Graduate Programs - Math and Computer Science

Mathematical skills are in greater and greater demand in today’s workforce. The government, private industry, health, and environmental fields, and the academic world all require sophisticated mathematical skills to help solve various problems. If you decide to pursue Mathematics as a major, you are gaining an educational background that many employers seek in job applications. Moreover, your research skills, critical thinking, and problem-solving ability, and general analysis skills will be sharpened through your mathematics and computer science courses.

You should begin the resume-building process as soon as you can.  The Academic & Career Advisement Center can assist you with career planning, while Career Services will help you fine-tune your resume and look for jobs related to your field.  In the meantime, the more hands-on experience you have, the better you prepare for employment.  Becoming involved in a professional-related internship is a way to develop your professional skills and gain experience.  Your academic coursework is important as well, so be sure to maintain a high grade point average.

Starting salaries are contingent upon geographic location and the individual applicant’s work experience and initiative and usually range from $50,000 to $84,000.  The employment of mathematicians is expected to increase 7% to 13% over the next ten years. 

• Government
  • FBI 
  • NSA
• Academia
  • Teaching college Mathematics
  • Ph.D. programs in Mathematics
• Industry
  • Data Scientist
  • Risk Analyst
  • Statistician
  • Systems analyst
  • Operations research
• Actuarial Mathematics
  • Risk-Officer
  • Pricing Actuary
  • Reserving Actuary
  • Actuarial Partner

Graduates of NMU’s master’s degree in computer science will be well prepared to pursue a job in business or industry, as a postsecondary computer science instructor, or as a Ph.D. in a research institute. Students will gain a solid command of advanced concepts and skills in the design and analysis of algorithms, considered by most as the backbone of computer science. 

Customize your degree

Students will choose three major areas in contemporary computer science as their concentration:

• Software
• Artificial Intelligence
• Programming Languages
• Theory
• Networking

You can also select to undertake either a thesis based on the research of your choice or a project. The thesis option is best for students planning to pursue a doctorate. The project is ideal for students interested in industry careers; it provides a valuable experience that is extremely useful in job interviews and can be tailored to the arena of computer science which interests you the most.

A master’s degree in computer science is a great way to start a new career or advance an existing one. Code.org reports that there are more than 475,000 open computing jobs nationwide. Having a graduate degree in computer science will increase the career options of the applicants and helps them find higher-level positions, as many organizations are looking for employees with some graduate degree, according to Northeastern.edu and Careerbuilder.com. Salaries for these higher-level positions can be 21 percent higher on average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This jump in salary in Computer Science is significantly higher that the jump in other majors. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employer’s web site, computer science is among the top five master’s degrees in demand in the job market:

• Business 45%
• Engineering 32%
• Computer and Information Science 25%
• Mathematics and Sciences 14%
• Social Sciences 7%

Computer Science is in the Top 5 most in-demand master’s degrees

— National Association of Colleges and Employers