What jobs do your graduates have and what was their major?

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
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My dd is struggling with picking a major and I think it would help if she could get an idea of the types of jobs and what they do, at the end of major. She doesn’t want to sit at a desk all day/be told exactly what to do. That’s about all I’ve got from her so far. So what did yours major in and what is their job now or the types/number of offers received? Thank you!

Any extra details like region, salary, environment or whatever is helpful too. Due to full ride scholarships it is likely she either stay in Florida for school or go to Alabama. And she’d be eligible for honors colleges as well.

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In general terms, do her interests lie in STEM or humanitites, or can you say?

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Also, I will send you a PM.

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Yes, can you narrow it down? Have her look at the catalog of a university in FL or Alabama- read through the lists of majors- when one catches her eye, read through the courses required and see if it continues to interest her.

My kids have less common majors. D’17 is Graphic Design and she sits at a computer all day but finds it fun.

D’19 is Parks and Recreation Management. She did not want to sit at a desk all day. Her upcoming internship is with a city parks & rec department. But she could also work for a non-profit, Chamber of Commerce, camp, National Park, museum, resort, hotel, fitness center, sports etc.

Also see a thread I started, asking parents this question of themselves:

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Is your daughter currently in his or college ? If in college she can go to the career office. If not, some schools will list outcomes. You can see avail jobs.

I call on clients. Been home based due to covid but in general I’m at clients. I work with the same

Others are outdoors or are corporate trainers or work in museums. Unless you are pre professional…ie engineering, accounting, teaching…your major may matter less.

Many kids will likely end up in jobs that don’t exist. Or that they don’t know exist.

If in HS, take a look at majors on a college admission page. Something will interest her.

My son is a mechanical engineering major. He’ll likely be an emgineer, he’s hoping for an auto manufacturer and that’s where his two internships will be.

My daughter is majoring in international studies. I have no doubt she’ll find a great career one day but I haven’t the foggiest what it will be. But the major is interdisciplinary and she enjoys.

So lots of ways to go. Most importantly I hope something I’m the catalog will excite her. U of Tampa is a good one to look at. Several hundred majors. If you find one there then you can seek schools that offer it or if in college now sometimes you can create your own major.

I assume she’s in HS. I wouldn’t so much worry about the type of jobs per major as opposed to finding a major….and some kids don’t even do that for the first few years of college.

She can get internships and experience different jobs…from government to hospitality to you name it and figure it out later.

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My 25 year old majored in accounting, she’s a CPA and is in auditing. My 23 year old was a finance major and works for a valuations company. He enjoys it but he is literally sitting in front of 3 screens for 12 hours a day (but gets paid very well). My 20 year old is a exercise science major soon to start a DPT program to be a physical therapist. She’s a huge people person and very active, would hate a desk job. My 18 year old is only a freshman, finance major accounting minor? Plans are actuarial science, she really loves math. She jokes her hidden talent is to make others uncomfortable so she should have a desk job. :joy:

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Please understand…many college grads get great jobs that don’t exactly match their majors. @blossom

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Maybe change the way you are looking at this? Instead of picking a major, ask her to think about things that interest her. Does she enjoy working with children? Does she find sociology classes interesting? Does she like art? She can take classes, see what interests her, and then decide.

One of my kids is in a specialized field within education. That was what she went to school for….a straight arrow.

My other one majored in one of the sciences, had several job offers after graduation (all science related), chose one, and is heading back to school soon. Her new career will still be in the sciences. Her arrow had many twists and turns.

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My kid is in the Army, so his job is guaranteed (for the next seven years at least). He majored in EE with a robotics concentration. He is currently at Army Cyber Command coding and managing coders who produce offensive and defensive cyber solutions for the U.S. electronic warfare and intelligence communities. He is also earning his master’s in CS at Georgia Tech. He’s not sure what he wants to do when his commitment is up, but none of the outbound cyber officers in his unit have had any trouble finding meaningful work. Many end up at the NSA.

