How to help your child select a major that's NOT ENGINEERING !

He could apply as undecided.
His first year, he’d take a statistics class, a calculus 1 class, an economics class, a biology or chemistry or CS class, a history class, an anthropology class, a freshman (interdisciplinary) seminar, a Writing or Communication class, a foreign language class, and whatever else strikes his fancy. That would keep most majors open (as these count for pretty much all majors outside of engineering).

I think this one is based on the Holland Theory.

https://career.missouri.edu/career-interest-game

Also, I think it’s pretty crazy for HS juniors to take AP Calc and AP Chem. Too much too soon? Maybe this is normal in some places, but not what I’m used to and my kids went to a highly academic HS (or so I thought). AP Chem only offered to seniors who have already taken Chem as sophomores, for example.

When I was in high school, it was rare but not unheard of to take AP calculus (BC) in 11th grade – basically the occasional top-end math student would be two grade levels advanced instead of one grade level advanced for other good-at-math students. But taking AP chemistry in 11th grade was somewhat more common, since many students completed the prerequisite regular chemistry in 10th grade.

Oh, boy, are you saying he doesn’t seem interested in or able to easily master “Engineering, Biology, Drama or Marine Biology,” but doesn’t want to leave a school that actively heads kids onto these tracks?

I’ve seen a lot of kids come out of these supposedly successful “career” charters or magnets and set on humanities or art- because they pursued those, despite the limits of the school. He may have to explore what he DOES like, does understand well and where he can manage the work,etc. And then catch fire. Does he like history, English/reading/writing or languages? Anything outside stem or drama rev him up, now? What can you expose him to in real life that may intrigue him- politics, environmental work, other cultures?

Until he knows more about what life does offer, there is no one career-predicting test. Not if you want him to pursue college, rather than trade school.

A little bit of a tangent - what does a class in “Leadership” teach and what gets covered for 3 years. I am not being snarky. Here in Hooterville we don’t have classes like that.

“Leadership” classes can greatly vary by school, but are usually focused on service projects for the school. The students handle new student orientation, fairs, events, etc. If not prepping for these events (making posters, etc.), they often use it as a study hall. Colleges often don’t consider them for GPA, etc.

We have them in our school district, but they are optional.

A friend’s suggestion that was helpful for my kids at about junior year of high school was to go to the list of majors at a large state university and have the kid go through the list and cross off every major he/she is definitely NOT interested in studying. It’s a rough way of narrowing down interests.
It’s not necessary to have a major chosen before starting college. I was completely undecided coming out of high school. I purposely chose UCSD Revelle college–tons of general education requirements. I had plenty of courses to take to keep me busy the first couple of years and to help me make up my mind. I chose a major at the appropriate time and graduated in four years If your son is not interested in engineering and doesn’t hone in on a major over the next few months. this approach could work well. [Engineering has a heavy major courseload and starting the way I did and then choosing engineering would likely add extra time.]

That is a really bizarre list of concentrations, IMHO.It’s not surprising that none of them fit your S. I would suggest that he switch to something that is easier for him and wait until college to select a major.

re post #21. What works best for the majority may not meet the needs of some. There will always be those kids who can handle more than the rest of the kids, regardless of how great/competitive/et al any HS is. The gifted ARE different, and not uniform in abilities- those at he tail of the Bell curve are very different from those 2 standard deviations from the mean (or whatever correct statistical measure). Just because MOST kids should not attempt such rigor does not mean ALL shouldn’t.

“ross off every major he/she is definitely NOT interested in studying” - When DS was in high school, he wanted to major in “I-dunno”. He actually was as superb student across the board, and we could see our questions (being asked to decide which colleges to visit) were stressful. So we started a playful game of “What do I NOT want to major in”… played now and then over time.

First he admitted no “basket weaving”, then no creative dance. Yea we knew that :wink: And not music (which sounds obvious, but he was a top musician and some classmates assumed he would major in music. And other fun answers. But eventually he said, " not History". Then “not English”. This did not surprise us, but it was fun to have him come to his own realization. Further along it became “physics or engineering”. That helped us plan our college visits.

So Thank you for all of your replies. We have decided to change schools for the next school year. Son18, is very relieved to be going to a different school !

Best of luck to him. Often a fresh start gets lots of creative juices flowing.