<p>What SteveMA said is true. I have a friend who is a professor at a cc, and he said he felt really bad to have to turn away students who really needed his class to fulfill graduation. This is why it’s worth going to a private school, especially in CA.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>CCs (community colleges) are not like state universities (or private universities) that have admissions processes to limit enrollment to their capacity, so CCs more easily have “class too full” problems.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>But would the student who would go to a CC due to needing to start at some place local and cheap, or who does not have the high school record to get into a selective state or private university, really have much in the way of private school options (assuming that s/he does not want to go to a bottom-feeding for-profit university)?</p>
<p>We did not help our kids pick a major, and we did not pick the major for them. THEY were going to college… Not us.</p>
<p>Many students enroll in college as undeclared majors. Many more actually choose a major and then change it, sometimes several times. </p>
<p>One of our kids was enrolled as an undeclared arts and sciences major. She easily switched to engineering as a sophomore.</p>
<p>The other entered as a music performance major and graduated as a music performance major. </p>
<p>Both kids went to schools with strong core course requirements so were exposed to many different disciplines. </p>
<p>I don’t think there is anything wrong with a high school student who doesn’t know their intended college major,</p>
<p>Hi! I found this thread interesting because I am a HS Junior thinking about college but still not sure how to find the right path. The only thing I know is that I love writing, but I am an international student (Hispanic) so majoring in writing in English would not make much sense when I return back home after college. My parents told me that it was perfectly fine to love writing but to think of how I could incorporate my writing skills into a career I don’t resent their help, it helped me focus and narrow things down. I still haven’t decided but for now I have three main interests:</p>
<p>Marketing , Advertising or Mass Communications</p>
<p>However, I have no idea if I should apply to schools that offer this careers as Majors or if I should major in something else and then go into graduate school once I choose my career. </p>
<p>I intend to qualify for a scholarship (my parents have told me they have a limited budget for what they can afford for tuition) so I need to graduate in time (4 years if a go to Graduate school I would also need to apply for a scholarship) I am taking 3 AP courses this year and 3 more next year (For now, it’s English, World History and Microeconomics and next year I hope to take Macroeconomics, Creative Writing & Biology) I also want to take two college credit courses during the summer.</p>
<p>What would you all suggest?</p>
<p>Should I take summer courses that can help me advance in a potential Major (the thing is I have no idea where to look for the required prerequisites for either choice of Major! Many of the colleges I find interesting, affordable or offer good scholarships for Internationals don’t have any of this careers as Majors! </p>
<p>Is it really OK to apply as undeclared ? Or will that limit my chances of potentially earning a scholarship?</p>
<p>What would be the best choice for summer courses? I really want to take something related to writing and maybe even starting a third language (like Italian). But where do I find out what are the general core courses for most careers?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Any other advice you can provide me with, I will appreciate it a lot!</p>
<p>“CCs (community colleges) are not like state universities (or private universities) that have admissions processes to limit enrollment to their capacity, so CCs more easily have “class too full” problems.”</p>
<p>From what I hear, there are students who can’t get classes from their university to fulfill their GE’s so they needed to go to their local CC to try to get it done. What’s affecting the public universities is affecting the CC. The problem is budget cuts. </p>
<p>“But would the student who would go to a CC due to needing to start at some place local and cheap, or who does not have the high school record to get into a selective state or private university, really have much in the way of private school options (assuming that s/he does not want to go to a bottom-feeding for-profit university)?”</p>
<p>I would suggest those CC students to seek out non-profit private schools to transfer to. There are some with merit-aid for transfer students or seek outside scholarships. That’s another reason why some students go to work and attend school part-time to help pay for their education.</p>
<p>I cannot disagree strongly enough with the ‘wait and see’ approach for undecided students. Taking general education courses for a year or two and waiting for something to happen is not a technique that I have seen work well.
