@cakeisgreat Fabulous report. Thank you. U of Richmond is one that keeps coming off/on the list. I can’t get past the spiders. (Yes, I’m rolling my eyes at myself!) Need to go tour CoC for nephew #2 who wants sailing.
@DCNatFan and @OrangeFish I am an elementary educator that majored in business undergrad and went back to school to get my master’s degree (years later) through UMD’s Master’s Certification program which was excellent. Even for elementary education, I would recommend a non-ed major/degree. It is sad to say there is a lot of teacher burnout, so another degree could be useful. There are one-year master’s certification programs. DCNatFan–Towson as well as UMD have these one year (summer-fall-spring-summer) Master’s Cert programs which would be good for your daughter (post-undergrad) as you are in Maryland.
Thanks @firstwavemom – we are in Virginia and D19 has looked at GMU and W&M for master’s programs (way down the line from now). If I could only get her to decided between a BFA and a BA for next fall! :))
@DCNatFan my son is an elem ed major at Rowan and currently you are required to have a double major, so he will graduate with the Ed degree, and a degree in History. They have it worked out so you can finish it in 4 years.
My husband is a science middle school teacher and did the “alternate route” - he already had a master’s in science so just took the Praxis and got hired, then did an on the job type of training at night. It was brutal - and wouldn’t work for Elem ed. At least in NJ - it only works for Math & Science because those are the jobs that are hard to fill. In NJ, elem ed jobs are really hard to come by, our tiny little K-8 district gets 500 resumes on average for every job. I think of lot of it depends on where she wants to teach - down south you probably won’t have a tough time without an Ed. degree. In the northeast, I think it would be tough at the elem. level.
And then there’s me…degree in Elem Ed. and sociology. I’ve been working in the insurance industry since I graduated! Hasn’t impacted me at all. My personal feeling is a degree is a degree - unless of course you want to be an engineer or something that requires a specific degree. To get into business, just having a bachelor’s gets you in the door. And then I did my MBA on my employer’s dime when I was working as a customer service rep, trying to move up in the world.
Thanks for all the suggestions, very helpful. I discussed a bit D19 this morning and she was open to the idea but said she doesn’t love math, English or history enough to want to major in it. She took AP Psych this past year and didn’t really love that either. Any other suggestions for majors?
Also, she more focused on early childhood education rather than elementary despite my gentle nudging toward elementary.
@DCNatFan Are there programs where she would get a degree in early and elementary education? I thought I’ve heard of degrees would allow her to teach pre-school and kindergarten, maybe even first grade. She will make so little money as a pre-school teacher but some school districts pay better for kindergarten and up.
As for other majors, maybe someday she would like to be involved in making policy for education? If that sounds interesting, she could major in social policy.
Early childhood teaching usually pays minimum wage or just over. I worked for many years in Preschools and daycares. Everyone I worked with had a degree, many with a BA, all made very little.
Working with special needs populations in early childhood is likely different. She may want to look into occupational and speech therapy as well, she might like those jobs in early childhood populations.
@homerdog Yes, there are several programs she is looking at that are dual programs (Early/Elem). Every state seems to have different definitions of early childhood and elementary education. In MD early childhood is Pre-K to 3rd grade and elementary is grade 1 to 6.
Flagler College has a deaf education program. I wonder if that may interest her , and it may offer other opportunities interpretting. Just a thought . Another thought is Child Life Specialist . Most of these specialists have a degree in early childhood education. I’ll have to put my thinking cap on.
@DCNatFan I would definitely look for schools that allow a fair amount of flexibility and and the ability to change majors, or not declare right away. She doesn’t need to know what that is right away if she is at the right school, many LAC’s will not allow declaration until the end of sophomore year anyway.
I do agree that having a second major at a minimum, or not having education as the primary major would be ideal.
@twinmom2023 I hear you on the spiders LOL. That reminded me something about the tour. No one talked about the spiders AT ALL! If you’re gonna have an unusual mascot, I’m expecting to hear the backstory LOL. I saw it all over the place, but so surprised no one mentioned anything. So if anyone knows how the spider came to be, please LMK ha ha!
@DCNatFan these are the options at Rowan:
American Studies, Chemistry, English, Geography, History, Liberal Studies - Humanities/Social Science, Literacy Studies, Mathematics, Spanish, Writing Arts (Communication). You will graduate with a B.A. in Education, with a Specialization in Elementary Education (K-6) and a B.A. in your dual/second major.
@cakeisgreat you just need to look to wikipedia for the answer on how the Spiders nickname came about.
@DCnatFan - I second maybe a foreign language major?
@Erin’s Dad - Yep! I just thought before I looked it up, someone here might have a fun story about it as they toured URichmond or if anyone heard the history on their tour. 
from richmondspiders website if anyone is interested:
From 1876-1893, Richmond carried the nickname “Colts” into its athletic contests, so dubbed for their play as an “energetic group of young colts.” In the summer of 1894, a new nickname was born. A baseball team comprised of UR athletes and city residents adopted the name “Spiders”.
Star pitcher Puss Ellyson’s lanky arms and stretching kick confused batters to such an extent that Richmond Times-Dispatch writer Ragland Chesterman used the name of that clever creeping insect, the Spider, to fittingly describe the erudite members of the team. So was created perhaps the most unique school nickname in the nation. To this day, the University of Richmond is the only school in the country which sports the nickname “Spiders.”
The University of Richmond is the only school in the country with a Spider as a mascot.
Just wrapped up a tour of College of Charleston. Great tour despite the rain. I think it is now near the top of D19 list. Will write a more detailed review later. On our way to Columbia for a tour of USC tomorrow followed by Furman. Long day tomorrow. Wish we could have spent the night in Charleston-love this city. Would be nice if D19 could drive but we have a rental car.
Good news. While we were touring D19 got an email from University of Kansas that she was accepted.
Congrats @DCNatFan .
Seconding Congrats @dcnatfan! Looking forward to hearing your reviews later on CoC and Furman. Also very curious what you think of USC - we wanted to visit but couldn’t fit it in. Seems decent for OOS tuition. Size really big?
Well our USC tour has not started well. When we arrived at the hotel just on edge of campus we witnessed the police chase a man down the street with guns drawn. They got him a block away and still with guns drawn had him laying on the ground. D19 is now freaked out and wants to skip the tour completely today. We will see but I also think it may be too big for her anyway. Will report back.
College of Charleston we both loved it. The general info session was fine nothing that we have not heard before at most schools. When it was time for the tour we actually got to big our tour guide and we lucked into a great guide. He was funny, engaging and very knowledgeable. It started to rain right at the start of the tour and the school graciously provided umbrellas to us. The campus is very compact and very pretty. We toured several of the academic buildings and were also able to see one of the basic door rooms, which was fine but nothing special. All in all a great day. Only real downside for D19 is the lack of a football team. D19 says it’s in her top 3 right now along with JMU and Delaware. She won’t say in which order. It was t-shirt worthy and even got one for S22.
We spent a little time after the tour shopping on King St and ran into our tour guide who remembered us an chatted with us for another 15 minutes and gave us some suggestions for places to get lunch.
We have been visiting Charleston for years and used to have family who lived here and we have talked often of retiring in the area. If D19 ends up attending I could see us buying a second home or condo in the area.
Not sure USC has a chance today but we will see and she is all skeptical about Furman and it being too small.
Tell D19 that she can get her football fix from the Citadel 10 minutes away. She can ride the bus for free . Lots of cute guys in uniforms.( Probably not want you want to hear) @DCNatFan