What Can I do With a Degree in Math?

Career Center Library Resources
The Career Center Library has a variety of resources to help students explore potential career fields. These resources include information about typical responsibilities, qualifications, career paths, job outlook, salary, and related careers.

Books Specifically Related to Math Majors

  • Careers for Number Crunchers & Other Quantitative Types
  • Real People Working in Science
  • Great Jobs for Math Majors

Vocational Biographies
Vocational Biographies describes the career success stories of 1001 real people. Search by career title, keyword, topic, and career cluster. Username: portland su and pass code: 3w9n

  • Bank Examiner
  • Actuary
  • Financial Planner
  • Bio-Medical Statistician
  • Mortgage Broker
  • Insurance Claim Specialist

Professional Associations

Internet Sites with Career-Related Information for Math Majors

  • What Can I do with a Major in...Mathematics — From the Career Services Office at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, North Carolina. Includes a "representative sample of job titles of former [UNCW] math or computer science majors."
  • Math — Lists potential job titles and related skills. From the University Career and Employment Services at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.
  • College Majors and Career Opportunities - Math/Statistics — Lists related occupations and types of employers. From Career Services, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
  • Math — Lists job titles related to math majors. From the Career Exploration Center at the University of Texas, Austin, Texas.
  • Mathematicians — From the Occupational Outlook Handbook.
  • Statisticians — From the Occupational Outlook Handbook.
  • Actuaries — From the Occupational Outlook Handbook.
  • Mathematical Sciences Career Information — AMS-MAA-SIAM Non-Academic Employment Project. Contains many, many useful links. Current Career Profiles — From the American Mathematical Society. Profiles people who have made "nonacademic career choices in the mathematical sciences." Be sure to view AMS's Archived Career Profiles for an impressive selection of archived profiles. Profiles can be searched alphabetically. Career Profiles — From the Mathematical Association of America. These profiles "show you how the study of mathematics can prepare you for a range of rewarding careers in many fields. Those profiled work in well known companies, government agencies, the arts, and in professions such as law and medicine. Much of the material is geared toward the undergraduate student in mathematics."
  • Careers in Applied Mathematics and Computational Sciences — From the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.
  • Careers in Statistics — From the American Statistical Association.
  • What is an Actuary? — From the Actuarial Science Program, Departments of Math and Statistics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.
  • Be an Actuary — From the Casualty Actuarial Society and the Society of Actuaries.
  • Math: What Can I Do With This Major? — Outlines common career areas, identifies typical employers, and suggests general strategies to enhance employability. From Career Services at the University of Tennessee.

Internet Sites with Job Search Information for Math Majors

Places of Employment
Math majors may find employment in a variety of fields depending on their skills and experience. Places of employment for math majors include: government agencies, businesses (banking, finance, insurance, market research, etc.), and educational institutions.

The following list of employers and job titles was derived from the Career Center's jobs database where the employer specifically requested math majors. This list does not reflect all potential places of employment or kinds of jobs for math majors. This list does not reflect current openings.

Miscellaneous

Department of Mathematical Sciences - Portland State University