Economics is a terrific subject for people who like both math and social sciences. It was my daughter’s major, and it was perfect for her.
Since your daughter is planning to take economics as one of her IB HL subjects, she will have plenty of opportunity to test her interest in this subject.
There is something to think about with an economics major, though. What does the student want to do after graduation? Most students in U.S. universities who major in economics do not go on to do graduate work in economics. They have other career paths in mind (in my daughter’s case, business – she worked for a consulting firm for a few years and has now gone back to school to get an MBA). Those who are interested in getting a Ph.D. in economics need much more math than the major calls for. In fact, people who are Ph.D. candidates in economics often majored in math as undergraduates or double-majored in math and economics.
Obviously, this is not something your daughter needs to think about right now. But sometime around her first year of college, she should be giving it some consideration.
“I think what I need to do is have the statistics that show that NOT taking three or two sciences every year in HS will not foreclose too many options for her in the long run. (Yes, that is a discussion we are having.)”
Very few kids would be able to accomplish this. In many schools, kids take only 6 or 7 classes. The 5 core subjects leave only 1 or 2 spaces open, and then many of those are taken by requirements such as PE and health. In addition, many schools limit by course offerings, rules, enrollment caps or just scheduling issues the number of AP science classes students can take. I see many kids on here who are interested in STEM but took only 4 or 5 science classes in high school–hardly the 8-12 your spouse thinks is necessary.
Our school has 8 classes and better access to AP science classes than at most schools, from what I gather from this site. Due to this opportunity, my STEM-loving daughter had 7 science credits. That would not have happened at another school.
I always think that high school students who say they want to major in Econ rarely have any idea what Econ is like. They just don’t get much exposure prior to college.
One thing you may want to start thinking about is what type of school she might want. We see a lot of parents from other countries who fixate on Ivies or top name research universities. There are amazing educations to be had at many LACs (liberal arts colleges) here, too. And don’t be put off if she does decide on a STEM major, as most STEM subjects except engineering are offered at LACs (and a few have engineering, too). Just be wary of the trap that your kid should only go to a college with a name widely known in India. Your kid can have excellent grad school or employment opportunities from LACs if she likes that environment. You also might consider women’s colleges – schools like Wellesley & Mount Holyoke are pretty amazing, so if you make some visits in the U.S. in a couple of years, try to include one of those.
We’ve learned that the student will be in an IB program at a non-US school. The curriculum is set up so that the students have some instruction in each of the three most important sciences in the pre-IB years, but this student will include only one advanced science in her IB program in her last two years. (It’s possible to do two IB sciences, but the student would have to substitute the second science for theater, and she’s much more interested in theater.)
I think the student’s IB curriculum is very well planned and suitable for her interests – except for one thing. There’s been some discussion of computer science as a possible subject of interest, and her IB program doesn’t include computer science. (IB students only get to take six subjects, so there are limits on what they can do.)
It can be difficult to go into an introductory computer science course at a US university with no prior preparation in computer science. Most of the other people in the room do have prior preparation (even if it isn’t required). (My own son went into the computer science major after having taken five high school courses in computer science, including AP computer science, and having completed a computer science summer program. And he’s a slacker.) So if she continues to have an interest in computer science, she may want to do something to get herself some background in it before she goes to college. Maybe she could take an online course or two in the summer (or whenever schools in India have their long break)?
I think the term class has different meanings in each country. I don’t know how each subject is taught in India, but in some countries physics, chemistry, and biology are taught every year in HS. However, the number of hours for each class per week varies. Some subject has only 1 hour, some has 3 hours, some has 8 hours… In the US, almost every class has 5 hours per week.
Princeton, Yale, Vassar, Wesleyan for strong academics + strong theater. Very very different environments- visit them during breaks and see if she ‘takes’ to any of them. If she does, she can look at other options along the competitive spectrum that are similar in feel / approach to them.
(and other posters, please don’t go beating me up b/c of selectivity/better programs/etc- the OP asked for specific examples and these are unis where I know kids who have been happy doing things that the OP is interested in)
Good point. And FWIW, I did get a MS in Information Science (with some CS included) after getting a different grad degree, and that’s what propelled me into tech back in 1999. However, I’m getting a doctorate in the humanities now, with a lot of flexibility and support from my employer.
I live in “the bubble” - Silicon Valley/SF. My kid doesn’t go to either of the two pressure-cooker schools on the Peninsula where suicide rates are crazy high and study drugs are considered a necessary evil, although I have friends who are parents there and who are torn between the intense pressure for their kids to succeed and get into Stanford, and wanting them to just be happy. Our school shows “Race to Nowhere” regularly and recommends it to parents. STEM here often means “sTEm” - you take the science and the math you need to do engineering, unless you’re going into synthetic bio or genomics - but it’s still heavily focused on tech and startups.
You’re right to point out that this isn’t the case everywhere. Science and math have so many more applications. So much of the parental pressure, though (and what the OP’s post sounded like to me, but again - I hear a lot through the culture in which I’m immersed, as do we all - and I’m in that tech-centric world) - sounds like it’s “go into STEM to get a respectable and well-paying career.” That’s not the greatest reason to pick a major, especially if one’s passion is Theatre.
You also don’t have to go to Stanford or Berkeley to have a tech career.
My son earns a good salary working at an interesting job with a Silicon Valley company. He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree from one of the UC schools other than Berkeley. He has had no difficulty finding suitable jobs.
@DrGoogle, I know that my son choose schools that are good in computer science. I was just trying to point out (maybe not too successfully) that you don’t have to choose the absolutely top schools to have a decent career.
Oh yes. I am an American with a BA, MA and JD all from American schools so I am pretty aware of the types of American colleges and universities that are available. But you are right…typically people living out of the US fixate on a few name schools to the exclusion of a wider number of schools.
@Marian - thank you for your comments. You are absolutely correct on your understanding of her curriculum and what the possibilities are. We will look for some other CS intro course to test the waters in that area! Thank you for that suggestion.
@coolweather - she has four hours of each science in a 6 day week. So four of physics, four of bio and four of chemistry. This will be for both 9th and 10th.
Many universities’ CS departments do have introductory sequences for those with no experience; those with experience can take a different introductory sequence or start in a more advanced course. It may be worth looking at the introductory course structure at the various schools under consideration.
Additionally, CS is relatively easy to self-study for a motivated student. So if the student wants a taste of CS while still in high school, she can try reading the following books and doing the examples and problems:
Oh - and any culture where opportunities are only open to those at a handful of schools and everyone else is doomed to second rate - is a culture not worth admiring or emulating.
I suspect that the girl being discussed in this thread is actually getting to postpone academic specialization longer than most in India because she’s in an IB school.
Yet some Americans consider IB programs too restrictive.
It all depends on what you’re comparing.
IB – despite all the negative things that can be said about it (some of them justified) – may be a good intermediate path between British-style and American-style secondary education.
CValle, my D attended HS with a fair number of South Asian kids. Quite a few of them are headed to business school either at our state flagship or private elites. In fact, one of them was very interested in journalism as she is an excellent writer and was counseled that she should have a business degree as a fallback and capitalize on her communication skills. She is also planning on taking a fair number of Econ courses.