myself included) like to say that math is a foundation for everything, there really wasn't much relevance between what I learned and what showed up in my med school classes. I haven't taken physio, though, and that is supposed to be a lot of physics (that I'm sure I'll have a leg up on, understanding the equations and concepts). As I haven't seen anything related to anything I learned in my upper level math classes, all that knowledge has atrophied in two years time. I couldn't tell you how to solve a partial differential equation - nor will it ever be useful knowledge for a physician ^_^ I really believe that proof-based math is even more removed from relevance to the practice of medicine

As long as you put in the effort to do well, it's great to do whatever interests you in college. I hope I'm not coming off too negative. If IMSingular was correct in saying combinatorics is tied in to prob/stat, perhaps I would go with that. Maybe I would wait for another semester with more prob/stat-related courses. Though if I were back in ugrad I would choose more Spanish first, then either stats or a second language like Korean/Chinese/French. College is really your last chance in life to dedicate yourself to languages.

Great job finishing the pre-reqs and the suggested courses (genetics, biochem).

 

[IMSingular]

I do not know how much application combinatorics has to drug testing, epidemiology, or genetics. People who specialize in those areas tend not to have studied any of the university math courses.

If you do an MD/PhD in something math-intensive, then I expect that you will either not use the 4 years of MD program, or not use the 4+ years of the math-intensive PhD.

I am not sure why combinatorics would be harder to learn on your own than linear algebra.

It is very unlikely that the OP learned linear algebra during the differential equations course.

Well. I wasn't particularly saying that MD/PhD should be math intensive. I was just saying that combinatorics would be useful. Technicians who test drugs and epidemology may not be math majors. But design of such experiment and analysis of the experiments does need more intensive statistics, and combinatorics is part of it. Genetics, of course, is combinatorics of how different genes can combine to express themselves.
Well you can learn everything by yourselves! I was trying to just select between linear algebra and combinatorics, and that was OP's question; I would rather suggest statistics where you will learn required amount of combinatorics and probability theory. There is good possibilty of touching linear algebra, though they may not explicitly say so, if higher order differential equations are treated as set of first order difefrential equations, but that ofcourse depends how the instructor presented that.

 

[HolySmokes]

Whether or not a math major is a GPA breaker is entirely school dependent. I was a math major and took classes at two different colleges, neither of which hurt my GPA. Linear is your best bet to test the waters with math, assuming they offer a version that is for math majors only (ie heavily proof based). Don't take Linear Algebra meant for engineers because it's often nothing more than doing a few simple calculations. If you manage to get through a proof based course and still enjoy it, then go for a math major if you think that's what you want.

You'll be hard pressed to avoid proof based courses, even the applied math majors at my college had to take Algebra and Analysis. Again, how difficult these courses are is entirely dependent on your program. Mine wasn't very tough to be perfectly honest--I breezed through all my math classes without much effort. Friends of mine at more prestigious universities have shown me some of their homework and it's on an entirely different level than what I was expected to know. Like WUbear said, upper level math is very removed from anything practical you will be doing as a physician. That said, I don't regret being a math major and it seemed to impress some of my interviewers along the way.

 

[expendible]

I am a 3rd year Chem major right now, but I really want to either change my major to mathematics or minor in it. I have room for one Math class in my schedule next quarter to see if I like it or not. So far I have taken Calc 1,2, and 3, and Ordinary Differential Equations and received A's and A-'s in all of them.

I want to get a feel for how being a math major is. I have two options for classes, since there are only 2 classes open right now (Damn UC Budge crisis). Should I take "Linear Algebra and its Applications" or should I take "Combinatorics" ? I have done the pre-reqs for both.

My question is, which did you guys find more enjoyable? Which do you recommend? And how is the life of being a math major pre-med? Thank you math people.

I was actually a Chem major and a math minor, and to tell you the truth if you suck at proofs like I did, then do not become a math major, because you will fail at classes like abstract algebra (my only B was advanced linear algebra, because it had proofs!). I was like you thinking about changing to something like chemical engineering but decided not to eventhough I took those same classes with all As, but in the end being a math major wont really give you a real advantage when applying to med schools or when you get into med school. I recommend just sticking to chem and if you enjoy math, just do it on the side like a math minor.