The Department of Mathematics has designed its major to give students an understanding of several areas of mathematics. The program of study allows students to use electives to prepare themselves for a specific field, whether in industry, teaching or advanced graduate research. The following information and accompnaying links provide a very broad overview.
The department offers BS and BA degrees in Mathematics and in Applied and Computational mathematics. The distinction between `math’ (sometimes called `pure math’) and `applied math’ is not a firm one. Math can be thought of a as a subject pursued only for its own sake, and according to rules that may not be related to the world around us, and studied the way one might study art or music. Applied math is more concerned about putting mathematics to use in practical contexts. However, these two sides of mathematics inform each other constantly. `Pure’ problems that were studied with no application in mind later have been put to practical use, and those that originated due to the necessity of solving practical problems have opened areas of `pure’ study.
So, overall, based on the variety of our 4 degree programs, the minors we offer in Mathematics, Mathematical Finance, Statistics, and Mathematical Data Analytics, that our advanced upper division classes are typically small, the fact that our majors have the opportunity to participate in undergraduate research, and that our students maintain an active community though their Math Club, all make USC an excellent choice for the study of Mathematics.
Upon graduation, our majors have found employment in high tech, aerospace, information technology, finance, computing, health, insurance, defense, and education, among others.