As a junior in college, I have spent the last 2-3 years being asked what my major is. In essentially every instance, after giving my reply of “I’m a math major with a chem minor!,” the person asking the question says something along the lines of “gross,” “how” or “that must suck!” But the thing is, I absolutely adore math. I started out in advanced math in sixth grade and was just someone who liked math because the concepts made sense to me and I was good at it. I wasn’t super invested in math and only really liked it because I could get my homework done quickly. It wasn’t until I got to honors geometry in ninth grade that I realized just how much I love math.
Since then, I have developed a complicated relationship with math. I very much hate math when my alarm goes off for my 8:15 modern algebra class every Tuesday and Thursday morning, but very much love it almost all of the rest of the time. Of course, I get frustrated when working on hard homework problems or studying for exams, but ultimately all majors require work and there is no work I would rather do than math work.
My current modern algebra class is the hardest class I’ve taken in my academic career, and arguably could be the hardest I will ever take if I opt against pursuing a graduate degree, and every single class period involves struggling to grasp the material, but there is no satisfaction like completing a difficult proof or coming up with a solution your professor hasn’t seen before. Instances like that make being a math major worth the hours of time spent doing homework, sometimes with little to no progress.
Life as a math major means a lot of late nights, difficult exams, two page long proofs for homework, and copious amounts of stress, but not without the incredible sense of achievement one feels after solving a difficult proof or finding your mistake and successfully completing a problem. Math has provided me with some of my most useful life skills – such as perseverance, time management, and problem solving skills. Most of my favorite teachers from both high school and college have been math teachers. College professors know that their subject is hard and make themselves available for help, even on top of their existing office hours. Plus, being a math major can bring you great friends and people to study with because nothing brings a group of people together like struggling through the same class!