<p>My spawn literally has no clue at all about what she wants to major in. There are currently 4 colleges on the plate (narrowed down after taking a couple colleges off due to financial aid). In looking over the 4 remaining schools, all 4 require that a major be declared and cannot be changed by end of Sophomore year (by 60 credits at the state schools). I realize that she will be bringing in over 45 credits (depending on the school, but it is between 45-50 at each one). This means, by the end of her first semester, she will not be allowed to change her major. </p>
<p>I have bought her books on majors. I have tried to convince her that her major is not locking her in to 1 career for the entire rest of her life. Nothing is changing things. She has many interests and she does know at all what she wants to do. I have explained to her that within her major, classes are prerequisites of each other, so she needs to be started on major classes her first semester in anyway. She is trying to figure out ways to beat the system. She figures if she just takes 12 credits first term, then she will have more time to think about it. I have purchased her a book called "College Majors Handbook" and have directed her to websites with more information.</p>
<p>Now we are to where my husband is telling her that if she cannot make the decision by May 1, she will defer a year. In the state universities cases, she has to do an orientation. In the case of the one private school, it is more flexible. But, honestly, if she is going to defer, that likely means she will go state after that. I am thinking she will lose her scholarships if she tries to defer the private school (I know she will lose a portion for sure).</p>
<p>Is there anything I can do? Am I already doing all I can? I cannot even convince her to consider a more flexible major that will leave her with plenty of electives to otherwise pursue her other interests. Community college is not an option because she does have scholarships that are freshman scholarships, which she will lose just so that she can earn no more than 15 credits at a community college. It will cost us way more in the long run to do the community college route.</p>
<p>Well that is a tough situation for her. Is she planning to graduate after 2.5 years of college? If not, can she double major, since she will be going in with so many credits? Then maybe she could pick one major now and add a second later? </p>
<p>She would do 3 years from there. Every major on her list basically involves 3 years if she knows she wants to do it by the time she starts. None of the schools will let her change her major after the first semester anyway. But due to prerequisites and such, it will take the 3 years.</p>
<p>Well you can’t technically force her, but if she understands the consequences of laying it off and still neglects to make a decision then there’s not much to be done…</p>
<p>My school disregarded AP/IB credits and such when calculating deadlines to declare a major (and when calculating the total amount of units you were allowed to take at the school). Can you see if any of the schools in her list make exceptions for students who come in with a large amount of credits? At my school, the information was buried somewhere in the general catalog, so you may have to hunt for it. I went in with 68 credits and never had a problem with deadlines to declare double majors or technically exceeding the total units you’re allowed to take at the school.</p>
<p>This seems to be a very manageable problem. Most kids do not know what they want to major in when they enter school, an many of those who think they know change their minds. Check the policies at the individual schools but I believe most do not count AP courses in the time to choose a major unless the student is trying to graduate in less than four years and is asking for sophomore standing at the first semester. If she is not trying to finish early then she should still have until sophomore spring. In addition, there is generally no requirement that a student take all of AP credit that they qualify for. In fact, many schools have limits on the number of AP credits they will accept. In addition, I am surprised about the rigidity of not being able to change majors. most schools will allow a student to change majors, but it is difficult because the number of perquisites that need to be made up often leads to longer than 4 years. Would not be a problem for her if she chose a major and changed her mind. To me this all comes down to whether she is trying to graduate early and coming in as a sophomore instead of a freshman. </p>
<p>I looked at some of your past threads to see if I could get an idea of where your daughter was going and I see the University you are speaking of. With that said, are the 45 credits she is coming in with AP credits? If they are she does not have to immediately accept to deny the credits. Students have to contact Measurement and Research Services to accept or deny the credit earned via AP tests. She can accept some as she needs them, so her total hours are more in line with your actual pace in college vs. these “AP” hours that have not done anything to help her find her way. Every college my kids have gone to is this way. You may want to look at the privates and see if they operate the same way. Most schools “bank” the test scores and kids “cash” them out when needed. This will buy her a great deal of time.</p>
