As I am signing up for classes and reading up on potential jobs for applied math, I can't help but be bothered by the idea that maybe I should be taking things like Calculus Based Physics classes or Principles of Chemistry 1 + 2 (the chem classes directly before organic chem), or General Biology Cell to Organism and Oganism to Ecosphere (which are the two biology classes that break into all the 200 bios). I did fit in Micro/Macroeconomics, but they fulfilled degree requirements. As applied math people use math in their work in non math fields, should I have basic education in these fields, or is it assumed that I am just the math guy and it will be the physicist, chemist, or biologist that handles the other stuff? These classes are not needed to meet my degree requirements. I can't really fit them in unless I am willing to spend another year or two in school. It seems graduate applied math classes don't involve them either.

Edited December 27, 20168 yr by sam conifer

I would say applied math in some form is a must. I took lots of physics and chemistry-- which makes sense since I took degrees in Chemical Engineering and Nuclear Engineering. But-- in the end, you're going to need a strong base in practical math in order to make use of the Physics, and Chemistry. Even Biology has a surprising amount of math if you really want to investigate and correlate information. There were many, many times in my career (I'm retired now) when I needed math as much or more than the chemistry and physics, simply because i needed a result I could apply that was properly developed from the theory.

Probability, statistics, linear algebra, even some analysis and geometry are courses that will be useful for applied math and modelling in many quantitative fields.