<p>Okay. I did not intend for this thread to become an outlet for people to argue.</p>
<p>But I agree with a couple of the responses above that hard work is what gets people somewhere. I work hard at what I enjoy doing and I’ve already got some good internship opportunities and made connections with my professors. Of course, people might be held back due to discrimination and might be given less opportunities depending on how and where they grow up.</p>
<p>Some older aunts and a few cousins ragged on me for majoring in history rather than Engineering/CS, pre-med, or business at a topflight BBA program.* </p>
<p>Was fortunate to have parents, a few aunts/uncles, and other cousins…including one who was a successful EE grad from Caltech back me up by accusing them of “anti-intellectualism” and “Missing the point of an undergraduate education.” </p>
<p>Factors which ultimately put a stop to all that ragging was:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Knocking an older cousin to the ground who got in my face about it…despite the fact he was a body-builder and much taller than me. </p></li>
<li><p>Reminding him that he didn’t have much to brag about considering he nearly flunked out of college multiple times, struggled as an undergrad business major at a lower-tiered Big-10 school*, and had been a ne’er do well since graduation. </p></li>
<li><p>My parents and those of several classmates who were more intellectually-oriented actually expressed disgust for the excessive college == trade school mentality among many of those relatives and among most HS classmates’ parents. </p></li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>At my urban public math-science high school, business was considered the major for slacker non/anti-intellectual folks who had weak basic skills in math/writing unless it was an elite undergrad BBA program on the level of Wharton, NYU-Stern, Berkeley’s Haas, UVA-McIntire, or grudgingly…CUNY’s Baruch College. To some extent, this was also the mentality of that cousin’s side of the family.</li>
</ul>
<p>I feel that those on the pre-med route have to truly be compassionate about being a doctor and are 100% certain that they want to be one. It’s not as easy as ‘Oh, I want to be a doctor’ and just being one. I think some of the older generation doesn’t realize how difficult and competitive it is just to get a call-back from a med school for an interview, let alone be accepted into one. And coming from an Asian background, my relatives are known to nit-pick and judge. I won’t deny that even my parents hold the mentality of ‘oh if you don’t go into the healthcare field, you will not have a bright future ahead of you.’ It really brings me down because any child would hate to disappoint their parents/relatives. But at the same time, I think it’s important to major in what you’re happy with because after all, it IS your life. I’m the perfect example of a hypocrite though. I’m majoring in something that my PARENTS love, not what I love, and I’m trying to pull through. I sometimes forget about my own goals and dreams and live theirs instead.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Sorry if I sounded crass. Perhaps I should have said “you have to be perfect… or have a long-time passion for working in the medical field.” I hear a lot of students (or their parents) say something a long the lines of “oh I might go to med school when I graduate” in their junior or senior years. I was more referring to this mentality that you can just decide on a whim to go to med school when they’re are students who have been working for it all through college and still won’t make the cut. And believe me, not every student who works hard or really loves to study medicine will make it. There just aren’t that many spots for all the good students; it really does come down to a competition, especially at schools where you have to go through a committee process just to be allowed to apply to med school. Should students who want to work in medicine still try? Absolutely. But there’s a reason they tell you to have a back up plan. (I just want to clarify I’m not saying this out of bitterness, because I’m choosing to walk away from pre-med because I got tired of the competition and felt like it wasn’t something I could spend my life doing, not because I couldn’t “make it” or anything like that.)</p>
<p>But I guess my point in all of this is it’s really unfair for someone’s relatives to say someone should just be anything, especially when they’re not up to date on what that major really entails. It’s unfair to the student who is working hard to become whatever “lesser” major they are and it’s unfair to those in the “better,” “harder” major to say that while their work is important, anyone could do it.</p>
<p>People are always going to have an opinion, especially family. Probably the best way to deal with all of the negative opinions of others is to let it just roll off your back. It will never stop. As you go through life there will always be someone saying that you need to do things differently or have a better way to tell you. Basically it is your life and you are the one that needs to be satisfied with what you do.</p>
<p>Older people are usually more concerned with their younger relatives managing to to survive in life because of what they have seen happen to others throughout the tough economic times that they have lived through. It probably does sound very critical to you but they are likely just worried about what could happen to you. They want you to learn from their mistakes and the mistakes that they have witnessed others go through.</p>
<p>What all those naysayers are not getting about an education is that you learn from the entire experience. Honestly if you were just going to learn a trade it would have been simpler to go to school to become a plumber or a welder, and make some decent money as well.</p>
<p>The experience of pushing yourself to study, when all you want to do is go to bed or finishing up those papers when you are suffering through a bout with the flu are all things that you carry with you through life. Dealing with professors and getting along with other students is all training for future employment.</p>
<p>You never know where your degree will take you either. An art degree could lead you to a job writing internet content, because of all of the required writing that you had to do. And of course there are those graduates that studied law and pre med that ended up as bartenders because they didn’t like it.</p>
<p>My family respects my major. No problems here! :)</p>
<p>If I had a dollar every time someone doubted me for wanting to major in theatre, I wouldn’t need college. But they don’t understand that the outlook is a LOT better for design/tech than for actors, because there are far less, but dozens are needed for every show. I think you should focus on what your passions are, and if it something you truly enjoy and are good at, you’ll find the work. Sure, I could get a business degree and have a ‘secure’ job in a cubicle, but I would hate myself forever for it. I’d rather be poor and trying to live out my dreams than be financially secure loathing going to work every day.</p>
