<p>Have you figured out what you do enjoy better than engineering or law?</p>
<p>I majored in math and got a graduate degree in math and ended up in business. My parents never told me what to do. While I make a good salary, I’m not really sure what I want out of life yet. I think the point of choosing a major is to get a job, so I think parents should encourage their kids to choose more marketable majors in undergrad. Most people will either dislike or be apathetic towards their jobs (that’s the truth, sorry kids) but at least those with more marketable majors will have a higher chance of getting paid. A lot of kids who choose unmarketable majors have to go back to school anyway, so why not get education over with initially.</p>
<p>Back to the question of helping kids choose a major. My boys were/are at an international school with a bit of a UK bent (university in the UK is subject specific, no undecided…change your mind, you start over). With S1, he is very artistic so I suggested architecture, but then he decided he didn’t like the art requirement. A teacher pictured him as a research Physicist and that was the next direction. Then he decided he wanted to do medicine. My husband and I then spent a lot of time trying to make him think it through, because it didn’t seem obvious to us. In hindsight I think that backfired as he remained focused until he got to medical school (remember, in the UK this is as a freshman), then reality set in. He has now transferred to the US and is tending towards engineering, but it is up to him. He has to make it happen.</p>
<p>S2 wants to double or triple major. It’s his choice. How can we choose when ‘we’ aren’t the one doing the class work? </p>
<p>i also have to disagree with the comment about community colleges. I think the joy of the LACs is the fact that exploration is really encouraged. I would almost argue that LACs are a better option for the undecided than even the CAS option that Pizzagirl suggested. The choices are perhaps a bit more limited so you don’t get lost in it all. If you decide on something that isn’t offered, at least a decision has been made.</p>
<p>If I join the crowd of reflecting back over my college career, I ended up majoring in something that could pay the bills which was my widowed mother’s direction. That is fine, but I have continued to wonder what I would do when I grow up. Think I have finally figured it out, but at this point in my life, it is unlikely that I will. But I have been really fortunate to be able to at least work in a shared area to what I would really like to do…</p>
<p>Different people have different definitions of “help” in this thread. Having conversations with your child about possible majors, tossing ideas out there, helping them explore is not the same as “telling them” what they should do. I do the first thing. We talk about his interests, his strengths, and how that can correlate to job opportunities. My D was very driven and knew exactly what she wanted … sort of. She knows things she would like to do. My S has been pretty clueless about what he might want to do. He has gone from video game design to information security to psychology to history teacher. At the moment, he thinks he wants to be a political psychologist of some sort. He wants to use psychology principles to explore political affiliations/beliefs. He loves both subjects. </p>
<p>The irony is that he has always loved science, performing “experiments” since before he could talk! He has always enjoyed figuring out how things work. When he had geometry, he was doing homework one night and he said “This is hard” I asked if he needed an explanation and he said “No, I just have to figure out how it makes sense to me, then it will be fine.” He is very analytic, but things make sense to him in a different way than to other people. When his sister was memorizing multiplication tables, he said “So really, multiplication is just adding the one number that many times?” He just figures things out on his own, in his own way. </p>
<p>He will tell you “I’m not good at science” but he has aced every science course he’s ever had. At parent teacher conferences, his AP Bio teacher just told us that he’s never had a student doing as well in the first six weeks as he is doing right now. </p>
<p>If he does some sort of dual psychology/political science major, he will definitely see politics in a scientific way. His high school electives have been heavily science and social studies oriented with classes in Zoology, Analytical Chemistry, Civil War and World Wars. He has also already finished three years of foreign language (he took high school Spanish I in middle school) and is sad that he can never fit creative writing into his schedule. He’s been trying for three years now. He only has room for either AP Calc or AP Stats in his schedule for next year. I told him that AP Stats would probably be a wiser choice for his area of interest. Stats would be essential for a dual psychology/poly sci major. </p>
<p>His dad is pushing very hard for him to major in a skill, like accounting. Personally, I think he’d be a wonderful vet because he loves animals and is remarkably compassionate and thoughtful toward others. Honestly, he’s really good at just about everything as long as he isn’t bored with it…lol.</p>
<p>collagedad–athletic training has nothing to do with being a PE teacher. Athletic trainers treat athletic injuries and rehab those injuries and work with athletes on strengthening joints, etc. to prevent further injury. The study of kinesiology is central to becoming an athletic trainer. You said nothing in your original post about molecular biology and were talking about his interest in working with athletes.</p>
<p>No, I have not. </p>
<p>And I have no idea how to figure it out because I really don’t know much about me.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that a LOT of people graduating with Biology and Chemistry degrees are teaching high school somewhere, with an average starting pay of about $30,000 if they are lucky. That is going to distort numbers quite a bit.</p>
<p>I have advised HS senior son. I am of the help explore, not tell.</p>
<p>He has many talents and interests. He prefers a LAC where he can study many subjects and have less courses under a major (thus giving more time taking a wide variety). All this would be fine with me IF he wasn’t interested in Engineering and Music. Not many LACs offer Engineering; even fewer fit our budget and his social criteria.</p>
<p>I helped him network to find those in fields of interest that he could talk to.
I funded trips thru high school to explore Engineering options.
