<p>Hi OP! Sorry to hear about your problem. I appreciate that this may not directly address the issue you’re having, but have you done any research into financial engineering? For example, Columbia’s Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department offers several B.S. degrees, including in Operations Research: Engineering Management Systems and Operations Research: Financial Engineering. In other words, maybe you could have your cake and eat it too, so to speak.</p>
<p>BTW, my H is a U.S. CPA - among other qualifications. It depends on what you want to do, of course, but perhaps it would be useful for you and your family to research the Big Four accounting firms and the work they do or the world’s major investment banks and financial institutions to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how many partners and/or employees of these sorts of firms possess accounting degrees.</p>
<p>Good luck to you and your family with your deliberations.</p>
<p>Gotmilk–Can you enlist any of your friends parents to come to your aid? I’ve often found that my parent’s friends opinions had more sway over them than anything else.
Often the second opinion from trusted friends has a lot more sway than the opinions of the child (right or wrong).</p>
<p>Hubby has an engineering degree and has never worked as an engineer.</p>
<p>When my daughter wanted to major in Japanese, I STRONGLY suggested that she double major in something that would be a bit more likely to help her GET A JOB upon graduation. She is happy to have another major because she has decided that Japanese isn’t what she wants to major in after all.</p>
<p>Lots of people start in one major and change.</p>
<p>The only thing we told our older daughter was if she wanted to major in psychology or sociology that she would have to attend an in-state public. We would not pay for private school (and associated loans on her part) for something that would require a couple of advanced degrees with no guarantees of being able to pay off the loans. ;)</p>
<p>My H is an engineer. I’m in financial analysis for the same large manufacturing company. Are we rich? No, but we’re comfortable. I enjoy what I do as does he. Working in a field that you either don’t have the aptitude for or some amount of passion is setting yourself up for a miserable life.</p>
<p>If you like math, but not physics, you may also want to consider majors like operations research, industrial engineering, or a combination of math/economics/finance/statistics, which can lead to jobs and careers in finance and business, but using more math than a typical business major, and may be more face-saving for your parents to mention to their friends.</p>
<p>(I hope your parents are not the type to disown you if you do not get admitted to MIT, Harvard, Stanford, etc. and instead go to a “lowly” state school like Georgia Tech, Minnesota, Texas, Virginia Tech, Cal Poly, etc.)</p>
<p>I don’t know about an Indian thing, but maybe a WEST Indian thing. My in laws, and my husband to a much lesser extent, think we should “have” our kids pick certain majors. I disagree, but on the other hand, they have all done a great job of parenting.</p>
<p>I was very hesitant to pay $55K a year for an “acting” degree (largely because he has never “acted” and did not research it at all), but fortunately we did not have to discuss it too seriously.</p>
<p>Would most people here say that it is more reasonable for parents to say that (for example) they would not help pay for a school and major which would leave the student with $100,000 in debt and a $30,000 per year job according to the school’s career survey?</p>
<p>That would still leave the student a lot more options (including studying that major at a less expensive school, as well as studying numerous other majors at various schools, though the $100,000 debt school would likely be imprudent in any major) compared to forcing the student into a specific major.</p>
<p>No. A major doesn’t define the rest of your life like so many people think, and you can get plenty of great jobs even with “useless” degrees. Trying to force your child to study something he or she isn’t interested in will just build resent.</p>
<p>And the financial issue is completely separate. You shouldn’t be taking out $100,000 in loans for any degree, useless or not.</p>
<p>I don’t know that it’s COMPLETELY separate. Even without debt, families have to make decisions about how they spend. And to a certain extent, we know our kids. </p>
<p>My kid and I know he has never pursued “acting” before, and that doesn’t anticipate living on $30K a year.</p>
<p>Mechanical engineering is not a great field either. It’s not easy to find job in this field judging from several kids that I know. Some engineering major students can’t even find summer work that pays more than my humanity kid.
I try to do research about their career interest and major but I’ve never forced anybody to study anything because nobody was able to force me to study anything when I was younger.</p>
<p>even if the parent doesn’t directly choose the major for the child, he/she will still be greatly influenced by what you tell them. my parents are letting me major in anything i want, but my dad, for example, talks about how great of a field economics is and how much he loves the field. i don’t really want to disappoint my father and obviously i want to make him proud, so i majored in economics. it also doesn’t hurt that it’s an interesting field, versatile in terms of jobs, and generally high paying.</p>
<p>still, if i ever have a child i would never let them major in something like african/chinese/etc… history, latin american studies, art/painting, foreign languages, etc…, because they would be wasting their time and throwing their life away</p>
<p>Yes, all those millions of people who have thrown their lives away majoring in a subject that doesn’t appeal to someone whose parents let him major in whatever he liked but wouldn’t extend the same privilege to his own kids.</p>
<p>I would guide the child/young adult in some direction if the child clearly had no idea.
Once at the University, I would hope that something appealed to my child. If the chosen major is one that I thought my child may have a hard time making a living and supporting a family, I would encourage a double major to go along with the child’s choice. This route may take additional years if necessary. I would be OK with that.</p>
<p>And that’s how parental guidance replaces parental “forcing”. Most kids have had lots of parental guidance by the time they choose a major. Someone has helped them follow their interests along, test the strength of those interests, see the downsides-- and also to look at the world, and their education, in a larger context than “what will my career be?” I don’t think anyone should be forced, but everyone, young and old, can use some help thinking through a huge decision like this.</p>
<p>OP, can your GC help your parents see the possibilities in accounting, and the danger of pushing someone into a field he has no interest in? I hope so!</p>
<p>The involvement of the parents in the original poster’s education seems to be a result of cultural influences. It also seems based on a misunderstanding of the (original, if now dated) basis for American higher education, which was not always so careerist, but was more about learning and personal growth (again, I realize this is debated and controversial at this point, so I am referring to ideals that date back some years).</p>
<p>My own children have majored in computer science (yes, employed right after graduation w/nice salary), music (will be employed in music area, most likely) and dance (employment in dance will be doubtful, but with a BA, many jobs will be open to her that are open to anyone with a BA). Graduate school is open to any of them, regardless of major.</p>
<p>I would never dream of trying to influence their majors, but that is my culture. Autonomy and independence are big factors in my own upbringing.</p>
<p>If the original poster wants to major in something vocational, then accounting would certainly be a great choice. It seems to me that the parents are more after prestige than money for the son, which may also be a cultural thing. Doctor, lawyer, engineer paths, maybe finance or banking, seem popular with certain ethnic groups, because of the prestige.</p>
<p>My niece’s bil was in China at a university doing graduate work and for some reason his student Visa was cancelled. Not wanting to leave he started knocking on doors of companies (literally) and was offered a fabulous job paying gobs of money because he could speak Mandarin. Having the time of his life.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there are lots of people chasing those jobs, and many bachelor’s degree holders end up in jobs that do not need or use a bachelor’s degree (and some may specify a bachelor’s degree only because the employer does not trust the high school diploma as an indicator of competency in basic skills like reading, writing, and math). She may want to be more aggressive about seeking internships and avoiding debt during her undergraduate years to improve her chances of getting a good job leading to a good career.</p>