A friend of mine was choosing a college. She was interested in Economics and quite good in Mathematics. After graduation, she wanted to work on Wall Street for a financial company, and eventually get a graduate degree in Finance. To achieve her goal, she decided to double major in Economics and Mathematics.
Although, my friend was accepted to Clark, she chose another small college because it was ranked higher on some ranking list. While she was there, she was able to major only in Economics, but Mathematics became unmanageable. The low-level courses were big, competitive, and often taught by graduate students. The high-level courses were mainly in pure mathematics, had no relevance to applications, and were of no interest to her. She tried a low-level course in computer science, but did not get the support she needed to continue towards a major. Now, four years later, she is majoring only in Economics, and a job on Wall Street is unattainable.
What would have happened if she came to Clark? She would have received all the attention, advice and support she needed from the start. She would have been in small classes, in a friendly, nurturing, and non-competitive environment. She would have had many courses in applied mathematics to choose from that would have prepared her for a career in industry, finance, or insurance. She would have double majored in Mathematics and Economics, and also become computer literate. With our support, she would have been able to major or minor in Computer Science. She would have had the option to stay at Clark for the fifth year and receive an MBA or an MFS. She would have had a much better chance of getting a job on Wall Street. In fact, even in a bad economy, our mathematics majors have found employment in insurance and financial companies, including those on Wall Street.