Yes.Talent Management is something he’s thinking about. He’s making an appointment to speak to his advisor so we’ll see what she says. Looking at all the marketing courses in the catalogue, I don’t see any that require calculus. I would imagine if you are in marketing analytics you may need calculus. He actually did fine in the first half of the calc class (was getting an A at that point), and he said he would have gotten a “B” on his second midterm except that he forgot some formula that was used throughout the test. Where he ran into problems was the tail end of the class that covered series as well as the final which,from what I understand, most kids end up bombing. The average is usually 50% or lower. He knows five other kids in that class and only one passed the final.
If so many kids are flunking the final, there must be a well trod path for your son to follow. Is there a core business degree set of classes that would be required for any business major?
@blossom - Yes. It is common knowledge that the math dept final can make or break your grade. The math department releases practice finals, but the actual final looks nothing like the practice exams. Strategies for most kids involve acing the midterms so they can bomb the final and still pass the class. I’m sure the math department is aware that this is the most failed class at the University. They even have a web site dedicated to this particular class with strategies to passing.I’m sure he will be going over that web page this summer if he plans to retake it.
There is a common set of core classes that are required for business majors - Intro to Finance is the only one I saw that required Calc as a prerequisite .
That’s generally true at many colleges, as the final can be worth 25%-40% of the total grade.
What Uni is this? (We have many parents on cc with excellent knowledge about individual schools.)
Was he able to get any input from his advisor today?
@sylvan8798 - He emailed her today to schedule an appointment to speak over the phone. He also found out another math professor curved the class upward 10%+ so if he was in the other class, he would have passed.
Just curious, why is he majoring in marketing in the first place and why did he reject English as a focus? There have been lots of threads on the current trend of rejecting humanities majors and the relative wisdom of this. If he is strong in English and likes it, is he just doing marketing for vocational reasons? Do you think that might be misguided at all? Sorry, looking at the big picture and the question was not about that, but can’t help asking.
To add onto what compmom says, if the language side of things is more to his liking, how about Communications or Professional Writing? Both have paths to decent jobs if a student does well, gets internships, etc. They are popular majors where I work.
Funny you should mention Communications as he was planning on adding that as a minor. He is strong in English, but I don’t think it’s something he’s passionate about. He’s actually an accomplished musician (conservatory level) and wants to work on the marketing side of the music/entertainment industry.
My niece majored in some sort of promotions/marketing major and is working in the music industry, very happy with it!
@garland - That is his dream job! Do you know how difficult it was for her to break into the industry?
Niece was pretty lucky as well as having good internships and undergrad activities–she ran all the music events at her college. She did a major program at her college that was geared to this. She initially had a gofer job in a NY music business entity. I think it’s possible that a family friend got her the interview. (this happened after she’d been out of college for almost a year, living at home, waiting tables, sending out resumes.) Not great, actually it sucked, and she mostly answered phones and got coffee, but she put in her licks. However, through it, she met people and was able to jump from that after two years to a more on point job doing trendy events that sends her all over the country. I can’t be more specific. So she doesn’t work FOR music artists, but often works with them.
@garland - I sent you a PM.
You might want to go over to the music forum. Maybe he could consider a major in music industry or music business (terminology varies from school to school). I know a kid who majored in music for a BA- no math or business classes- and interned with a music agency (world music and jazz), a classical orchestra and ran a bunch of events at college who is also well-positioned for work in that field.
Is your son still playing?
I understand some kids are practical but it sounds like he has turned away from what he is good at (writing and communication etc.) and what he at least used to love (music) for reasons having to do with financial security.
I also- believe me!- understand that concern but for undergrad he might have more choices.
Again, this is discussed quite a bit on the excellent music major forum here.
Sorry for the tangent…
@compmom - Thank you so much for the words of advice. Yes. He still plays. In fact, he is looking to start a band with students at his Uni. During the college app process, he did look at music industry majors at some big name schools, but for financial reasons decided not to pursue it.
And yes, he continues to write for a school blog.
Sent you a PM…
how difficult would it be to retake over the summer? I found out that summer classes were easier to have success sin, as they are condensed and intense (and thus there is a light at the end of the tunnel that is not too far away). The distractions of normal college life, plus the grind of a semester are not easy things to deal with. I am advocating this in particular because of the Professor you mentioned.
If he does retake in the fall, make sure he keeps track of the drop date for the class. He could sign up, trying to get the "best’ professor/class, see how he does initially & get a vibe on the class - if early on he thinks it might have been a mistake, he can drop if he keeps on top of deadlines.
If grad school is even a remote possibility, I would also vote for taking it over the summer. Even though it will be fast paced, it wont be new material, and he’ll just have that class to focus on.