I should never have picked a major that involves math.

[Fox Mulder]

For the life of me, I cannot do complex math. Give me your basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems, and I will be able to do them. Anything else, no.

I am ranting about math because I just got a homework assignment that involves trig functions. I looked at it and now I'm thinking :wtf: It might as well be in Chinese for all I care.

Sigh. If I could go back and do it all over again, I'd go into a non-science degree, such as psychology, poli sci, or even business/management.

I guess I have to tough it out for only one more semester (when I graduate). :(

[KitchenWitch]

1. Is there a good tutoring lab?

I had a great calculus tutor when I was in college.

[Deep13]

2. How's your reading comprehension scores from the SAT?

How about your math scores?

[Fox Mulder]

3. I never took the SATs.

I only took the ACTs.

[Deep13]

7. what does that test?

I took the LSAT, so I have no idea.

[KitchenWitch]

9. ACT is the midwestern analog to the SATs

[Fox Mulder]

10. Science, Math, and English...

[Deep13]

14. okay, was your math score similar to your language scores?

:shrug:

[Fox Mulder]

15. My language scores were far better than my math scores.

In fact, I scored the highest in the English section.

[Deep13]

16. as I suspected

You may have an anxiety disorder that prevents you from being able to focus on abstract math problems. You only have one brain so the scores should be similar. Something to check out. I heard about this in a forensic phsychology class, so I'm no expert.

[Fox Mulder]

19. Wow...

I'm suffering from generalized anxiety disorder. That could be the cause of my math troubles?

[Deep13]

20. worth finding out.

[Lavender Brown]

4. That sucks, but you've made it pretty far already

Hopefully the degree will lead to more job prospects after graduation.

[Fox Mulder]

5. Like what?

I don't want to do geology anymore...so wouldn't that make my degree a waste? :(

:shrug:

Serious question, by the way.

[Lavender Brown]

12. Hmm

Have you had an appointment with your school's career counselors? They can usually help you look into jobs that might not be the obvious next step from your major.

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. What are you majoring in that you have trig as a senior?

Did you have any trig in high school?

And what are you having difficulty with?

[Fox Mulder]

8. It's for my Tectonics course.

Which I'm thinking about dropping. It's a 3000-level geology course. There's only one particular geology professor (out of four) on my campus that uses any sort of advanced math, and the prof I have for the tectonics course is the one. :(

I'm having trouble with everything. There's a lot of complex equations he wants us to use in figuring out the problems and I can't do them. I'm just going to drop the course, I think. I hate the prof anyways.

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. Find a math major and ask for help

Or most any other science or engineering major - they would have probably had trig in high school. You should have no problem finding anyone who can do the stuff.

[Fox Mulder]

13. I would, but...

I gave up caring about a 1/2 hour ago.

[alarcojon]

17. If you change your mind, I have been called DU's best math tutor.....

although it seems to me your interests may lie elsewhere.

I wouldn't discount the value of a good mathematics background, even if you don't go into a field which uses math. People who succeed in math are generally regarded as hard workers and good problem solvers, and it often puts one ahead in the job market. I had a friend who went from a bachelor's degree in math into law school, where his analytical thinking skills were put to good use.

[Fox Mulder]

18. Can you do that?

Go to grad school majoring in something else?

That'd be sweet if you could. Then I won't feel like the last five years of my life were a waste.

[alarcojon]

21. Happens all the time

It depends on what else you took in addition to your major, what field you plan to enter, what your natural talents and interests are, and how well you sell yourself.

I would discuss this with a career counselor.

[Fox Mulder]

22. Dang...

I'm gonna have to do that.

Thanks!

[Rabrrrrrr]

23. You can go to grad school for whatever you want

The only real hitches being, say, getting a BA in history and then wanting to get a master's in physics or chemistry...

But yes, you can definitely switch.

And you can easily go into business with a non-business degree - consulting firms and investment banks especially hire a lot of non-business majors, because they want a good representation of all fields of knowledge - and all most companies are really concerned with is whether you are a good worker, show some initiative, had some leadership, and did well.

In the consulting firm and investment bank I worked in, people in leadership and some of the top ($millions) brokers were: medical doctors, PHds in economics, I knew one guy with a PhD in string theory who moved into business after ten years of publishing his work because business would actually pay him, quite a few history and english/literature majors, some art majors, quite a few engineers, some math majors, and quite a few MBAs to round it all out.

Upstream you asked if your degree is of any value - ALL education is of value! When I graduated college with a BSEE, I immediately went into an entirely different career path, but that degree has never been wasted. NEVER. Even though I don't "use" it, I learned a hell of a lot from it.

[0rganism]

25. Find a mathematics modeling program and learn how to use it

Matlab (my personal favorite for numerical analysis)

Maple (good for manipulating and simplifying equations and algorithms)

Mathematica (quite popular, strong general-purpose modeling software)

Even a humble Excel spreadsheet program should be able to help somewhat.

Sometimes, you just have to play around with functions to see how they work in a given situation. I would have had a much more difficult time in my electromagnetism classes without using graphics-capable software to visualize things like 3-dimensional waves.

In addition to helping you pass your classes, familiarity with this sort of software is excellent resume' fodder.

[Wetzelbill]

24. I should have never taken this Health Care Policy class....

it's tedious. Interesting to a point, but it's getting to be too much work and I'm not interested in it the way I am say, international relations.