<p>To be entering college with enough credits for a year and a half of coursework, your kid must have been working flat-out all through high school. That alone is an argument for taking a semester or year off before starting college. The gap term/year will give her a much deserved chance to breathe and relax a bit before digging into her college coursework. While she isn’t enrolled in a degree program a job, volunteer work, and maybe some non-credit classes can help her sort things out a bit. The workforce/continuing ed division at your local community college probably has a whole bunch of non-credit classes related to her potential major fields that would let her try them on for size without losing her freshman applicant status for college.</p>
<p>This isn’t sounding right to me. My D entered state university with over 50 credits (even more than the OP’s D). She was pretty vague on major, really. A large number of AP credits is helpful for knocking off distribution requirements but does not entirely an almost-upperclassman make. I don’t recall any pressure on D to settle on a major early, nor to graduate in under 4 years. D currently intends to graduate in 3.5 years.</p>
<p>On happymomof1’s comment “… your kid must have been working flat-out all through high school” and suggestions that this exhausted student could use a gap year, uh, certainly not in my D’s case. She wasn’t working particularly hard in high school and was not even oriented towards racking up AP credits. Her high school just happened to offer a lot of AP classes and they were the standard for the brighter students. She was pleasantly surprised that they earned her such a lot of advanced credit.</p>
<p>Unless by “literally has no clue” you mean that on Monday she wants to be a theoretical physicist and on Tuesday she wants to be a symphony orchestra conductor and on Wednesday she wants to be a clinical psychologist and on Thursday she wants to be a translator at NATO, I think you are creating a problem where none exists.</p>
<p>No college will compel your D to “use” her AP credit, and in many disciplines (anything involving engineering, in my opinion) many kids make the mistake of accelerating in core classes, then running into academic difficulty, where they could have benefited greatly from having slowed down the pace. Your D is not entering as a transfer student, correct? Just as an ordinary Freshman, albeit one who has the potential- if and when she’s ready- to leverage some of those credits to advance.</p>
<p>Why not just remind your D that she’ll spend Freshman year like everyone else- trying to figure it out, taking a bunch of classes which sound interesting, and then in Sophomore year she’ll start to hone in on an area of interest? This seems like a bad reason to take a year off (for all the reasons you mention). </p>
<p>I don’t think this is the problem you think it is! She just picks a college based on all the factors kids pick- then shows up and starts to figure out what she wants to major in.</p>
<p>If she’s looking at highly specialized programs (e.g. symphony orchestra conductors) that’s different… but if it’s just the garden variety “do I want to be a lawyer or a doctor or an anthropologist or a linguist or an economist” then are there truly colleges on her final list that aren’t going to get her there???</p>
<p>What schools do this? I guess I can understand that if the school actually does this, there is a lot of pressure to figure it out quickly, but I haven’t heard of this before. Are you sure they’re not just forced to declare something but may still undeclare and declare something new later? Michigan Engineering recently switched to something like that (though by the end of 3rd semester regardless how many credits you have) but you can still switch from there. </p>
<p>As for figuring out your major, I majored in something that I didn’t even know existed before college. It is MUCH harder to figure out what to major in while in high school than it is during the first semester of undergrad. Just because she doesn’t know now doesn’t mean she won’t be able to figure it out first semester by any stretch. </p>
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<p>This usually won’t be a big problem. The case where this might be problematic is if she’s trying to graduate in 3 years and chooses one of a few majors where there are prerequisite chains of 5 or 6. If she’s doing a normal 4 year undergrad schedule then she should be fine. </p>
<p>I don’t think delaying her going to school is the right choice unless she wants to delay it. </p>
<p>@Vladenschlutte The state universities here do that. UT Austin and Texas A&M. They both require that you cannot change majors after 60 credits. I saw that there are a handful of degrees in the liberal arts at TAMU that will let you change later, but most require by 60 credits. And at TAMU, you have to complete actual TAMU credit hours of 30 credits before you can file for a change. At UT Austin, it is just no one beyond 60 credits can change. </p>
<p>Several of the UT Austin “change major” pages say that the student cannot have more than 60 semester hours of in-residence credit. “In-residence” seems to imply only courses taken at UT Austin, though you want to verify that with the school itself.</p>
<p>Texas A&M seems to have different limits for different majors (up to 90 semester hours for some majors); it does not appear to say whether credit earned while in high school counts to this limit.</p>
<p>In the link that ucbalumnus posted, it says that students have to petition if they want an internal transfer after four semesters or 60 hours in residence and: </p>
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<p>You might want to check with the school about what they mean by “in residence,” and whether or not the credits she’s coming in with as a freshman affect this limit. I would imagine if transfer students are allowed this leeway (if I understand it correctly), then incoming freshman should be allowed it as well. I’m not familiar with the state schools in Texas, but it’s worth asking someone directly how these rules affect freshman coming in with a significant amount of credit.</p>