If you are deeply interested and wish to build your career in mathematics, it is possible to have a good satisfying career ahead.

Maths is one of the few subjects, wherein the higher you go in your studies, the more reasoning and logic is required.

Hence, it is important that students have the following skills to begin with while starting their career in Mathematics

– Good skills at solving mathematical problems

– Logical reasoning, and

– Precise thinking

Careers one can choose in Mathematics

In India mostly students take up teaching as a career after their graduation or post graduation in maths.

However there are many other career options which you can choose to with mathematics.

Apart from teaching, the following organisation/deparments are open for students to have a great career in mathematics

Opportunities in government organisations

• ISRO (The Indian Space Research Organisation)
• DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation)
• NAL (National Aeronautics Limited)

These organisations need mathematicians to solve sophisticated mathematical problems releated to their respective research areas of space, defence and aeronautics.

Opportunities in Private Industries

• IT companies are another good option, where they need mathematicians to work in their research department. With every little thing having a computerised chip inside, the complexities involved in calculations and design of these things need expert mathematicians at its core.
• Banks and Insurance companies needs mathematicians who combines maths and stats to come up with various financial models / products (eg., loans, investments etc.,). Only a skilled mathematician is able to calculate and reason to design such complex and critical financial models.
• Biotechnology companies needs students with strong academic background in biology and mathematics for their research

Opportunities in the field of Teaching

Teaching is always a good option as the salary package offered are decent from the entry level to lecturers and professors.

With the number of institutions coming up every day we have lack of supply to the surging demand of lecturers/professors.

Hence, teaching as a career has always been in demand and we have vacant jobs for specialists in institutions more than the number of students passing out every year.

The following institutions offers great job/ career opportunities to students with good academic background in mathematics

• DST – Department of Science and Technology
• IITs – Indian Institute of Technology
• IISc – Indian Institute of Science

Academic Courses

The academic courses a student need to take up for a career in mathematics are:-

after 12th Courses in Mathematics

B.Sc. – Regular 3-year course (Maths)

B.Sc (Hons) – 4 year course

B.Sc (Acturial Science)

After Graduation Courses in Mathematics

M.Sc.

Integrated Courses

A student, after 12th, can also opt for a 4-year or 5-year integrated courses:

• 4-year B.S. and 1 year M.S prorgramme

IISc is currently having a 4 year B.S (Bachelor’s in Science) and 1 year M.S. (Master’s in Science) programme for study in Mathematics]

• 5-year Integrated MSc programme

This is a combined coure viz. BSc (3 years) and MSc (2 years) combined in to one programme of 5 years.

The following institutions are currently having this 5-year integrated programme:-

• IITs
• IISERs
• NISER
• Central University-Hyderabad
• Central University-Pondicherry

Post Graduation Courses- M.Phil and PhD

With more students taking up teaching as a career, there is also cut-throat competition.

To have an upperhand and to get in to the best Institution it is important that student pursue higher studies in research.

The following institutes offers higher learning in research areas for Mathematics

• TIFR – Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
• IMSc – Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc)
• HRI – Harish Chandra Research Institute
• Indian Statistical Institute
• IITs
• IISc
• IISERs – Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research
• NISER – National Institute of Science Education and Research
• CMI – Chennai Mathematical Institute
• ISRO – It has its institution for research studies at Thiruvananthapuram
• Universities – All State and Central Universities

(An M.Phil. is regarded as a senior or second Master’s degree, standing between your Master’s and a Ph.D (Wikipedia). Most Universities considers M.Phil mandatory to do Ph.D.)

Specialisations – A few specialistion that you can opt for in Mathematics in higher studies

• Algebra
• Geometry
• Biomathematics
• Complex Dynamics
• Combinatorics
• Mathematical Logic
• Differential Equations
• Fluid Mechanics
• Computational Fluid Dynamics
• Image Processing and Probability and Statistics

Source: http://genwis.com/after-12th/career-in-mathematics/