<p>Hey, I'm currently a junior. And for a while now, my parents have been pressuring me to decide on either medicine or engineering as my course of study in college. However, I would like to study economics/business. How do I persuade them to let me study this? They are very stubborn about this issue and won't really listen to me. And since there's just about a year until I apply for college, I want them to agree with my choice(in case I need to apply directly to a business program or something). Please, any advice is appreciated.</p>
<p>Your parents sound intelligent and concerned for your future, as well as overbearing. What if you peel back one layer of this onion to figure out why they favor medicine or engineering.</p>
<p>If the answer is, "these are stable professions with high wages and community
prestige" then you understand them more than just "they want medicine and engineering."</p>
<p>Is there a cultural preference for one profession over another? Recently I read that some parents from China are comfortable with medicine and engineering but not law because in the Cultural Revolution, many of their intellectuals in the areas of social sciences were killed. I could be misstating this history horribly, but my point is: it helps to find out WHY they see those 2 professions as so much better than economics/business.</p>
<p>Jewish people aren't cozy with their kid going into farming because back in Russia, their ancestors weren't allowed to own any land, so developed more business skills to cope. Even though that was l00 years ago, if a Jewish kid announced he wanted to be a rancher or go into agri-business, he might here, "what's wrong with law or medicine?" </p>
<p>If medicine and engineering are their professions, or in the extended family, they might want you to be in a situation where they can help advise you, network you towards positions in future years. That might not really be true, but they might believe they can. </p>
<p>This is a subtle frustration some parents have that kids do not "get." Parents would like to download all their wisdom, but when the kid takes up an unfamiliar major, they realize the kid will have to seek out other advisors for professional development. So they may not like it simply because they know nothing about it and won't be able to help you much as you leave academia for the working world. </p>
<p>If they just want you to earn a ton of money, you can probably find from the US Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook comparative lists of earnings in all of these professions. This will demonstrate tot hem that you could earn as much or more through your path than the others. They'll pick at your data, but still, it's an interesting site to explore.</p>
<p>Thank you for your reply paying3 tuitions. Yes, my parents want me to do engineering or medicine because they feel they are stable industries. They want me to be succesful; but they don't understand that I can be successful even if I study something else. And most of my family members have done either engineering or medicine.</p>
<p>So now you have the challenge of presenting them with your case. If you want to go into Econ/Business, it's a good practice. Can you ask them for an "appointment" for a set hour of this coming holiday weekend to sit down and talk all this over?
Then come to them with research results from the US Dept of Labor on the many kinds of job opportunities available to someone iwth a major in econ and/or business. There are probably many subcategories of types of work from each discipline.
List the names of the professions, and the data on median salaries.
Make note of when they say things like "exapnding numbers of new jobs expected..." </p>
<p>If you have the time, also run a brief comparison with medicine and engineering for job outlook, especially: starting, median and top salaries.</p>
<p>I don't know how rational your folks are, but if you can present them some data and show you cared enough to research this to compare data on future earnings, then perhaps they'll respect your opinion. </p>
<p>Don't argue or get heavy with them. Just say you needed some practice making presentations so wanted to share this information about different majors. If they are hostile, fold the show and go talk to your school GC for some other ideas. Perhaps there are people in your families' workplaces whom they can ask. For example, if they work with a hospital, there's also a business department int he hospital. Or you could go there, and ask for a career discussion (20 minute appointment) with a top person. Some just love to sit back and talk to a young person and will make time on their calendar.
