As a fan of cars, I find that even when I am perfectly happy with my vehicle, I check car lots and classifieds and car-dealer ads. This began in college when I had to drive a car that, let me just say, was not a high-performance vehicle. It got me from point A to point B most of the time, but it always needed work and I never knew when it would break down and leave me stranded. I always dreamed of driving a really nice automobile.

Working at Wolfram Research, I have many times heard the analogy of Mathematica as a high-performance computational engine. The high-performance phrase takes me back to cars and I wondered, what kind of car would Mathematica be? In my mind, it would clearly be something very fast that has a great engine under the hood but is easy to drive. A car I would’ve liked to have had in college. Then I thought about how many students have access to Mathematica, which is much like a college student driving a brand-new sports car. It has more than enough power for most applications, and using it can make you look good.

Around graduation time I was thinking of what would happen if as a graduate you began your career but, like most students, had to go without a car. There would be places you would need to be, and sometimes, there would be places that you just couldn’t get to at all. You might experience a dip in productivity, to the point of keeping you from accomplishing things.

Now imagine a high-performance vehicle that not only can get you where you want to go, but will always be on the cutting edge of performance, be flexible to what you want to do, and be backed by superior service and assistance. Mathematica is the professional vehicle you can have with you no matter where you go in the future—in essence, a little sports car that can haul groceries, move your stuff, drive anywhere, and fit all your friends. But what recent graduate can afford a vehicle like that? You can. We want to make it easy for graduates to drive into their future with Mathematica.

It is difficult as a student to think about all the details of what will happen beyond graduation and as you begin your career. That is why we make it very easy for students who have used Mathematica to continue using it in their chosen profession. Students that will soon graduate or have recently graduated can upgrade their student license for just a fraction of what a new professional license would cost. This means you can have a new sports car at student-car pricing.

No matter what field you enter when you graduate, with Mathematica you will always have built-in functionality that covers a world of subjects (just take a look at the Wolfram Demonstrations Project). Plus, being able to show your Mathematica knowledge and experience to future employers can be a key to capturing the best future opportunities (check out our Mathematica Student Certification). There is no better way to embark on your new career than to have a leg up on the competition and be able to quickly make an impact with your employer.

So, if you recently graduated or are expecting to graduate soon, find out how to get your special “student-to-professional” upgrade here. Upgrading a student license is not only a good investment in your future, it can take you places.