University math departments really should reconsider their approach to real world applications. Most math professors don't seem to consider it a part of the curriculum, and that can be really detrimental.
My largest college regret was blowing off linear algebra- it was an annoying class taught in an annoying way (handwritten homework showing your work for each step of matrix multiplication, no proofs, ect). I blew it off because there were no applications of it in anything I cared about.
A semester later, it showed up somewhere in every single advanced computer science class. Really wish there had been a proof-based linear algebra class that showed up later in the curriculum so by the time we reached it we knew it had value.
I think you need to go through that with linear algebra, though. There's a stage early on where you just have to multiply matrix after matrix until it's second nature. Shame your course wasn't taught in a compelling way and it put you off. Having said that though - I had no idea how useful linear algebra was until much later in life.
My largest college regret was blowing off linear algebra- it was an annoying class taught in an annoying way (handwritten homework showing your work for each step of matrix multiplication, no proofs, ect). I blew it off because there were no applications of it in anything I cared about.
A semester later, it showed up somewhere in every single advanced computer science class. Really wish there had been a proof-based linear algebra class that showed up later in the curriculum so by the time we reached it we knew it had value.