Just curious.
[ol]
[li]Teach[/li][quote]
Would you like fries with that?
[/quote]
[li]Go back to school for their next degree[/li][/ol]
This is the setup to so many punchlines I don’t know where to begin…
#1 true
#2 maybe for English, but people with a masters or Ph.D. in mathematics are in a very good place in the job market. Remember, mathematics isn’t about numbers: it’s about rational, deductive reasoning. This skill set is applicable to almost any problem that may arise.
Then again, when teaching can provide the ultimate job security, why would you want to do anything else?
Although you couldn’t possibly tell from the title this recent Pit thread contains numerous posts from English majors discussing their current jobs. It also contains most of those punchlines Hail Ants mentions, along with some heated language pedantry.
Do you mean only Mathematics, only English, or both?
Coz if you mean both I suppose you could always make a decent profit in the porn industry.
…
huh?
People with a strong math background can do finance and computer programming.
Either Math or English, not both. I can’t imagine the job picture is that bleak. Surely by the time you’ve committed to getting an advanced degree, you’ve got to have some notion of a rational strategy formulated for getting a job. No one can be silly enough to spend the time investment and expense required to get a Masters or PHD in an esoteric speciality, and then look around for gainful employment.
I taught English (technical writing and also literature) at university, and ran a technical writing business. I eventually became a litigation lawyer, which heavily draws on my English background.
I have a M.S. in Technical Communication (from an English department) and I work in Human Resources. It actually works out pretty well, combined with an undergraduate degree in Psychology.
Technical communication/writing seems to be where a lot of English majors make a living.
My uncle has a M.S. in Math, he programmed computers for an insurance company.
I know a guy with a math degree where I work, a wireless communication firm. He does encryption work for our company. He did take a number of classes that specialized in encryption and number theory.
Traditionally, people with mathematics degrees have often gone into fields only tangentially related to high level math. Like computer programming, investment banking, law etc.
Traditionally, people with english degrees have also often gone into fields only tangentially related to english. Like fry cook, gast station attendant, walmart greeter etc.
Here’s a prominent politician whose dissertation was titled On the Jacobson Radical of a Group Algebra.
Hmm… IIRC Chalabi is also (allegedly) a notorious, world class scam artist.
That bastard told me he’d write me a dissertation on Jacobian Radicals for $40.00 and a Starbucks double latte, but the bastard skipped out with the latte.
I wonder what he’s up to now…
I’ve worked with several *uber-*genius math wizzes – guys who think getting a PhD is slumming – doing *uber-*advanced work developing new computer algorithms, primarily in military applications.
They write computer manuals, natch!!
:eek: 
I got to masters degree level in both English and Maths – I was torn for about 10 years deciding which one I preferred, and finished up studying both. I then became a librarian, and I’ve found both useful in my work ever since. (It really does help as a librarian if you know some stuff outside the humanities)
Oh, quite to the contrary. While I knew before high school that the ivory tower was the lifestyle for me, many of my colleagues entered graduate school precisely as a delaying tactic. Admittedly math at my school relatively easily leads to academia, so it becomes its own rational strategy.
Honestly, in this job market why would anyone who’s got the chops for grad school want to go up against everyone else in trying to get a “real job”?