What You Will Learn Studying Mathematics
As a mathematics major or minor, you will become familiar with a wide variety of mathematical topics, as you develop and strengthen your critical-thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills. These skills include deductive and inductive reasoning, problem recognition and modeling, and the ability to clearly articulate problem solutions to others, both verbally and in writing. Such skills are essential for responsible leadership, effective global citizenship, productive careers, and meaningful lives.
Global Citizenship
Mathematics is more than equations and formulas. Our curriculum stimulates curiosity that goes beyond just working with formulas and numbers but concentrates on the “why” question. As you advance in the major, you acquire skills such as making critical observations, understanding concrete and abstract problems, seeing the big picture, paying attention to details, extracting patterns, prioritizing information, and executing data. Critical thinking and problem-solving skills are the key components for success in today’s world. As the world becomes chaotic and complex, you will be equipped with the skills to tackle big problems.
Responsible Leadership
You will engage in interdisciplinary thinking and explore the connections of mathematical subjects to many other disciplines. We provide a friendly and collaborative environment for you to improve your knowledge not only in core-curriculum mathematics courses but also in interdisciplinary areas such as Financial Mathematics, Mathematical Modeling, and Operations Research. This allows you to relate mathematics to your life experiences, thereby increasing your potential impact on society.
Productive Careers
There are many interesting and exciting things you can do with a mathematics degree besides teaching. Many of our students are recruited for internships and undergraduate research projects early in their college careers. Once they graduate, they accept positions in financial industry, government, education, and graduate schools.
Meaningful Lives
At Rollins College, you will have opportunities to do mathematical research inspired by the needs of communities around the world. In the past, student research project topics varied from developing a mathematical model for breast cancer, to providing financial advice to Nepalese investors on optimizing their portfolio.