“Is that college seniors are “uncertain about their future” a liberal arts major at highly selective colleges problem?”
A similar issue can occur in STEM fields. I was a math major at a very selective university, largely on the basis that mathematics is to STEM what liberal arts is to humanities. I eventually figured out what I wanted to do and did well with it but it took some time.
Son’s path. Gifted (ahead a grade or two- early start for fall birth and condensed elementary years) and did Honors math and physics sequences plus other courses at a top tier flagship (highly ranked in his fields), including the more theoretical computer science ones. He did the honors math major. Applied to top grad schools only and accepted to none (brutal field, so many world wide candidates apply to US schools). I made an early May phone call the month of his graduation to remind him to call his dad to wish him happy birthday (we were visiting relatives). Son asked who was invited to graduation- I said just his local grandfather and the grandmother we were bringing back to the state with us. He told me he was canceling graduation and wanted to do a fifth year to finish the computer science second major as well as, we presumed, applying to different grad schools. Well, he got the double major with math honors and went to work as a software developer/engineer (title depends on the company) at major players. Have asked him if he should get a masters in CS- he states it isn’t needed. He does self teach and is keeping intellectually challenged with his work.
Not what we expected for our genuinely gifted son. I guess Bill Gates and others who have even higher IQ’s (there was a junky website with info recently) who dropped out of college surprised their parents as well. Our son doesn’t have the business sense to become a corporate leader, btw. We know of math PhD’s who have trouble finding jobs as well. Plus- he could end up at a “lesser” college very unhappy with the students he teaches. This works for him.
Humanities can be even harder to find ways to enjoy making a living I would guess. So many people and not a corresponding increase in the need in the fields.
Addenda- we are glad he did not become a physician like his parents did and some cousins are doing. His interests were never medicine related and not the path for him.
@eiholi, I agree with you about all students having some comp sci classes, regardless of major. But in D’s case, she has. When I first posted, her issue wasn’t lack of employable skills; it was uncertainty about what she actually wanted to do. But now that she has a clearer direction, we’ll be advising her on choosing a grad school and whether to defer a year.
Your D will do well, @Massmomm, there must be some interesting and exciting medieval stuff to be discovered. I remember years ago someone mentioned that they used some sort of computer analysis to determine a no-name manuscript to be Shakespeare’s. I also heard that one candidate this election circle used mega data to identify voters to bring out (or scare off) by looking at their social network links. The scary or exciting thing is that a hundred or so links can tell a person more than s/he knows about themselves. How exciting it could be if a liberal arts major comes here on CC, reads some of our posts, and is able to unmask us: where we came from, what our educational background was, etc. So, if my son goes into liberal arts I’d suggest he get training in computer science and math, etc. to be ready for or create new jobs in the future (me dream on).