Get LinkedIn. Math.

 

Math.

They all wear black. You'd think someone had died. Before 10 a.m. they are useless. After that, the gathered may have a pulse.

"They" are students who visit our world headquarters. Usually finance majors of a graduate or undergraduate persuasion, the assembled hoard tour our campus, then end up near Radio and TV.

I chat them up. "Are there any questions?

Before 10 a.m., silence. In the vicinity of lunch, dinner or a beverage of their choice, one question: usually the lame toss-off, "Who was your best interview?? Answer: Reid Hoffman, just kidding.

But if those-who-know-not-a-slide-rule get to me between 3:10 and 3:40 p.m., the questions fly. The most important is: "What is the most important course to take?”

Math.

Obviously for finance, but less obviously for everything else. The great divide in LinkingIn to a great job and that all-critical job sequence is dependent on many attributes. But, math -- the calculus, analytical geometry, linear algebra, statistics, dreaded differential equations  -- this is the great divide.

You're a history major; brave Math. You're a French major; brave Calculus (and don't give me that AP blah,blah,blah baloney). You're a Engineering Major; brave linear differential operators on compact manifolds.

Get LinkedIn. Math.

WATCH Tom's video 'America's Struggle? Our Math Doesn't Add Up' which continues conversation on this topic

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