Preparing For Non-Academic Jobs
The MIT Mathematics Major provides excellent preparation for a wide diversity of careers. Roughly half of our students move into a job straight after graduation.
Math Major Career Paths
In recent years, many of our seniors have found employment in the financial sector, consulting, and software design. Beyond this statement, there is a wide variation in individual career choices and priorities.
In past years, the careers of graduating students have included: research assistantships, MISTI, the Peace Corps, Teach for America, the actuarial profession, dance, movie animation, start-ups, and many others. Graduate programs other than mathematics were also popular, including biology, economics, law, medicine, music, operations research and business.
MIT Resources
- Career Advising and Professional Development
- Math Academic Services Office
- Department Math Major's bulletin board
External Resources
The references below are offered as a courtesy to students only. The MIT Mathematics Department does not assess the quality of the information provided, and does not endorse any particular employment service.
- American Mathematical Society Undergraduate Employment
- American Mathematical Society Mathematical Sciences Career Information
- American Mathematical Society Surveys and Outreach
- Monster (commercial job listing and recruitment website)
- AfterCollege (commercial job listing and recruitment website)
Graduating Seniors Statistics
Every spring the Mathematics Department surveys its graduating seniors. Here are some findings from those surveys. This is not complete information but it does indicate the range of careers our majors go on to:
Where MIT Mathematics Majors Went After MIT *
| Year | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of first majors | 101 | 97 | 104 | 99 | 102 | 98 | 85 | 98 | 112 | 117 |
| Number of second majors | 46 | 45 | 49 | 39 | 49 | 47 | 51 | 53 | 56 | 77 |
| Computers, software | 16 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 4 |
| Consulting | 6 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Financial | 12 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 8 | 17 | 14 | 6 | 4 | 22 |
| Other | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 1 |
| Machine learning and/or data science | 9 | |||||||||
| Don't Know yet | 3 | |||||||||
| Year off to Travel | 1 |
* Data are based on senior exit surveys, which are necessarily incomplete.