Yea I completely understand that. It’s just hard coming from South Asian parents, Who immigrated and are now both successful. I think it would be difficult to try and lower my parents’ expectations and live at a lower standard of living than I do now. On top of that being an only child, and all my older cousins being doctors and lawyers… It’s a lot of pressure hehe. But yeah, I still do agree with you. Thanks for your feedback!
It is very hard to have a crystal ball about what will constitute a “good” standard of living so many years from now. So many kids majored in one of the energy/oil and gas engineering fields because it was high paying - and then graduated into an energy 'glut" when companies were laying off engineers left and right. Ditto aerospace engineering.
If you could predict the market a few years from now, you wouldn’t need to work for a living.
I don’t know engineering with a focus/understanding of robotics, programming ( and understanding interest in finance/econ), AI, big data. So many more. Having general skills by design and specific skills ( as the market demands) can ensure a decent paycheck.
Yes, no one knows what is likely to soar but it’s not impossible to predict good fields that have a built in plan b. So maybe not aerospace engineering but EE.
I’m not saying anyone doesn’t constantly have to readjust and learn new skills. But it’a possible to follow the $ and best fields aa you go along.
few people your age actually have a clear picture of what they want to be when they grow up. Most of your friends who seem so convinced they they want to be X, Y or Z, will end up changing course - sometimes dramatically. Most of you simply haven’t been exposed to enough to reasonably choose an actual career. That’s OK, embrace it. Try things, take opportunities to shadow people, ask adults what they do and how they like it. Trust me, there are thousands of rewarding jobs you have never heard of.
I have one recent grad and one kid in college. Both changed majors several times and are finding their way to happy successful adult lives just fine. Honestly, do your best in HS, participate in clubs, sports, activities that interest you and have some fun as a teen. When the time comes lots of doors will be open to you. Most colleges don’t require freshmen to select a major so you really can figure it out later.
Good luck. .
It is only pressure if you feel the need to compete with them on occupational prestige and pay levels.
If you find a career path that has opportunities*, is something that you like, and pays enough to live on (including saving for longer term goals like retirement and your kids’ college costs)**, then you can be happy and not worry about comparisons with your cousins.
*I.e. not one with perennially poor job prospects.
**You do not have to have a $150,000+ per year pay level if you can live comfortably on much less.
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I mentioned family culture in my post awhile back (and would add culture of your parents’ country of origin). This is a common issue and one that is tough to deal with. It might help if a college counselor could help your parents understand the ways in which US colleges work and ways in which you can access a variety of satisfying career paths. It is very understandable that you feel pressure, and I hope that an outside person can be of help.
The “family culture” issue may have less to do with ethnic or national origin culture than the fact that immigrants who came to the US as PhD students (with BA/BS degrees from elite universities in their origin countries) or highly skilled workers (e.g. MDs who secured US residencies, computer scientists with graduate degrees, etc.) are probably elite in academic and professional achievement compared to the general populations in both their origin countries and the US.
So it may not be surprising if they, as parents, may be somewhat disappointed if their kids are merely good (rather than elite) in academic and professional achievement. Parents may want to see upward mobility for their kids; downward mobility may be disappointing, even if the “lower” station that their kids end up in is still good.
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@ucbalumnus that is what I meant by “family culture.”
I made a distinction between that and culture stemming from ethnic or national origin. I also added in individual personality as a factor, further above.
Your friends think they know what they want to do. Most of them will probably change their minds at least once along the way. I know very few people who are doing exactly what they thought they’d be doing when they were 16.
Why don’t you want to go in undecided? First of all, you still have two more years before college to figure it out, so you’re not necessarily in danger of that. Secondly, it doesn’t matter if you go in undecided; most colleges don’t admit based on major. Don’t worry about when you want to have kids (that’s more or less irrelevant, and also, 30 isn’t as old as you think).
Most people’s salaries change over the course of their careers; it’s unlikely that you’ll start out anywhere near $150K. I’ll say up front that you can travel the world and go on vacations on a lot less than $150K, even with children; that’s a high salary. However, that does help narrow it down a bit, because there aren’t many careers in which one can expect to make $150K+.
Medicine is the obvious choice, but people tend to forget that many students incur a significant amount of debt to become physicians. Unless you or your parents are wealthy and willing to cover the costs of your medical education, you’d likely be carrying somewhere around $200K+, which would eat into that paycheck for at least 10-15 years. Interestingly, high-level nurses can make that much, if they rise to nursing management positions (but you wouldn’t start near that).
Tech is one of the other fields where one can make a lot of money in many fields. Most people know about software developers, who at the top companies can easily get to $150K within a few years of starting their careers; data scientists also can command a large salary (although often a master’s is expected). But there are other non-technical positions in tech in which one can hit that much, including program management, finance, marketing, hardware engineering, design, and UX research (although that last one usually requires at least a master’s in a social science field). Keep in mind, though, that these are for top companies; many smaller companies pay much smaller salaries in these fields.
People who go to top business schools and get MBAs average around $150K when they start, usually as management consultants (very high paid field, but very demanding - but they also travel a lot!) or in finance. Accountants at top accounting firms or who rise into management levels can hit that much, although most make significantly less. Quants/folks who go into finance can make or exceed $150K as well. And then there’s BigLaw, but unless you go to a very prestigious law school, that one is unlikely.
If you don’t like computer science, even if you studied it I don’t think you’d be a good fit for the top jobs that pay software developers a lot, so that’s out. If you want to be a physician, you can major in whatever you want, but you have to take pre-med classes. I’d recommend math or something related; a strong knowledge of math (or applied math, or statistics) can net you a quantitative job that could pay quite a lot. Economics with a strong math minor/double major could also do nicely. If your school has it, consider also operations research. Also, look into being an actuary - they make high salaries and it requires a lot of math.
There’s also engineering. You could go to business school with any of those majors, which you’d likely need to get close to $150K in business, so I wouldn’t bother majoring in business unless you wanted to be an accountant (or an actuary, as above). You could minor in finance, though, if your school had it; that also benefits from math.
Salary is a very relative thing, and 150k doesn’t mean the same thing in different areas. Salary is like real estate, in fact, it’s directly correlated with real estate costs. In CA, 150k is an almost comfortable living. In Texas it’s a very high end salary, based on years of experience.
Second, you have plenty of time to decide. And NO, your friends have no idea what they’re doing. They only think they do. The average college student changes their major twice before deciding what to study. College is a maturation process, and you discover hidden passions as you learn. If I had a nickel every time I read the “I want to be a doctor” post, I could retire early.
My advice, if you’re undecided, then that’s fine. The best college is one that offers flexibility. I would avoid a hyper-competitive school, because they’re the most rigid and unforgiving with their majors.