<p>I still get harassed at every family gathering to go to med school.</p>
<p>I’m a senior in high school and I’ve wanted to be an engineer since I was 12. Family, please get the hint.</p>
<p>However, my father is the only one in my family that I can think of who actually graduated from college, although almost every has gone for a semester or two before dropping out, so I’m not really sure what their logic is. “We didn’t even go to school for a year, but you can go for seven for a career that you don’t want!”</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Here’s one comeback that shut one of my older relations up after incessantly bugging me to be pre-med:</p>
<p>“I’ll do pre-med and go off to medical school provided you pay for all my educational expenses as well as any and all malpractice judgments against me.” </p>
<p>They never said another word about pre-med/med school after that. :D</p>
<p>Then again, I’m of the opinion that no one…not even older relations/grandparents have the right to incessantly provide unsolicited negative opinions/suggestions* about college/grad school/career unless they’re willing to put their money where their mouth is and pay for ALL the associated expenses. </p>
<p>Moreover, someone who did poorly(anything below a 3.0 cumulative average) or worse…never graduated from college has no standing to offer anything except positive encouragement/cheer leading to their younger college-bound relations. </p>
<ul>
<li>No more than once.</li>
</ul>
<p>For the most part, I have received praise or just “hmmms”. However, my grandpa disapproved of my plan to major in sustainable business and minor in environmental studies. I don’t think he believes in all the “going green” stuff. It kinda hurt me because he helped my parents pay for my education and to have him disapprove of what I am going to college for while he helps pay for it makes me feel guilty. I’m still going to go through with it of course, but I actually prefer that he faked excitement for me…</p>
<p>Recently got some flak from one of my cousins whom, by the way, flunked community college, about my major (Biochemistry) and my plan to graduate in three years and attend medical school right afterward. </p>
<p>He thinks I’d be much better as an RN or a Dentist. Or like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>wut</p>
<p>Here’s the thing:Its not that they hate your major,but it really is nothing compared to Engineering/medicine or even business.It really is a joke compared to those.</p>
<p>The school I go to has a rather bad joke running around.It is a little racist,but I think you will know what I mean by it:“Hey guys,did you notice so many whites(boys and girls) go to arts and communication classes?” Or “Why do all these whites drop out later on when they know they can’t study engineering?”</p>
<p>And I think I will stop.Your relatives have something of this similar thinking,but they never say it too much since it can hurt you.All I will say is just let it go and do what you feel is best.There is no rule that you have to be super smart all the time and do the hard majors.</p>
<p>takes all types to make the world go 'round. yeah you have some idiots in, say, communication who are just going to college to say they went to college, but you also have people who are passionate about it and would probably thrive in PR.</p>
<p>same with English majors… a lot of them go on to do, well, whatever. some go to law school, some go teach, some do something almost completely irrelevant (I met a cop who studied English and he said it actually helps a lot with writing police reports), etc. </p>
<p>basically I don’t see why people give a **** what someone else is majoring in, it doesn’t affect your life one bit so why put them down? (bit of a rhetorical question, since I know the answer is insecurity).</p>
<p>I try to not get worked up over the random remarks relatives tend to make at family gatherings. Most have no idea what they are talking about and to imply you should follow some career path they aren’t even familiar with really doesn’t bother me.</p>
<p>Nope, I’ve always been okay. My family are all happy with my math/physics majors, and have supported my goal of going to graduate school.</p>
<p>I’m of the firm belief that it’s not what degree you have, but what you do with it that counts. Work ethic and communication skills are far more important than the words on your diploma, if you ask me. Maybe I’m just na</p>
<p>“And believe me, not every student who works hard or really loves to study medicine will make it.”</p>
<p>-I believe they will. However, some believe that they study hard, when they actually do not. 2 pre-med friends from my D’s crowd did not make it because they did not apply. The rest are at Med. Schools currently. These 2 might apply this cycle. Yes, about 40% of applicants get accepted and close to 60% get rejected. But these 60% are lacking in some area in comparison to other 40%. Lacking in some area resulted from not working as hard as the ones who got accepted. As I mentioned though. nobody is perfect and I do not think that anybody is genius either. Geniouses end up having companies like Facebook and Microsoft.</p>
<p>FallenAngel,
Some companies require 4 year degree for certain positions and their official policies do not even allow them to interview people who might posses experirnece but no degree. I found that being overqualified (having MBA while applying in field that crearly does not need it) actually has given me advantaged in very economically depressed region. I was able to find several new jobs replying to ads in local Newspaper. (the rate of success looking for a job this way is about 2%, but worked perfectly for me). I also found out while working for 9 different employers in unreleated industries, that having MBA prospective gives me a wider view of business related problems that my department is involved. It is advantage although I did not need to use my additional knowledge directly for the tasks assigned to me. Do not underestimate your college education.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not necessarily. Sometimes people do get rejected because there’s just too many people applying for too few seats and it’s not an indictment on their work-ethic or capabilities. </p>
<p>For some, it takes multiple tries before getting into med school whether it is a UC Berkeley grad with a 3.75 in pre-med/chemistry or a SUNY Buffalo grad with a 3.85 in pre-med biology…and both had plenty of medical volunteer and research experience. Once they were admitted, they received admission to places like UChicago, BU, and NYU med and merit aid to several other med schools. </p>
<p>Both have now been MDs for some years…but it took one 4 tries and the other 5 tries before they were admitted to med school because the competition was so stiff…even back in the late '90s.</p>