# What to do with a PhD in pure math? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 13, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-phd-in-pure-math/592585 "2011-08-13T17:20:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Terracotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Terracotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terracotta)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-phd-in-pure-math/592585/1 "2011-08-13T17:20:34Z")
I’m in a PhD program for pure mathematics, but I do not want to follow my original plan of working in academia after graduation. Does anyone know what else I might do with a PhD in math (no cryptography skills here) besides research or teaching? Also, are there any additional skills I could pick up in about a year (4 or 5 classes) that might increase the number of jobs available to me? ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-phd-in-pure-math/592585/2 "2011-08-13T19:17:36Z")
You could get an engineering degree, but that’s probably a two-year program, not a single year. What is your area of focus within mathematics? ---
**Author:** ![Terracotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Terracotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terracotta)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-phd-in-pure-math/592585/3 "2011-08-13T19:57:16Z")
My research area is number theory; specifically, the theory of automorphic forms. ---
**Author:** ![Crescend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Crescend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescend)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-phd-in-pure-math/592585/4 "2011-08-13T20:11:54Z")
If you’re handy with stochastic calculus, the usual suspects in quantitative finance may be interested. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-phd-in-pure-math/592585/5 "2011-08-13T20:31:37Z")
I’d suggest putting it in a very nice frame. But more seriously, my college roommate went on to get a PhD in math (I don’t know his specific specialty, sorry) - but he’s gone through a number of jobs where he was heavily recruited doing…something involving algorithms, finding patterns in large sets of data (think Facebook data mining, but far less interesting sounding, is how he’d describe it). ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-phd-in-pure-math/592585/6 "2011-08-13T20:32:21Z")
I would think about teaching a little more. It’s a highly varied field, especially in the STEM disciplines. Consider informal education, e.g., museums and science centers. One of the best museum educators I know started out studying pure mathematics, then got a qualification in science communication, and now works at Cambridge, taking an enigma machine to schools to inspire the next generation of mathematicians. Even if you don’t want to be a university or high school math teacher, there’s other options in the field. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-phd-in-pure-math/592585/7 "2011-08-13T21:03:55Z")
Well, number theory is almost the only area of pure math that academic jobs are available in. Because of the connection to cryptography. But you say you are not interested in cryptography, so I don’t know what to say. AFAIK, the only other place for which there is a real demand is to become a quant. IMHO, quants are pimples on the economy, but that is just my opinion. I know a couple of mathematicians who became lawyers (is that any better?) Microsoft has hired some pure mathematicians for their research arm and that could be interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Terracotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Terracotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terracotta)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-phd-in-pure-math/592585/8 "2011-08-13T21:06:53Z")
Thanks for the responses! I had forgotten about [mathoverflow.net](http://mathoverflow.net) until this afternoon. I found the following thread with several additional ideas for those who are interested: [Math Overflow thread](http://mathoverflow.net/questions/23525/how-does-an-academic-mathematician-educate-him-herself-about-job-opportunities-ou) ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-phd-in-pure-math/592585/9 "2011-08-13T21:37:49Z")
If you’re willing to consider academic positions outside of pure math, the demand for business faculty–and quantitative business faculty in particular–is pretty strong, and there are a handful of postdoctoral programs that are aimed to prepare you for those jobs. The only one I know off the top of my head is [Virginia Tech’s](http://www.aqbridge.pamplin.vt.edu/), but there are others out there. Edit: AACSB, which is the big accrediting body for business schools, has a [list](http://www.aacsb.edu/bridgetobusiness/default.asp) of the programs they recognize. ---
**Author:** ![RayMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e495f1/32.png) [@RayMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RayMan)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-phd-in-pure-math/592585/10 "2011-08-14T10:02:17Z")
Actuarial science?