My second dd is a senior who wants to apply early action to a number of schools so we’re up against a Nov. 1 deadline. We are looking at mainly state schools as she will not qualify for aid and we already have 1 daughter in college. The problem is that after going through every major with her at Rutgers, Rowan and Ramapo, nothing sounds even remotely interesting to her except for nebulous fields that require PhDs to find employment and are long shots, to boot. She is a good student with decent, though not stellar test scores (1280 SAT), and will not consider community college or the trades. Any advice on how to help her? Going in undecided seems reasonable if a few subjects seem interesting or possible but useless as a basis otherwise. We can’t afford to have her take 5-6 years.
I think a lot of kids go in as undecided, and even some who declare a major right away end up changing their majors. Rutgers sounds like a good choice, as it is a good school and has a lot of different options that she can explore. Even if nothing interests her now, she may take a class, or find an activity/opportunit, there that piques her interest. I would just set your D’s expectations regarding being willing to pay for a maximum of 4 years so that she chooses her classes wisely.
What are these obscure majors? Let her pick one or apply undeclared. Most students switch majors anyway…and many college grads work in fields not directly related to major.
Do you want her to pick a specific major? Maybe that is what has her frozen. She is a HS senior…and many do not know what they want to do forever at that time…and learn in college.
I agree^. I have a daughter just like yours that just started her freshman year of college at a school that is a great fit for her, but is a small LAC with a limited number of majors. She refused to consider a bigger school that would have given her more options. She also has interests in fields that require a PhD to be useful. I’ve advised her to take courses that will transfer to a public university if she runs into a dead end with the limited options. I’m just hoping she finds some direction in the next year or two.
I’ve heard as many as 60% of undergraduates change their major by the time they graduate, so I wouldn’t worry too much about picking a major at this point. I would go with a school with plenty of options and a strong core program that allows her to keep her options open unto her sophomore year until she’s ready to declare. As for majors with “no employment opportunities” don’t be so quick to judge; there may not be opportunities in that field, but that doesn’t make the degree useless. My daughter was an anthropology major/art minor, and much of what she learned can be applied in many fields, she just had to learn to sell her skills rather than her degree. Unless you’re looking at a field more related to a trade like engineering or architecture, the BA and BS are more about learning how to learn and how to research, and how to communicate, than about the specific content.
The number of college grads who graduate in 4 years is low. I don’t expect her to have her whole life mapped out but going in with no clue seems to be the the beginning of the 5 or 6 year undergrad degree. I was one of those college kids who picked a college major requiring a graduate degree and dropped out before the PhD. I’ve been underemployed/unemployed for 2 decades so I guess my own bias is coming into play. Any good online questionnaire to help narrow down information besides Myers-Briggs?
Let her apply undecided. Completing the applications is enough pressure for now. Then she can try to narrow things down a bit. This will help her pick a college by May 1st. Let her know your limits, which seem to be paying for four years of college. If she needs to pick up an extra class in the summer, or eventually go to grad school, she can work to pay for that.
As a side note, the obscure majors are linguistics and Russian…
Many of the employable majors with a bachelors degree seem to be in engineering, computer science, business and health fields at the moment.
Perhaps she might consider a more employable major and either minor or double major in linguistics or Russian? Maybe international business, or international relations could be candidates, blending a better placement rate major with an interest area.
As most universities, linguistics and Russian are in the College of Arts and Sciences, which is the college in which it is easiest to change majors.
There are some interesting career paths for students with a background in both linguistics and computer science. Your daughter might want to take an introductory computer science course and see whether she likes it.
Please tell her to apply undecided, since she is. The majority of college kids change their majors once they have been exposed to a college that allowed them to learn. Even STEM kids change to Different majors when they have a chance to learn. High school is a step to College and future education.
Agree with others that applying undeclared is perfectly fine. Neither of my kids officially declared a major until the end of sophomore year.
Nothing wrong with Linguisitics or Russian either. Those skills can be very useful, and in demand, for many government jobs among others.
Linguistics + Russian + study abroad = translator
linguistics + grad school = speech and language pathologist
Linguistics + education + (Spanish or English) = high school teacher (could also work with Russian but fewer schools teach that so less demand)
Linguistics + internship = many fields, though editing and publishing come to mind first for someone with strong language skills
Please put your own 2 decade old bias aside. Let your daughter be who she wants to be.
An undecided student entering college is fine.
I have twins in college. One girl had/has a fair idea of what she wants to do in her life and has crafted her major and minors to fit that goal. The second had no clue. She felt like she didn’t know enough about the world to figure out what’s even out there. She went abroad as a sophomore and came back ready to declare her duo majors. She’s still not quite sure where they’ll take her, but she knows what she enjoys studying. I’m not concerned in the least.
