Preparing For Non-Academic Jobs
The MIT Mathematics major provides excellent preparation for a very wide diversity of postgraduate jobs. Almost half of our majors move straight into a job after graduation. The most popular areas in recent years have been the financial sector, consulting, and software design.
The principle MIT resource for helping match students with postgraduate job opportunities is the MIT Careers Office. They have prepared a Mathematics Majors Guide with information specifically for mathematics majors. The Careers Office serves alumni as well as students.
The Undergraduate Mathematics Office also has information about summer jobs and permanent positions in industry and government. Job notices are posted on the mathematics majors' bulletin board.
Other good resources are the American Mathematical Society websites for mathematics majors:
- Employment for Undergraduate Mathematics Majors
- Mathematical Sciences Career Information
- Surveys and Outreach
There are several commercial job-matching services. The most famous is Monster. AfterCollege, while not affiliated with MIT, makes an attempt to optimize for MIT math graduates.
You can also check MSRI's half-hour video Careers in Mathematics.
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:
| Year | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st degree in math | 50 | 74 | 61 | 73 | 45 | 82 | 61 | 68 | 76 |
| 2nd degree in math | 39 | 44 | 45 | 33 | 30 | 33 | 34 | 37 | 51 |
| * EMPLOYMENT | |||||||||
| Computers, software | 5 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 7 |
| Consulting | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 3 |
| Financial | 6 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 14 | 20 | 10 | 9 | 11 |
| Other | 5 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 11 |
*Data are based on senior exit surveys, which are necessarily incomplete.
Other post-graduate positions by mathematics majors graduating in 2008 and 2009 include: research assistants (BCS, Broad Institute, Lincoln Labs), MISTI/India, MISTI/Japan, Peace Corps, Teach for America, work in start-ups, an actuary and a dancer. Other graduate programs are also diverse, including such fields as biology, economics, law, medicine, music, operations research and business.
