<p>To all people posted on this thread,</p>
<p>All these responses open my eyes. I am glad I asked. Thank you all.</p>
<p>I am sorry I have another question, say with your current financial condition and your kid’s abilities (academic, arts, music, sports, or something special), if you must choose a major for the kid, what is it? why?</p>
<p>Size, geography (urban and access to a great city), warmth and accessibility of administration/faculty, the school’s global emphasis,high freshmen retention rate, special medical school application provision, her religious group represented, the food stations in one of the dining halls (impressive!, and she is a foodie), the library (and its lovely view–just icing, but not the reason). </p>
<p>And, maybe, the cutest reason of all: When my daughter stayed overnight with a student, at her coveted college, my daughter asked the girl why she had chosen the college, and she said, “besides my loving the school and the combined undergrad-art school program, the coolest kid, from my high school, last year, and the year before, went to Tufts.”</p>
<p>gut- what it " felt like".
Given relative equality between programs etc.</p>
<p>large school
urban campus/ large city
minimal “big-time” sports atmosphere
minimal ivy-covered buildings (no big fan of a self-contained campus)
a critical mass of quirky kids (“gut” feelings)</p>
<p>Not at all the type of college I would have chosen for myself, but it was her choice, not mine. So far, she’s had no regrets.</p>
<p>
I would never, ever, ever, ever choose a major for my child. I do expect my child to be self-supporting when they graduate.</p>
<p>I said it on another thread and will say it again here. I would never, ever, ever, ever force my child into any major. I went to Harvard, majored in art (aka Visual and Environmental Studies) and did just fine.</p>
<p>I really don’t know whether my son would be better off pursuing the “life of the mind” or having a more pre-professional education. That’s got to be his choice not mine.</p>
<p>That said, I think if he were to choose AU it should be because of the internships and not because of the academics - which would presumably be stronger at the other places he has applied to.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Does not compute. There is no circumstance I can imagine in which I would choose a major for my kid.</p>
<p>My son wants to go to a school in a place he wants to live. In our case it is the west coast. He feels that he would take a lesser program to go to school someplace that feels like a place he wants to be.</p>
<p>I can’t blame him and kind of agree. I went to 2 main colleges. I lived for over 15 years close to where I last went to school. Both of my schools were in excellent quality of life places to live.</p>
<p>Only 50% of kids finish in the major they start in so focusing solely on the program may be a bit short sighted in the end.</p>
<p>Distance (far).
Airline connections (no more than 1 connection) and ease to airport.
Relative rankings and reputation. </p>
<p>Today, as a 24yo, working at an university and small startup, 200 miles away rather than 2500miles, we see DS only slightly more but for less time. It used to take him 7-8hrs to go 2500 miles and now it takes 3.5-5.5hrs to go 200 miles.</p>
<p>My son wanted to major in architecture. (Has always wanted to be an architect)Applied to 9 schools. Got into two for Architecture, two for pre-arch and the rest got into the schools but as undecided majors. His number one choice of school was Virginia Tech. He did not get in for Arch - he got in for undecided studies - but we were told he can try and change to another major in the arch department. He loves architecture and wants to now change to urban planning just so he can get into the school that is his number one choice. I have been trying to convince him to go with one of the schools that is offering him to start in the Architecture program but he is basing his decision on the school only, and I do not think this will make him happy in the long run. But I do not know how to change his mind. Should I even be trying to change his mind? Should the school be more important than the career path?</p>
<p>Should I even be trying to change his mind? Should the school be more important than the career path?</p>
<p>No and yes!</p>
<p>pha516, my son is also interested in architecture and also want to go to school in Calif where the likelyhood of his getting into those schools is low. Calif schools favor Calif students so you need a higher GPA.</p>
<p>If he truly wants architecture, then he should go to any Architecture school that accepted him and begin. He can try to transfer to Virg Tech in Soph year. It will be so easy for him to lose time, it is already a 5 yr degree for a B.Arch that if he can’t start his first year at a 5 yr program, he might as well do a 4 + 2, come away with a M.Arch which makes him more employable and the time will be the same. The Masters program location then is the place that represents him, not the undergrad. school.</p>
