Math and Social Science A Match Made at Michigan?

Daniel Hirschman B.S. Pure Mathematics 2006 PhD Candidate in Sociology Contact: Dandanar@umich.edu

SOCIAL SCIENCE NEEDS YOU!

Growing Demand
Social science is increasingly quantitative. Many social scientists possess limited mathematical skills. Big Data revolution is coming!

Social Science? But Im a math major!

Social science programs love math majors. Math GRE privileged in graduate admissions.
Smarts, curiosity, and quantitative skills more important than undergrad disciplinary training.

Economics
The most quantitative social science.
Arguably, just an applied mathematics discipline. Many top economists originally trained in Math or Physics.

Math Used: Analysis (451), Linear Algebra (217), Probability (425), Statistics
Pre-Reqs: Econ 401 & 402 helpful.

Sociology
Least quantitatively savvy, on average.
But still very favorable to those with math backgrounds. Diverse area of study, some subfields very sophisticated (e.g. network analysis, analytical sociology, etc.)

Math Used: Probability & Statistics, Graph Theory (networks), Calculus, Linear Algebra, Complex Systems Pre-Reqs: Demonstrate interest in social science research.
One empirical sociology class would be helpful.

Summary
Useful math skills:
Probability & Statistics Linear Algebra (for statistics) Calculus (& Analysis for Economics) Basic Programming, GIS, etc.

Social sciences need more math savvy!

Still Unconvinced That Mathematicians Should Do Social Science?