This. I majored in English and retired after 30+ years in IT, but could have done well in any number of jobs/industries.

I second taking a look at @bjscheel’s “What was your major…” thread to see the range of major-to-career opportunities. I believe interests should lead this choice, but your daughter has plenty of time to figure this out if she’s still in HS.

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I reread the beginning of the thread.

Sounds like she’s in hs. Her major should be undecided. Find a school with a variety of choice or perhaps a LAC although it sounds like it’ll be a Florida public. She can go in undecided. Or change once in.

She will meet people on campus, hear stories and no doubt the career center can get her outcomes from majors.

They’ll have interest tests so she can see what she wants, etc but it’s entirely normal at this time to know what you want to do. Most don’t even know what exists. It’s why undecided is often the top ‘major’ and many kids change several times.

She’ll get to explore. You might also look at LLCs as they are themed. It might give her ideas. Like kids into the outdoors or kids who are interested in global topics. Those with common interest live in these learning communities. FSU has some nice ones.

It’s great she’s thinking that far ahead but it’s ok for now to not know too. Most don’t !!

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Undeclared major works unless you are in a field with four years of specified studies…like engineering.

But keep in mind…not all students with engineering degrees actually work in the field of engineering.

I agree with the idea of having the student look at areas of interest.

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I know biology graduates who were offered jobs as research assistants, teachers, and editors (for science journals).

I know sociology and psych graduates who were offered jobs in college counseling and teaching.

I know kinesiology grads who worked as PT assistants prior to going back to school.

I know a young international business major who is now teaching.

I know an English major who went into some type of PR (young 20 something).

I know another sociology major who is working for an organization that helps the homeless- she is returning to school soon.

My coworkers daughter was a sociology major who writes grants for a non-profit organization.

My friends son was a history major who now works for an earth science organization.

My D’s friend was a history major who is currently a paralegal.

I also know students who did Teach for America, City Year, Americorp, etc….and are now returning to school (med school, law school, PhD, etc). Some stay with these organizations.

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Responding to my summons (thank you, Thumper!)

I think going wide is a better strategy than going deep for someone in HS who doesn’t know what she wants to do. I tell the young kids I counsel “unless you want to be an airline pilot or a neurosurgeon, the specific skills aren’t as important as the general competencies”. Which is of course an exaggeration, but I see kids getting caught up in nomenclature very early on.

One of my kids has a job at a company which didn’t exist a few years ago, using a technology which didn’t exist a few years ago. Kid leads a large tech team- has never taken a single programming class. One of my kids did a total 180 degrees between undergrad and grad school and so the current career has nothing to do with anything that happened between the ages of 18-22. I am a former Classics major who has had a 35+ year corporate career, mostly in Talent, HR and recruiting.

It’s not that it “doesn’t matter” because it does- it’s just that HS is so different from college. Nobody studies Sustainability or Urban Planning or “How to break things quickly” in college, even though those are very hot topics in the work world.

Of the young people I know who don’t sit at a desk and get told what to do:

1- Environmental consultant to the real estate/construction industry. He was a poli sci major but now wears a hard hat.

2-Grant writer for an advocacy organization. Pre-covid, she traveled frequently to meet funders, meet the people who were helped by her organization, go to conferences to become a subject matter expert in her area.

3- Director of Community Education for a small museum/cultural organization. Art History major.

4- News producer for a major network. History major (very, very common major in the media industry, including speech writers, policy analysts, etc.)

Just a smattering- and of course, lots of nurses, NP’s, and a very talented young man who majored in music and is waiting to get Matched for a residency in cardiology.

Read, read, read. The more your D reads (New Yorker, Atlantic, Vanity Fair, even Vogue) the more she’ll be exposed to cool ideas and neat professions and the people who do them.

At least she’s not living in the 1950’s when my mom (and some of her very brilliant friends) were told to “Ace” the typing test in HS so that if they couldn’t land a job after college, they’d have something “to fall back on”.

