6 Common Misconceptions About Mathematics Degrees

This is a complete lie! Maths students are great problem-solvers, which means they can fit into any job in quite a lot of fields. Yes, you can teach or train to be an accountant, but you could also work for betting companies, running the program to calculate the live odds of the next footballer scoring in the big derby at the weekend. The possibilities are literally endless, so don’t be under the impression that you have to train to teach at the end of the three year degree.

Every mathematics degree is different. Some will have more real world applications (such as modelling waves in the sea) and others will be stuffed to the brim with algebra; there’s literally a course out there for everyone, whether you really like Excel and statistics or you’re more interested in the applied engineering and game theory side of things. Oh, and numbers are just the tip of the iceberg: hexadecimal values, the Greek alphabet and most of the English alphabet are used too, it’s not just x and y anymore!

According to The Guardian, 42% of all maths undergraduates in the UK in 2011-2012 were female. So while there still may be a fair few male mathematicians on your chosen course, there will also be a lot of female students equally as interested in all the number crunching and differential equations!

Some people just have that knack for working things out in their heads really quickly, but I don’t think you’ll be able to find many people, even maths students, who can tell you what 6432 ÷ 17 is off the top of their heads in under 10 seconds (it’s 378.353 for reference). Maths students are normal humans, who too rely on calculators for sums. They aren’t all wizards who can do the 27 times table from memory!

If you have an interest in numbers, statistics, algebra or really enjoyed A-Level standard mathematics, then you shouldn’t be put off. No degree is a walk in the park, but everything you learn either teaches you new skills or builds on existing knowledge. Don’t be scared of a little bit of maths; it doesn’t bite after all!