Very interesting story.</p>
<p>Our oldest knew dad wasn’t a fan of her major, but we did not “choose”. She went her own way, and graduated last May. </p>
<p>Our second and youngest picked a major he probably knew was favored, and allowed a less favored “interest” to be just that. Someone recently asked him about that on facebook, and he said it was taking a back seat for now.</p>
<p>Hard to say how much we “helped”, but our “help” was not explicit, beyond that we went into it as full pay at privates for “whatever”.</p>
<p>In both cases we were all on the same page with regard to what we understood about each kids values.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I asked specifically on the Berkeley forum if delayed graduation due to not getting classes was a problem, and no one said it was. Berkeley has the highest four year graduation rate of any public university in the US, although that likely has a lot to do with being one of the most selective.</p>
<p>Now, some people have said that some CSUs have a problem. But some (other) CSUs have four year graduation pledge programs (that few seem to take advantage of).</p>
<p>Of course, the CCs are worst off, since they do not control enrollment with an admissions process (unlike CSUs, which cut back on enrollment by raising admissions standards), so anyone can enroll and sign up for classes.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Private schools do not seem to be as transfer-friendly as public schools, either in admissions or financial aid.</p>
<p>"I asked specifically on the Berkeley forum if delayed graduation due to not getting classes was a problem, and no one said it was. Berkeley has the highest four year graduation rate of any public university in the US, although that likely has a lot to do with being one of the most selective.</p>
<p>Now, some people have said that some CSUs have a problem. But some (other) CSUs have four year graduation pledge programs (that few seem to take advantage of)."</p>
<p>Keep in mind that there are people don’t go on the forum to address the issues. This was on the news just a couple days ago. Many students are leaving California to go out of state.</p>
<p>[Colleges</a> In California See Exodus Of State’s Students](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>Colleges In California See Exodus Of State's Students | HuffPost College)</p>
<p>" Private schools do not seem to be as transfer-friendly as public schools, either in admissions or financial aid."</p>
<p>DS knows quite a few friends who transferred from CC to Chapman or to USC. Many just go out of state or to other privates.</p>
<p>What you describe in #69 is likely the result of capacity reductions (along with the usual population increases); it does not necessarily mean that the students consider the California public schools less desirable (they may not have gotten admitted due to the capacity reductions resulting in greater selectivity).</p>
<p>USC is the biggest non-profit private in California, and the one that takes the most transfer students. Most other non-profit private universities in California are small, and probably less transfer-friendly.</p>
<p>Op,
Often kids don’t know what types of jobs/careers they would like because they don’t know about all of the possibilities out there. Then they think that their major has to lead to their job/career, so they still don’t know. Maybe some better questions for your D would be “what things to you enjoy to most now?” “what are you most proud of?” “what sort of environments are you happiest in?” “If you had 3 months to do anything you wanted, what would it be?” Explore together. Then D might become more self aware, analytical and might give her some idea of a major that would fit the things in which she enjoys and thrives. Then give D a list of majors available at a few colleges (of CB Book of Majors) so she knows what options are available. No, you don’t pick a major, but show her how to ask questions of herself so that she can start figuring this out for herself.</p>
<p>“No, we did not help our daughter choose physics. She chose that major because she loved the subject, and we were perfectly happy with her choice. She is now a physicist, researching at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, in Switzerland. Our son chose English and a minor in Japanese, and that was also his choice.”</p>
<p>@ CalAlum: Wow! D is working on LHC. That is so cool!
Also, I’ve always been a fan of majoring in English.</p>
<p>Don’t do the wait-and-see approach. I am a first-generation college student, and it peeves me to see parents that know how the process works just wait it out. You shouldn’t explicitly tell her to choose X, Y, or Z as a major, but you can throw her into various summer classes or volunteer events to see if she’ll like something or not.</p>
<p>Since the school my D goes to has plenty of writing in its core (and fairly rigid timing for these courses) I recommended only that she not fall off the ‘math track’. Not continuing with math cuts off a lot of potential degree programs (she’s taking Calc. II and III this semester, had AP Calc AB & BC in high school). Not only are these courses prereqs for lots of other courses, your math skills also decay over time. That’s about the only advice she’d take from me. :)</p>
<p>OP, I also have a daughter who is a junior who doesn’t really know what she wants to do. She is enjoying her broadcasting class and being an anchor on the morning news, she also loves theatre and her psychology class. But she doesn’t have a clue in the world what she would like for a career. That is ok. I will definitely help her with how her interests apply to different majors but she will decide what she wants to do. </p>
<p>My oldest (freshman in college) is in between majoring in linguistics or international relations with language minor. I introduced her to sociolinguistics awhile ago and she has been fascinated ever since. Ultimately though, it is her decision.</p>
<p>My HS junior son has no clue what he wants to do, but we told him that he could use some of his high school course offerings as a way to investigate various professions. He is still taking a very rigorous course load, but he is in his second year of sports marketing and loves the class. As a senior, he plans to take an all-year athletic training class, something that really got his interest when he suffered an early-season foot injury while training for cross country. He and the trainer really hit it off, and she has been encouraging him to take her class, especially since he has always been fascinated by the way the body works.</p>
<p>My older son also used his high school classes as a springboard to what he wanted to study in college. He really got into economics, statistics and political science while taking AP classes. Now, he’s a double major in econ and poli sci and has a minor in math.</p>
<p>There is a big difference between telling your child you must major in ________ and suggesting to your child that you are a good student in _________ and might want to consider majors/careers in __________.</p>
<p>Also, one thing we found with our kids is they just didn’t know what was available to them. There are a LOT of different jobs out there that most kids have never heard of. Introducing them to a variety of options is just part of your job as a parent.</p>
<p>Just apply as “undecided” - she can select a major at the end of her soph year. She needs to settle on something before graduate school.</p>
<p>my Son wanted to major in exercise physiology (right from his freshman year) because of his passion for running and participation in school Track and Field. I looked around and found that kinesiology is mostly offered in the school of education. I somehow convinced him to major in biology (molecular/cellular biology and biochemistry) and may be focus on physiology in graduate school. After seeing the course load in kinesiology he is now convinced and is well on board with my recommendation. He is now picking out colleges which are strong in Biology.</p>
<p>collagedad–if he is interested in kinesiology he should investigate Athletic Training.</p>