(This question ask about lectures in SIM, if you are studying by yourself or with other institute, skip this) the class timings are normally on Mon, Wed and Sat. Starting at 3 different timeslots of 8.30am, 12.30pm and 3.30pm. Are the lectures for that particular day the same for all 3 timeslots? Will you be allocated a specific lecture timeslot to attend? Or is there a flexibility for you to pick any slot to attend?
In year 1, you get to choose because lots of people are doing the same foundation units. In year 2, you still get to choose your lecturers for microeconomics and macroeconomics. In year 3, you cant choose at all.
The lecturers for different time slots may be the same or different.
This is more of a personal opinion on your part. You said that you feel that this degree is definitely rewarding and very relevant to our society. But in your honest opinion, do you think this particular degree programme is tough? Is it hard to score, or even survive? At the end of the day, do you enjoy what you did and did you meet your expectations?
I remember saying this degree is rewarding but not really sure about the relevance to our society
The economics is definitely relevant to the society while the mathematics depend on yourself. I meant it is very pure and not directly applicable. But if you know how to use them then it is definitely applicable in real life. Let me give you a simple example.
Imagine that you interviewing for investment banking or management consulting (very high prestige jobs). The interviewer saw your degree in mathematics and want to see whether you are really comfortable with numbers.
Without calculator and in 5 seconds, how much is 62 x 68 ?
Well, that is easy. The difference between 2 numbers is 6 and if you divide that by 2, it's 3, so the middle number is 65. So, 62 x 68 = (65 - 3) x (65 + 3) = 65^2 - 9 = "(6x7)"25 - 9 = 4225 - 9 = 4216
Excellent ! Next, the interviewer wants to see whether you are smart. He ask you the famous brainteaser question. Consider the following hypothetical situation.
You are now an analyst. One day, you oversleep and wake up at 7:15 (You got off from office at 3:00 am and got home at 3:30 am) while you have to be at the office at 7:30. You have 5 minutes to prepare yourself and rush to office. Assume that you manage to get everything ready and has 5 seconds left to choose a pair of socks.
Your drawer contains 5 different designs of black socks. 5, 7, 3, 4, and 10 of type A, B, C, D and E, respectively. You are in hurry. What is the minimum number of socks that you must randomly grab to ensure that you will get at least a pair of same design ?
If you start thinking about probability, then you fail
This is how we apply pure mathematics. In UOL 116 Abstract Mathematics, there is one theorem called
Pigeonhole Principle. In layman term, it says that if number of pigeons is greater than number of holes, than there is at least one hole which contain more than one pigeon (very obvious huh?)
We can think of the number of designs as "holes" and the socks as "pigeons". There are 5 holes, so we need at least 6 pigeons so that at least one hole contains two pigeons i.e. one pair of socks with the same design. So, we need to randomly grab 6 socks.
Brilliant ! The interviewer is amazed by your mathematical knowledge. Now, he knows that you know Pigeonhole principle and he then ask you another famous brainteaser question.
Consider two normal die with 6 sides. You have to attach numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, ..., 9 to the die so that you can show the calendar date. For example, if you want to show date 01, then you can stick "0" on dice 1 and "1" on dice 2. Once the numbers are attached, you cant pull it off. How do you allocate the numbers to each dice if you want to show dates from 01 to 31 inclusive ?
I will leave it to you all to solve. You can post the answer here if you want. Those who get it right have a shot for interview with Goldman Sachs or McKinsey
As, I have mentioned at the first page, BME is definitely the toughest degree. There is no need to comment on Economics as everyone agrees UOL economics are difficult. You also have lots of half units. The number of exams you are sitting for is greater than other students.
The maths units are easy to score and at the same time easy to fail. It is either you understand and you score very high or you dont and fail badly. You can compare with management units where you get to write essays in exam. It's difficult to fail but at the same time difficult to score high.
If you take this degree, you definitely have to show more effort than other students from different degrees. Dont be surprised if the number of your course mates keeps decreasing every year. In year 2, I saw about 58 people in the abstract maths lecture. In year 3, I only saw about 25 people in the Mathematical Economics lecture. Another had bitten the dust and jump ship to other degrees. Most of these people are owned by the Advanced Linear Algebra and Advanced Calculus.
Did I enjoy the degree and whether it met my expectations? 3 years ago had I known that it is pure maths instead of applied maths, I probably would have choose different degree. SIM didn't give any preview regarding the maths units so I just blindly assume it's applied. In year 2, I was extremely shocked because it wasn't the maths that I signed up for. It's totally different from maths 1 and 2. It was too late to change.
But now after I have completed the degree. I have to say I really enjoyed the course. I think the mathematics part have really helped me in understanding the economics units. I bet very few non-BME students actually know what production function or utility function is
I am also proud to be mathematically trained. I am now much more analytical and critical in solving problems.
Another bonus point of having a degree in maths is that people think you are AWESOME
Whenever I tell people that I have a degree in mathematics, the common response is "WOW ! You are very smart !" (which clearly I am not)