So i applied everywhere as an electrical engineering major, but I really never wanted to do that ( i didnt know what i want to do). there is a chance i might go to community college, but the thing is i want to change my major to math or statistics. how would i tell me parents this (they are typical pro med/engineering asian parents). it doesnt seem like now is the right time considering high school didnt even end yet. should i wait a semester of college and then tell them or should i tell them now.
also, if anyone can give me tips on how to approach my parents on this subject, that would be great. im scared their gonna overreact and say no.
Once you get accepted, you can usually change without that big of a problem ( without your parents knowing). People do it all the time.
Try to look up jobs with math/statistics that offer what your parents want. Money. Prestige. Knowledge. Whatever it is, search up future careers, explain to them over the summer or before summer or even when college starts (tho before college starts is a better idea). Explain why, what u wanna be, most parents understand in time.
@master1006 woah, thanks i didnt know that. i think ill just go on with my life without telling my parents i changed majors. i dont want them to get a heart attack.
This depends on the college. Some colleges admit by majors (like the UCs and CSUs). At other schools math and stats would probably be in a different college than engineering. You need to look at each school individually.
Right now, Engineering is more impacted than Math or Statistics, so if you have already applied for engineering, the die is pretty much cast. If it were me, I would attend as an EE major looking into statistical analysis (which is a pretty theoretical branch- for example look at some of the work of Prof. Fineup or of David Fried in light propagation through a turbulent medium; or some of the deep CDMA theory of Viterbi or Jacobs for cell phone or underwater acoustic communications). The first 1-2 years of lower division courses will likely have a lot of overlap, anyway. As you get a few quarters in, you can see more clearly where you would like to have a home. Your parents may have more wisdom than you give them credit for.
If you decide to switch from the College of Engineering to the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, you likely will not lose any time-to-graduation and will be welcomed. This is not likely true from LAS to Engineering
I would spend Freshman (and maybe part of Sophomore) year trying to decide what to do. At this point you are way too ignorant to make an informed decision. Your applications are in to Engineering- ride that horse for a year or two, and then decide what aligns best with your life goals. It will be straightforward to change at that time, since you would be changing from a more impacted to a less impacted major.
Once you know what you want to do, specifically, and why; and you have discussed the pros and cons thoroughly with a college advisor, you can present the case to your parents for their input. Then, in concert with yourself, your college advisor, and your parents, you can select a major. At the end of the day, it really is your decision, and I would be surprised if your parents go against a logical conclusion based on thorough exploration and careful thought.
Indeed. Are your parents educated or ignorant? If they come from a quantitative background, they’d realize how useful an education in statistics can be.
But @ItsJustSchool makes a good point: how would you know whether you like EE or statistics more if you haven’t taken much in either discipline?
@PurpleTitan my parents are immigrants from india, and my dad majored in marketing but switched to IT data and came to the US. my mom is a software engineering, but they arent aware of college major and their careers… they kinda just follow the flow on them. computer science and engineering are big now, so they’d like me to major in those. not too many people major in math and statistics so they do not view that as a lucrative career
Sometimes, especially for engineering majors, declaring the major may be done at the time of application to the college.
However, it appears that the actual administrative procedure of declaring a major is secondary to the OP’s apparent belief that only specific majors (not including math or statistics) are acceptable to his/her parents. Since the parents have veto power over the OP’s college choices (unless the OP gets a full ride merit scholarship somewhere), that can be a problem if the OP wants to do a major that is not one which the parents consider acceptable.