I aided in finding colleges that would permit flexibility in his studies, while still permitting graduating in 4 years. This involved in depth research and review of AP credits per school.</p>
<p>Our kid had no clue for his major or what school to apply to. So, we hired a consultant who helped out tremendously. She first tested our kid and determined that he was off the charts for engineering. Now that I look back at it, had we known what an engineer was like in personality and interests, we could have pegged him as an engineer when he was 3 years old. We just never had one in the family before and just thought he was a lovable, but somewhat odd kid. Lo and behold, had we know the diagnosis, years of just thinking that he was an oddball would have been more focused on who he really was – a born engineer. We always wondered why he could sit for hours and hours at a time totally focused on his legos. Then he started to push his store bought computers to the limit and in frustration started building his own at 13 or 14 years old. Before that came intricate model building and then he started deconstructing nerf guns and modifying then into powerful fast action, hard hitting monster play weapons.</p>
<p>Then the consultant started recommending schools, several of which we never even heard of before. Ultimately he was accepted to an amazing school that we had no knowledge of prior to the application process. All hands on and learn by doing. He is happy as a clam and on track to be a successful mechanical engineer.</p>
<p>I am glad that we determined that we were over our heads and brought in a professional.</p>
<p>Longhaul, I’d probably suggest the Claremont Colleges out in California. Your son could study engineering at Harvey Mudd while taking music classes at some of the other colleges.</p>
<p>easy answer…you don’t</p>
<p>College is full of people that WANT to be there. I am so tired of teens shrugging shoulders and “I don’t know” about everthing. That is another way of saying “I don’t want to talk about it” Sometimes I ask kids, ok if you don’t know that, what do you know…guess what the answer is…you guessed it…I don’t know!!</p>
<p>So I guess in closing, send her to college when she matures a little bit and figures out what she wants to do. If you don’t then you will only be wasting her time and your money.</p>
<p>Community college can be a good starting point for the “don’t know” student, since there is less financial and institutional pressure to decide quickly, so s/he can “sample” many subjects. A few extra semesters of community college before transferring to a four year university is much less expensive than a few extra semesters at a four year university that may be needed if one is late in deciding a major.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus–or it can end up being more expensive when none of your CC credits transfer, or not enough transfer that you end up going 4 years plus the 2 at the CC…the first 2 years at a university or college is taken up taking gen eds anyway, mostly, kids can do the same exploring in the 4 year school with better classes, better classmates and not lose the merit and financial aid they won’t get as as a junior year transfer, assuming their credits transfer.</p>
<p>We very much advised children about college majors, suggested courses and career advise. Since we have both had varied and successful careers and both do lots of hiring and interviewing, we are in a better position to advise them than the college advising center. Also no one is more invested in my children’s happiness and success than we are …well except for them of course. I have mentored many young associates, why not my own flesh and blood? As many of my successful friends suggest that their kids talk to me about industries that I am connected to, I don’t hesitate to suggest a conversation between my child and someone who I know may be an expert in a field that I have little knowledge in.
There really is no better advise than from someone who has spent years building a successful career.
Right now son is considering graduate school but not sure if should be pt, ft, MBA, masters or what. Since my network is clearly of a higher caliber than his, he has asked me to make some introductions. I wish I could personally give him advise based on my own experience.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Many of the recent Bio and Chem grads are unemployed; if they can find a job, most work for labs for 20k a year. They can’t get a teaching job without going back to school for a teaching credential. It’s a shame since Chemistry is a hard major.</p>
<p>Well, what would you say about the kid like me, who showed up in college with a set major and an understanding of how she wanted to apply it, only to discover that she really didn’t like studying that? Once I’d gotten comfortable at USC, I saw no reason to leave and go to community college until I figured out what I wanted to do. I just spent some time exploring until I figured it out.</p>
<p>No, but my dad made sure I understood the economic ramifications of my choices (i.e, how successful I could be, how much money I could make, etc) and the physical factors (i.e time and years of study, hours of work per week etc)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>CCs and state universities typically have articulation agreements so that you know what transfers before you take any courses. And exploring at a four year college can delay graduation and increase costs by a lot if one decides to take a major with a long sequence of prerequisites in one’s fourth semester.</p>
<p>My husband and I both had a specific major when we applied to college. We both changed from pre-med and mechanical engineering to genetics and organizational behavior. However, we did notice with our first child that when he applied to schools it would have been a good idea to have a goal or specific interest as he had a more general idea of a business major. As long as you are applying to a school that doesn’t make you commit at application, selecting an area of interest does show admissions that you have set a goal. You can always discover a new goal. That is part of life.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>In the main, this is mostly true, but there are more extreme cases, such as schools that have, for example, a renowned Engineering or Biosciences program, but may have arts and sciences offerings that are not nearly so renowned, to put it mildly. </p>
<p>I won’t name names, but I’m familiar with more than one uni where a degree granted in one of the fields they’re renowned for is highly prized by employers and graduate schools alike, while a degree from these uni’s in, say, a liberal arts field carries something of a negative connotation - to put it bluntly, many employers would think the student simply couldn’t get admitted anywhere else and took the easiest route to a degree. </p>
<p>Like I said, these are outliers, and most uni’s have much more balanced offerings, but still, can be something to bear in mind when choosing a school.</p>