For most college majors, career options are fairly straightforward. Generally, biology majors go into the medical field, chemistry majors go into engineering and English majors go into education or journalism. However, a mathematics major has a variety of options once they complete their undergraduate degree. Whether considering career opportunities or potential graduate degrees, it’s important to assess the foundations a math degree provides and to consider the abounding possibilities.

1. Academia

For those that like math for the sake of math (i.e. pure math), academia is an excellent option. Nonetheless, the path to becoming to a professor is not easy. The majority of universities require aspiring professors to complete a graduate degree and doctorate in their chosen field. Additionally, they must conduct research and then be published in a journal. Along the way, it is important to find internships to get experience and to increase chances of teaching at a reputable university. Once hired, being a professor will involve teaching classes, conducting and supervising research, working for journals, and assisting students in their future endeavors.

2. Software Engineering

Many careers in software heavily incorporate mathematics. Most who complete an undergraduate degree in mathematics have a strong basis to earn a master's degree in software engineering, as much of it is based on algorithms. In fact, this combination opens a variety of different jobs, whether in data mining, creating and optimizing analytic software or just creating applications.

3. Finance

In addition to an undergraduate in mathematics, a career in finance requires a degree in business. Also, going into finance requires economics, which is closely connected to mathematics. Many large-scale companies, such as Jane Street and Optiver, are constantly looking for mathematicians who can create accurate models for the stock market and other ventures so that they can optimize investments.

4. Actuarial Science

A career as an actuary has been rated with a very high job satisfaction. Actuarial science involves a variety of different specializations: in math, software, business and especially statistics. Mostly, actuaries work for insurance companies, and they essentially analyze risk by creating accurate statistical models based on previous data. As a very problem-solving oriented job, actuarial science draws on a multitude of fields and draws connections between them.

5. Systems Biology

Systems biology perhaps draws on the most different fields to make an incredibly interesting career. In addition to biology, becoming a systems biologist requires physics, chemistry, a large amount of bioinformatics and programming experience, and thus mathematics. A systems biologist deciphers an organism as a whole, rather than looking at different components of it, and then does research on it. This career has been involved in genetic engineering and even The Human Genome Project.

So...what will you do with your math degree?