At no point growing up was I sure that mathematics was what I would pursue. Sure, it was something I appreciated more than most subjects at school. But maths on its own did not interest me much.

What I really enjoyed doing outside of school had nothing to do with maths, in my mind. I realised my interests and hobbies will likely have to be separate from my line of work – a fact I would have no problem with – and I started planning accordingly. Or well, think accordingly.

In Year 12 it became clear that some combination of mathematics and physics was what I should pursue. Not because I thought I had a passion for either, but because a mixture of these areas being my strengths, that I come from a science family, and honestly process of elimination, it felt like the right decision. Thankfully, it is not one I have come to regret.

As I completed more and more of my studies and the content became more advanced, I started to comprehend better how statistics and applied mathematics could make a difference in the real world. I suppose once it goes beyond calculating the mean weight of 10 oranges it becomes more real what mathematics can actually do. At the same time while I still like physics, the practical aspect has never been something I enjoyed, or was even good at. Clearly, my future lies in using numbers to analyse data.

I have always liked to analyse things. Read, learn about things as much as possible. What exactly, does not really matter. Often this meant reading and learning basic statistics about things. I never saw myself as a statistics ‘nerd’, I just wanted to know more and stats gave a different perspective.

It was then I realised I had liked maths and stats all along – I just had not looked at it in that way. There is a reason things which involve statistics stick with me, while things that cannot be analysed numerically don’t. It is not the numbers themselves that I love – but what they can, or do, mean. Perhaps I can pursue my true passions, after all.

Cecilia Andersson
Flinders University

Contact Us

We're not around right now. But you can send us an email and we'll get back to you, asap.

Not readable? Change text.