“I’m a math major”.
This is followed by a familiar dropped jaw, wide eyes, and a whispered “I could never”. Others go for the short laugh and a morbidly curious “Why?”. From the concerned brows, probing questions, and a vague sense that someone is about to call Student Services, one would think that majoring in math lies somewhere between Dante’s fifth and sixth circles of hell. (Engineering majors are a few levels down.) Despite the confused and borderline-concerned reactions, I love majoring in math.
So why do I hesitate before admitting to my major?
I wish other students would react to it with the same enthusiasm I have. I used to think the reason for their confusion and concern was me. I thought I didn’t fit the image people had in their heads of what a math major probably looks like. I wear my greek letters a lot, I’m a big fan of scrunchies, and I am obsessed with everything pink and sparkly. I’m also a woman. I didn’t think I would fit in with the rest of the Texas A&M math department. In my own eyes, I was an unlikely math major.
The first time I went to a college-level math class, I was pleasantly surprised. I saw people like me. I saw women with Starbucks in hand, pink binders, and pastel t-shirts. I don’t mean to boil down being a woman to Starbucks and the color pink, but that first day made me realize I wasn’t alone. I thought I was entering a world where traditional expressions of femininity might earn me raised brows and rolled eyes. During that class, I met a girl who told me she “didn’t think there were going to be any other girls.” To our astonishment, we both met women who were equally surprised and pleased to find students like them.
It turns out that there are actually a lot of female math majors. Of the undergraduates studying applied mathematics at Texas A&M, 126 out of 293 are women. That’s about 43%, which is really not bad compared to 15% in nuclear engineering and 14% in physics. (Ah, more STEM fields.) From the outside looking in, I thought I would be out of place. It took being inside the classroom to realize I belonged there.
So, let’s hope that my penchant for glitter pens and pink hairbands is not why “I’m an applied math major” gains such a shocking response. While I may always second guess myself, I no longer hold my breath waiting for a positive response to the words “I’m a math major.” I take comfort in the fact that it has more to do with the math and less to do with me.