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My daughter majored in civil engineering and is a civil engineer. She did not want to do a lot of writing but that’s the main part of her job, writing reports. She likes it. (works in traffic)

My other daughter was a history major and she works at Starbucks. She’s also in grad school getting an MA in history. Her thesis will be on repatriation of art to either countries or individuals who lost it during wars or just when other countries thought it was okay to loot it (looking at you, British Museum). She loves to research and write but will likely have a more active career digging through museum basements or talking directors into giving stuff back.

There are some careers where you can decide what you want to do after graduating. Most lawyers work in front of a computer all day long but others (DAs, public defenders) are in court or talking to people all day, others are reading or researching, others are in politics or government affairs.

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My D will graduate from Alabama in May with triple major in Econ, Psych and Marketing. She has a job offer from a major consulting firm in their program/change management dept, based out of a southern office. I think being in the business school in some capacity does help with access to recruiting.

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I know econ and bio majors who work in strategy consulting.

My kid had several summer jobs that were outdoors and required some physical labor. Whenever one of his friends says they want a job outdoors, he says, “what you want is to BE outdoors!”

But there are plenty of jobs that don’t involve sitting at a desk! Teacher, social worker, sales rep, PT. And even jobs that sound “desk-y” are not always. The nutritionist who works in our supermarket spends little time in her office and lots of time with customers and vendors.

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Also to add: my D’s friends at Alabama who have done well often paired a ‘traditional’ liberal arts subject with something more vocational: lots of French & Communications; Stats & PR; History & Marketing; Biology & Health Care Analytics…

Most of her friends ALSO have taken advantage of the gazillion of opportunities to get involved and hone their skills: Bama has the Capstone Agency, a PR agency that students can work at. Or they are involved in their sorority (these chapters are huge with $xm budgets!), or managing club and even varsity sports teams; they have internships, co-ops and jobs…

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My D was the dreaded biology major who loves science, but wasn’t quite sure where she was heading with her degree and needed time to explore her ideas.

She sent out a few resumes (maybe 7-8) and received the following offers: editor for science research, 3 research assistant positions in various departments of universities and medical centers, and a teaching position (a well known organization that recruits non-education majors from all backgrounds). Other than the editor job, the offers allowed her to make a decent salary (enough to move out with a roommate and pay her expenses) and offered benefits.

All of these offers were in east coast cities. She also had an interview on the west coast (university research) but did not pursue it further.

I think you can make any major work for you. There is no rush to figure it out at 18.

D’s roommate was a psych major who works in PR. She had another roommate who was a biochem major and worked for a healthcare startup. Her friend was a sociology major who is leaving to teach in another country and plans to get her PhD in sociology.

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My two kiddos both majored in engineering. One went to a big SEC school that had great connections to aerospace companies and that is where she landed. Our other kid went to a top 10 school and also took a job in aerospace. We have one kiddo left and he is looking at schools that have relationships in the industries he is interested in pursuing. So for him, before looking at academics, he looked at the college career fairs and sent messages to the coordinators.

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Oldest D was a Chemical Engineering major and is a Reliability Engineer with a major Chemical Company. Youngest was a Dance major and is currently finishing up her second year as a DPT student to be a Physical Therapist (her goal all along). Both in the midwest.

I will say the first knew she wanted to be a Chemical Engineer since her sophomore year of HS. The second discovered she loved anatomy as a sophomore and chose her career path by the end of her junior year. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to major in initially. She went to a college and career fair and spoke with a number of people about what she liked. She ended up shadowing a physical therapist and decided that it fit in nicely with her academic interests and her dancing. It ended up that it really didn’t matter what she majored in to apply to PT programs only that you completed the prerequisites, did well, shadowed in several settings and did well on the GRE. The applies to a number of health fields. I don’t think we can expect a 17 year old to have their future plans firmly planned out. If someone does have a strong direction it can be an advantage both in the application process and the focus and determination they have while in school. Good luck.

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