Conversation Between wanderlust.xx and c3dric

Thank you so much for your advice

As far as I can tell, the only reason a uni wouldn't allow you to change the course title would be if they were already fully subscribed for that course for that year, but this is unlikely considering the high dropout rates for maths students.

Employers will only know what you did in your final year if you physically tell them. They'll probably ask you if you're applying for a job in engineering or research, but for jobs within finance it's probably a safe bet that you won't be asked directly.

Yeah, keeping the choice wide at the beginning seems to be the most sensible choice!
Does the change in degree title applicable to all universities? And will employees know which branch you have chosen for the last years such as mechanics, fluid mechanics, quantum theory, applied physics, statistics, encryption etc ?

I think you're a little confused as to how everything works. If you're up against someone with a maths degree, they won't care at all. You both have the same classification. It then boils down to your interview and your personality. If they see you as a good fit, they will take you. That's it!

Those unis are fantastic for maths. MORSE seems to lead well into financial services, but again you might end up wanting to go into mechanical engineering. In my opinion, you should keep your options open right now. Don't pigeonhole yourself into one specific category until you have a clearer idea of how everything works in industry. It's the safer option, IMO. If you get to third year and you find you've done the same modules as someone from MORSE (even the Econ ones) then you can actually change your degree title to MORSE. My mate is thinking of changing to Maths and Econ from Maths with Finance. The former sounds better, IMHO.

From what I understand is that with a maths degree I can turn to the financial world, industrial , scientific, pharmaceutical and education !
But let's for example imagine such a case: someone has a degree in maths+stats and applying for a job in finance and me I have a maths degree with the same result (w/e it is 2:1 or 2:2 etc...) the other person has an advantage then ?
Do you think Birmingham, UCL, UEA and Southampton are good for maths also ? Southampton offers MORSE like Warwick, this course is more targeted towards something like finance or can I shift to the above mentioned fields?
For LSE, it only offers maths with economics so I'll probably apply for actuary !
Thanks again

If, like me, you get to your third year and you still don't know what to do, it's not the end of the world. It's diverse and will get you into just about any career. It's also better than being a media finalist and realising you no longer want to go into media... your options are rather screwed. That's certainly not the case with a maths degree, and it's even less the case if you graduate from a big name like Imperial, LSE, Warwick, Oxbridge, Manchester... choose one of those universities and you are (quite literally) made for life. That's not to say that places like Kings, Royal Holloway etc don't have fantastic employment rates for mathematicians... because they really do. Apparently almost 85% of graduates are in full time education or employment within 6 months of graduation, and the other 15% weren't available for comment. So... I think we can safely assume that the vast majority of 1st and 2:1 holders were in the 85% majority. Don't worry about it.

As for careers, there's plenty of options. Generally people don't worry about careers and do maths because they found it fun (it's not the same as A level, as most people find out in first year). Once you've done the basics in first year and the more advanced stuff in second, you'll have a clearer idea of what each branch of maths will involve (mechanics, fluid mechanics, quantum theory, applied physics, statistics, encryption etc) so it'll be easier to know what you like and what you don't like.

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There's not much of a difference between straight maths and maths & stats. In most cases, a maths and statistics degree is simply a maths degree with the statistics options frozen (ie they're compulsory).

There's a girl in our year who's being forced to do the third year probability course (Inference) because she's doing a maths and stats degree. She realised in second year that she hated statistics and wanted to focus on other areas like applied maths and quantum theory, but she can't change it. If I wanted to focus on stats then I could, and then simply mention it at an interview. It's not much different, really, you just get 'statistics' in the name of your degree. I could be wrong with other unis, but that's what it's like for mine.

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Hello, I saw that you are/was doing a maths degree.
Then afterwards, what kind of jobs do you think you will choose because I'm also facing this dilemma whether to choose for maths or coupled with something like stats.
Thanks for your advice