<p>Many kids go to a program that is not their first choice and some end up liking the second choice and are happy with the decision. In his case, I would try to get him to focus on the goal, not the school. Remind him that there are 3 ways to become an architect, 5 yr, 4+2 and 4 +3 if the 4 is not in arch studies but the last path is for people who didn’t know they wanted to be architects.</p>
<p>Wildwood, I had to read your post twice…if you must choose a major for the kid I’m all done telling my kids what to do with their future. They have to make those choices for themselves.</p>
<p>As for my son, the one who hopes to be a doctor someday, I doubt he’ll continue. But I want to encourage him for now. I know the odds don’t look good, but he’s surprised me before.</p>
<p>I made the mistake, years ago, of talking DS into playing the trombone when he wanted to play drums. I did so with good intentions. I like to hear brass. I’m not that keen on drums (particularly snares). The band director had a pot of new drummers. He wanted brass players. Between the two adults, we talked the kid into trombone. </p>
<p>He stuck with it for awhile but it wasn’t his “thing.” He never was keen to practice and if you don’t put much effort out, you don’t get stellar results --ever. He quit after a while.</p>
<p>So, which college? The one that made his heart sing. He loved it from the first visit. He would have not gone there if we had said “No, too expensive” or “No, too far”. A green light from parents was important to him. But when we said “sounds like a good school. Is it your first choice?” He said “Yes.” and we said “Well, guess you better go there. Make it worth the trouble.” And he has.</p>
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<p>I can’t say I will pick a major BUT I will certainly discourage her about going in to an area that offers poor job opportunities, I think that would be the main limitation.</p>
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<p>wildwood-- if someone had a gun to my head to make me choose a major for my kid, I’d still just agree with the kid’s choice. Passion=energy=possibility. When someone is wild about a subject, they need to go follow that out-- it may lead surprising places and that’s great. I majored in a creative field and that carried me into a really meaningful life–I haven’t made as much $$ from my work as I would have if I’d become an investment banker, but I’ve been around wonderful people and had some amazing opportunities, and my family is a lot better off (even financially, I think) than if I’d been pushing through something that didn’t interest me. And I’d encourage my daughter to do the same… </p>
<p>pha516-- Unlike lakemom I know nothing about architecture studies…but with an 18 yr old, if he loves a school enough to consider a shift in major (to a related and interesting field), I’d at least consider going with it. They’re so young now, everything might easily change, and the place is as important as the major in some ways.</p>
<p>Wildwood, are you suggesting that one might in reality choose a major for one’s kid, or–I assume this is what you actually meant-- knowing what we know about our kids, what major do we think would suit them best or wish they would pick?</p>
<p>For my kid, I would pick one of those “philosophy, political science, and economics” combo majors. But he disagrees. 
He refuses to take econ at his school.</p>
<p>At this point, I would be happy if he would select ANY major! Really, I just want him to fall in love with a subject.</p>
<p>Going with the “knowing what we know about our kids…”, I would choose Religion as a major for my daughter which happens to be what she has also chosen. For my son, it’s a little tougher. He is Psych at the moment (Freshman in Fall). He isn’t quite sure what he would like to do with that though. He is thinking maybe teach Psych. If I were to pick what I think he would be good at, it would be elementary education or computer science. Who knows what he will discover in the next couple of years. He has our support and encouragement with whatever he ends up doing.</p>
<p>pha516, I guess the question is what is it about Vir Tech that your son loves or thinks he loves so much. What ever that is, that is the thing to address. If someone has never attended the school how could they love it so much. How do they know that it is as wonderful as they think?</p>
<p>Lakemom - Virginia Tech was always his number one pick for Architecture and school. We have not even visited the school yet but he feels that graduating with a degree from Virginia Tech even in another major is better than graduating with a degree in Arch from University of Buffalo. I do not agree with him since University of Buffalo has a wonderful Architecture program from what I hear, he did get into the program and plus we live on Long Island and a very large % of kids that attend that school are from Long Island.</p>