Then you could bring the thoughts from someone in their familiar workplace to say that it's possible to work in a cross-connected field.</p>
<p>BTW, have you considered cross-connected fields such as, "Health Policy Planning" or "Health Economics" or "Hospital Administration" to show them that you could still work in "healing" (if they are doctors) but from a different angle, that is, the money side of the health industry. Last I looked, that was all over the news. Very relevant, many jobs? I don't know, but you can be resourceful and research even that.</p>
<p>It may be possible to please your parents and yourself at the same time.</p>
<p>At practically any university or liberal arts college, it is entirely possible to major in economics and complete the premedical requirements at the same time. Also, in most cases, you could probably complete the premed requirements while completing an undergraduate business major (although that might require more careful planning, since undergraduate business programs tend to be more structured than economics programs).</p>
<p>engineering, stable? haha.</p>
<p>I would suggest that you consider colleges with a large variety of majors. While you may be interested in economics and business now as a high school junior, you may change your mind once you get to college. At many places, you don't declare a major until the middle to end of your sophomore year anyway. Most college students change their minds about their majors multiple times...and maybe your parents will as well. You can't get an undergrad degree in "medicine" anyway. If you choose to go to med school, you will have to have taken the prerequisite science and math courses, but your major could be anything. Engineering is a tougher as the course of study is very rigorous beginning in the freshman year. What I would say is that you are willing to explore a range of majors...including the sciences (that would encompass engineering and sciency premed studies). That would be the truth. If you pick a school with a rich Core Course requirement, you will have the opportunity to study in many areas. Just don't apply to any completely engineering schools. And apply as an undeclared freshman. Bottom line is...you will likely change your mind at least a little before you graduate.</p>
<p>Also, a way to go is start off as an engineering major, take Intro to ___ Engineering along with other freshmen courses usable for any major, and if you you still want to do something else afterwards make your case from an informed position of strength. Switch majors only after you have given engineering a chance to win you over. The Intro to ___ Engineering course is designed to put the profession in the best light and convince wavering freshmen that it is worth staying in the program. If you are still sure afterwards you want to switch, your parents can hardly say no.</p>
<p>I agree with thumper
whatever path you ultimately choose several years from now- IMO, you will be best served by a broader background.
For example, not even counting the people my age who have completely changed careers from their undergrad experience ( phd in stats and designing software prog from music, trial attorney to finishing up a program in educational administration,engineering degree to banking to CEO of a Fortune 500 company), but the world is changing even faster than it did 30 years ago, and the job you are doing in 20 years might not even be thought of yet.</p>
<p>hawkphoenix, many student posters on cc--and in real life--speak of economics and business majors as if they are interchangeable. I just want to point out that they are not. An economics degree is far more flexible, and leaves more room for classes that would be useful to you as part of a pre-med curriculum. It is entirely possible for you to double major in economics and biology or another standard pre-med field. That is not the case for most undergraduate business programs.</p>
<p>At some universities, it also possible to double major in an engineering field and a field such as economics, but that would be difficult for most students, and is not allowed at some engineering schools. </p>
<p>Perhaps I am prejudiced, given that my H is a professor of economics, but I think your parents are underestimating the utility of this major. It is a very good "all-purpose" pre-professional degree and can be combined with many other fields at the undergraduate level. </p>
<p>By the way, my son is an engineering student (computer science), so I am not arguing against majoring in engineering. I don't recommend it for anyone not really interested in it, however. I've seen too many engineering students forced to change their majors after half-hearted efforts proved insufficient.</p>
<p>Set to the side, for one moment, your parents and their wishes. What is it YOU would like to do with your interests in economics and/or business? Do you dream of going afterwards into law school (you could) or are you picturing yourself opening up a small business? Usually it's best for someone to study what interests them the most. If your other major were Philosophy, I could see the conflict, but you'd said two possible majors that do lead to good careers, if your course of study is well-directed all along the way. </p>
<p>Midmo is absolutely correct, Ecnomics and Business are two very different subjects, with econ being more flexible and academic. An Econ undergraduate major could be followed by a Masters in Business Administration. Some MBA programs prefer if you DIDN't have an undergrad business major! That's crazy, but they want you to have other knowledge and they'll teach the business-related knowledge themselves to you at a graduate level. </p>
<p>If you have academic curiosity about the topics covered under Economics, your interests in Econ, plus other courses at college, might send you into law school or many other graduate programs, too, such as what I mentioned (Health Economics, Natural Resource Economics, to name a few.)</p>
<p>Others have spoken of distributing your undergrad courses with an Economics major, while taking enough science and math to also be consider a pre-medical student. And other blends listed above. </p>
<p>If you've expressed to your parents something that sounds strange to their ears, like "I want to open up my own business, probably a sports bar, so the best thing for me to study is econ/business." They might be associating your
stated post-college plan with the major, and are really against your post-college plan. If you want to open a t-shirt business on the 'net, so told them business/econ is the way to get there, then their real opposition is to your post-college plan not the business/economics majors.</p>