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<p>My experience with my D on choosing a career path or I would rather call it a career interest has been interesting.</p>

<p>She was definitely clear from early on that she did not want to be a doctor or an engineer. She did her Class 10 with CBSE. But by about 8/9 grade she was very miserable with the teaching style here. So as parents we initially wanted her to rough it out and did not take her seriously. But I did give her patient hearing every time she ranted about her frustration with the rote style and not being allowed to ask questions in class, worse for being humiliated for asking questions. And like all parents we believe that our D was really a smart gal and realised she was being hugely limited and her potential should be allowed
to realise. </p>

<p>And so a shift in my Hs job facilitated a change in school as well as her curriculum. The day she joined IBDP, we could see that was she was craving for. The learning style totally suited her inquisitive, out of the box, and a very individual yet sticking to norms style. Simply put I would define it as, that IB is a learner’s medium and CBSE is a teacher’s
medium.</p>

<p>The flexibility in combining a variety of subjects, level of learning, exploring hitherto unchartered territory allowed her innumerable choices and opened various opportunities as well. By the time it was time to apply for colleges she had narrowed down her majors, and while doing 2 Internships in advertising firms during school and one during the summer between freshman year and sophomore year at college, she further zeroed in on the career that she would finally enjoy and love to pursue.</p>

<p>All this involved 4 years of constant peer pressure and the compulsions from school and I would say our society in general to fight against the laid down path of " you need to have a goal. How can parents spend so much money on IB and College without the child even knowing what she wants to do." but I am glad we listened to her and were blessed because our own liberal upbringing to treat her like an individual with a mind of her yet w guiding her from time to time and holding her hand during her challenges. </p>

<p>Today I can proudly say that after landing with a 12 week internship in NY, she finally knows for sure this is what she wants to do. So from changing to IB from CBSE, getting into the best Finance business schools in the US, to getting admitted into the most competitive programs within that school, to changing her concentration to finance to finally wanting to have a business degree with concentration in marketing and two minors- Communications and Business of Entertainment and technology, she has finally found her calling. </p>

<p>I wanted to share this story for so long and am so happy to be able to share it with you parentind. She still struggles with some issues and the school and college has been an emotional roller coaster ride for her as well as us. But it has been worth it. So we as parents know what is best for our child, and each child is different and special. We have to believe in our children, have faith in their decisions, guide them, trust our instincts and theirs as well, most important, be there for them no matter what. I hope it helps you with some of your decisions.</p>

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<p>I’m one of the odd ones out in that I had a definite career ambition from the time I was really young, maybe eight or nine years old. I held on to one idea, but my interests changed as I grew older and I decided on my current major in about ninth grade. But I’m an unusual case; there are several of my friends who, even now, when we’re about to enter college, have no idea exactly what they want to do. </p>

<p>I found that career aptitude tests helped me greatly in deciding what I was good at. There are plenty available online for free. If you’re looking for more personalised ones, there will likely be organisations offering them for a moderate price in your area. The aptitude tests I took helped me determine what kind of personality I had and thus choose a good career. </p>

<p>I’m not really qualified to give parenting advice given my age :stuck_out_tongue: But maybe let your son get a little older before you ask him to decide on a career path? As you get older, subjects that interest you initially can get boring. I used to love biology, now I absolutely loathe it. There are some kids who can decide what they want to do early, but most go through several changes before they arrive at the path that best fits them.</p>

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<p>@anilaway It was so good to read your D’s career travel. I guess I’ll be fine too like her! Thank you for sharing that story with us :)</p>

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<p>anialways: Thank you very much for your post. I went through it quite a few times and honestly I am speechless. It appears that we are going through a similar journey albeit in different time-frames. You have answered all the questions I have at this moment and I would appreciate if you could PM me your email address so that we could stay in touch with you.</p>

<p>Khione: Thank you too for your post. I was entirely unaware of Career Aptitude Tests prior to your post. My son took the one from Princeton Review and it seemed to assess him well. It also threw up a bunch of interesting careers.</p>

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<p>Thanks anialways. Would have sent you PM but thought I had to wait until 15 posts. (Just found out that its true)</p>

<p>If you plan to be on CC for the next 5-6 years, I will surely be glad to remain in touch with you.</p>

<p>By the way, sorry for the late reply to your post. I saw as soon as you posted it and re-read it many times. My wife too went through the mail especially the last paragraph which she found touching. All my questions were answered and I did not know what to post. It took me two days to come up with a reply.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot!</p>

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<p>As I see my previous post, I would like to say sorry to anialways. I’ve tried to edit my typo (in bold – too bad!) but my PC didn’t help me do it. :o:o:o</p>

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<p>parentind</p>

<p>I am truly glad and touched by your sensitive response. Don’t worry about not replying earlier. It happens. If you notice it took me a while to compose and compile my words before I could pen them down in the most effective way possible. Your and hopingforbetter responses tell me that it was good I took the time that I did.</p>

<p>Also hopingforbetter you do not need to apologise. I do not get offended but when people are being offensive here on CC, I lwould make sure I let them know and just move on and ignore them.</p>

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<p>A more detailed response is here:</p>

<p>Freshman - 1st year
Sophomore - 2nd year
Junior - 3rd year
Senior - 4th year</p>

<p>Now having this format to begin with; since US & Canadian HS students take many standardized tests, a lot of those credits can be transferred and used to designate a more advanced title than a freshman for entering 1st years (depends on school). I had more than enough credits before arriving to my university and thus was designated as a sophomore.
None of this is ever useful though if you are to complete in 4 years. In my opinion, I was able to complete all my general education requirements within 1 year but since I follow in pursuit for the humanities and since I wanted to enjoy as much of it as possible, I still took many history, math, and computer science courses. I did skip out of general science courses required for my former major related pre-reqs but I did not dare to skip out of my main major intro courses since those courses generally tell you of the type of professors you will meet in more advanced coursework. The intro courses were hard because they had professors that wanted to weed away many wanna-be people but it also helped to strengthen my belief on what I thought of my major. Am I really interested or am I just wasting my time? </p>

<p>One word of caution: ivy leagues and top schools do not accept a lot of ap/ib/cbse credits. They want everyone to take intro courses because of the reasons I have listed recently in this response. Additionally, the few that they will accept will be scores in the top percentile as in for AP, they will only take a 5. </p>

<p>For further information: I think now you will be able to go back to your intended school websites and understand what they mean when they are talking about credit and placement.</p>