3)"In general, I always discourage students to pursue an advanced degree in pure mathematics or pure physics. I have seen so many talented people who have failed in their dream on pure math or pure physics, that is one reason. The other reason is that mathematics is becoming more and more technical and specialized, so it is not as appealing as it used to be. The third reason is that it is becoming more and more political and commercialized.
However, if you are talented in mathematics, truly interested in mathematics, want to have a relatively free life, do not want to work too hard for having a reasonably comfortable life, perhaps an advanced degree in mathematics is what you need. Forget becoming a great mathematician because most famous mathematicians are not great anyway; instead, your goal is to become a math professor somewhere so that you can have a relatively free life." -MGW