<p>In high school, I was planning on majoring in Business, but my parents encouraged me to do something else. My parents are immigrants who only have a high school education and I'm the oldest in the family of three, so there were very high expectations for me to do something spectacular (i.e become an Engineer or Physician) as the first person in my family to go to college. Even with my best efforts, I was only able to obtain a 2.60 GPA after my first quarter of hard science and math courses. I realized that this path was not right for me, so the next quarter to present date I switched back to my initial intended major in Business. I got a 3.80 GPA and a 3.50 GPA the last two quarters of my freshman year and brought my GPA up to 3.30. However, looking at the stats for admission into the Business department, the average cumulative GPA of all admitted students was a 3.55 (the average cumulative GPA of students that applied is a 3.42...) and the average prerequisite GPA of all admitted students was a 3.62 GPA (I have a 3.70 and the average prerequisite GPA of students that applied is a 3.38; I'm doing well here). I know that if I didn't take the prerequisite classes for Engineering I would have had a cumulative GPA of a 3.6+, but now my college experience has become a bit more difficult since I have to worry about even getting into the Business school without slipping even a little bit. My parents only wanted the best for me, but I realized that I should I listened to myself. I apply to Business school during the Spring of next year, so I have two quarters to continue to raise my GPA.</p>
<p>Nope, they aren’t paying so they have no say :)</p>
<p>My parents did that too the first time I started school 12 years ago. I wanted to be a veterinarian or at least do something in a biology or zoology field, instead I got sent to nursing school. I hated it, didn’t even try my last semester and got a pile of C’s so that I wouldn’t have to finish it. Now I’m going back and trying really hard to bring my GPA back up. My 3.26 has already turned into a 3.46 and my latest two A’s aren’t even on there yet! Woohoo!
I have a daughter of my own now and I understand why a parent might encourage a different degree, especially if the one your kid is interested in doesn’t pay enough to ever pay off the college loan. BUT, sending your kid for classes in a career they loathe isn’t an option that’s usually successful either.</p>
<p>Asian parents here. My moms a dentist so I was pressured to major in bio and go to detail school. Quickly found I severely disliked it and the job prospects given I didn’t get into dental school. I’m now an econ major. My gap also took a big blow and I could be at a better university, but what’s done is done and it’s not really too bad.</p>
<p>I got all the pressure of parents with postgraduate degrees (one with a masters, one with a PhD), and the pressure of being asian, and the pressure of being the eldest. My mom especially (she’s the Asian parent with the PhD) kept telling me I had to go into computer science like my dad. She kept saying that anything else wouldn’t get me a job. But then I turned the tables on her and got into the Computer Game Science major. She’s not happy at all, but I am! :)</p>
<p>No I chose my own major. My step mom, I could careless what sheh ad to say since she didn’t even graduate from high school. My dad didnt go to college, but he would of been proud no matter what I would of went into anyways.</p>
<p>My D1 is planning on majoring in dance this fall. Talk about concerns and worries. I know it is something she loves and can not see herself majoring in or doing anything else. So, I am letting her follow her dreams because I don’t want to stand in the way of that and the what-if’s that could come later. She is passionate about it, works extremely hard and loves every moment of it. So, she ends up waiting tables or being a nanny in addition to some dance, she will be happy, she will be doing what she wants and for that I am too am happy.</p>
<p>I’m really thankful my parents never made me feel like I had to take a specific road in life. My mum never went to college and my dad only did a year and never finished so they were just proud that I got in to a really good school (actually, a number of good schools), chose one I loved and am bettering my life. They know that (if and) when I get my Masters in Journalism that I will never make any money, but as long as I’m happy they are too :)</p>