OP- if you have been underemployed for two decades, there are a LOT more issues at play than your college major. I don’t know you- so perhaps you have been taking care of an elderly parent with dementia, or a special needs child, or a spouse who is incapacitated. If so- kudos to you. But there are tons of careers that require nothing more than a bachelor’s degree to launch, and just because you don’t have a PhD in no way would keep you from one of those careers. Please don’t impose your own biases on your D.
Fluency in Russian is going to be a HUGE driving factor in the labor markets over the next decade. Oil and Gas, minerals/raw materials, finance, global infrastructure- speaking and writing Russian will be a significant differentiator in the job market (not to mention government, think tanks, intelligence, military). Linguistics is a fantastic base for a career in a wide range of tech disciplines and you do not need a graduate degree.
No, your D is not becoming a professor of Russian Lit or Linguistics without a PhD but there are a wide range of actual jobs open to kids who major in these subjects and have a BA. Your D needs to be proactive about getting the courses she needs to graduate on time, and needs to be proactive about working with career services on getting her foot in the door professionally (just like every other college kid) and she will be fine.
And you? What’s keeping you now from your dream career??? you can do it!
I think the concept of “employable majors” is nonsense, unless you’re a total slacker with poor work habits.
Go to a LAC or university that doesn’t require you to choose a major until sophomore year. Take a wide variety of courses. You’ll find your major.
She can apply undecided, or for Russian. It won’t really affect her
Russian is actually in demand - but as explained above she needs to market her skills.
A Russian major that includes language, study abroad, and culture + a minor in economics, CS, data science, environmental science… would be very marketable.
There are also the Critical language Flagships.
(Russian has been a Critical Language for the DoD for years).
Have her apply to Bryn Mawr test optional, top-notch Russian major and great alumna network.
As for 4-year vs. 5/6 year degree: actually, undecided students do better, since they don’t box themselves into a major they realize doesn’t work. They take a range of first year classes that will work as entrance to major or gen eds for a variety of majors. That flexibility serves them well.
What impacts how long it takes to graduate, GPA/test scores being equal, is also the environment. In that respect, public universities tend to graduate students in 5 years rather than 4: no personal adviser, a less structured environment, larger classes, having thousands of classes to choose from rather than 600 or 1,000, can make it harder to graduate in 4 years. Honors college students within large universities typically do better (in part because they’re better students than average and in part because they have access to smaller classes and more personalized advising.)
So, perhaps, calculate 5 years for a large public or 4 years for a private.
Establish a total budget that’s workable for your family’s finances, looking at your savings and what you can pay from income. Whatever you plan on paying each month next year, start setting aside this year as practice and to help with possible costs.
Based on her current interests, it’d be better to have her in a university with a strong alumni network and career center used to Humanities students, so I’d go with colleges known for these. In particular, have her look into and run the NPC on women’s colleges that would allow her to apply undecided - beside Bryn Mawr, which is topnotch for Russian, have her apply to Barnard (reach) and Mount Holyoke (test optional). Add TCNJ rather than Rutgers as she won’t get into the Honors College at Rutgers and at least she’ll have more support at TCNJ. Rowan is strong for engineering but I don’t think it’s good for Humanities and its career center isn’t geared toward her needs. She could apply to Dickinson test optional (reach but very strong in languages and international studies, excellent career center and professional placement for all students), Ithaca (test optional and she can take Russian classes at Cornell), Goucher (she can apply with her test scores and take one course a semester at JHU).
(Look for “50-50” college rankings, where 50% students are admitted and 50% students graduate in 4 years for privates and 5 years for publics. There aren’t that many.)
I’d echo what everyone else has said – just tell your daughter upfront that you are only paying for 4 years, so if she can’t graduate in that time frame, she’ll have to fund the remainder on her own. There should be no delay if she ultimately settles on a humanities focused major. Generally if she is filling distribution requirements her first two years she will have a good foundation for most majors- it would be a problem only if she entered unfocused and then switched to a STEM major where she hadn’t filled prerequisites. STEM majors are more difficult because the course sequences tend to be more linear and require prerequisites --whereas humanities majors are more flexible.
If your daughter is still feeling unsure and a sense of ennui in the spring after college acceptances are in, she might consider a gap year.
It doesn’t matter what she majors in, but if she is on a track that isn’t directly career related, it’s important for her to acquire appropriate employment skills through part-time and summer jobs and internships as she progresses through college. My daughter’s first post-college job was tied to her major and her second wasn’t - but she could always tick off experience in the requisite skills of the jobs she applied for.
Universities abroad are terrible choices for students who don’t know what they want to study, since in most cases you have to apply to one subject and will only study that. The exact opposite of what @3irishgirls ’ daughter needs.
However she may be interested in a year abroad that doesn’t require choosing a major and doesn’t jeopardize freshman status, through the rotary, yfu, afs, etc. What language did she study?
It’d give her one year to think it through, perhaps a chance to explore other subjects - in France 12th graders can study philosophy and art history. In Ireland, they can study Religions and Environmental Science (etc).
Have her look at Computational Linguistics, too.