An Introduction

Welcome to Math Majeure!

You're probably wondering what the heck this place is. That's quite simple, really. It's a blog. You probably already figured that out. More specifically, it's a blog about majoring in mathematics. Drilling down even deeper, it's a blog about my personal experiences with being a math major while also maintaining a full-time job. As of the time I'm writing this, my experience in a work in progress.

I began my journey in 2011, at the age of 28. I'd been (and currently still am) working in I.T. support for about six years. While it's not a bad career, it's just not what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Fixing computers was always a hobby of mine as a child, but I decided one day that I wanted to go back to school and get at least a four-year degree. I started in Computer Science at the local two-year community college, but shortly into my first semester back I changed my mind.

I was sitting in the second or third meeting of my Calculus I class, which I'd decided to take in order to refresh my knowledge on the subject (my last Calculus class had been around 2001-2002). I was enjoying the discussions immensely, and it was as if a spark had reignited a passion in my mind.

Looking at the class schedule for previous semesters, I noticed that most of the required Computer Science classes took place during the day. I worked full-time during the day, so these classes were out of the question (as was quitting my job, if at all possible). I could take all of the math courses I'd need at night, but not the computer science courses. This led me to one obvious possibility: major in math!

That solved my dilemma of how to get my first two years of degree work in, but presented another problem: how was I going to finish my third and fourth years while still working full-time. Most "go to school at night" programs in the area were focused on majors that led to obvious fields of employment: nursing, accounting, technical skills (the same type of fields that got me my current job in computer maintenance), and the like. I didn't want to settle for one of those, even though they are perfectly respectable fields. I wanted to do more math!

I googled, and I googled some more. I tried all types of phrases, from "math bachelors degree full time job" to "mathematics online degree." This eventually led me to the University of Illinois at Springfield's math department (UIS). They offered a fully-accredited, fully-online math degree. "Eureka!" was the first thing that came to mind, but it seemed too good to be true. This was a state university, not a fly-by-night college located in some foreign country I'd never heard of. It was also a true math degree, not one that was focused on applying to a specific field of employment or just teaching. I never had to set foot on their campus, and could keep my job the entire time I was working on my bachelor's degree. There had to be a catch, but I couldn't find one.

I continued searching for other options, but I couldn't find any that fit what I was looking for. So, UIS it was. I decided to finish up my first two semesters at community college (I would need a total of four, two of which are still coming up as I write this post), and then applied to UIS as a transfer student for dual-enrollment. I applied in the summer of 2012, and was accepted under the conditions that I finish my two-year degree on time. The plan was coming together!

My ultimate goal is to get a PhD in Mathematics. Today I don't know how I'm going to do that, but I'm not that worried. One step at a time, as they say. I'm focused on getting my four-year degree, and then I'll go from there. I'm putting the horse in front of the cart, rather than the other way around.

So, here we are today (June 2012). I've got two online summer courses lined up that start tomorrow, and four more courses scheduled for the fall semester (two in-person at the community college, and two online at UIS). I've started this blog to share my experiences and keep myself accountable by social interaction. Hopefully I'll enjoy writing it, and you'll enjoy reading it.