The "best" career paths/majors to go into?

Parents Forum
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<p>I would agree about the PA vs MD issue. And though it’s very true that medicine is changing, along with its compensation formulae and models, it’s still overall a job where you can always be employed. I’m working now as a very very part time pediatrician, and my employer, a multi-specialty physician-run clinic is always asking me if I’d like my own practice again. And I continually get calls and mail asking me to consider jobs. Especially in the underserved states and rural areas, jobs for physicians are plentiful. </p>

<p>I hear the same from my friends with kids who are graduating— engineering is good, nursing is good. I agree that we need to expand our educational offerings for the trades.</p>

<p>But I’ve still got a daughter who is probably going to major in a classic liberal arts major-- yikes!</p>

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<p>Aw the definition of a qualified engineer. While working as a recruiter I was asked to find an Associate level person with 5 years experience in a field that had been invented 5 years prior. The position had been open for more than 12 months and this jerk of a manger wanted to know if I would be able to find him some real talent where other recruiters had failed. I had to explain to him that the talented person he was looking for who had been in on the ground floor of this particular technology was now a director somewhere making more than he was and that what he really needed was somebody with brains and ambition. As far as I know the position is still open. The reason so many high tech jobs remain open is because these cheap companies think they can steal human capital from the competition rather than grow their own and develope their people. And yet they don’t intend to pay for the people they want to steal either. Tell the Jaugar dealer you want leather interior, but you are only willing to pay for a Honda. Have fun with that dude! There are plenty of bright engineers out there and there will be plenty more with the next round of graduates, but they required training in the specifics of your industry. If they passed Calculus and Thermodynamics, it won’t take you that long to train them. Of course while you are scratching your backside they might just figure out they can make more money on wallstreet.</p>

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<p>So far,so good with engineering for my sons. 09’ UVa grad is gainfully employed in consulting. VT 13’ son went to his school’s Engineering Expo last week-about 200 employers there.</p>

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<p>I hope you meant “after high school”, not “after college”.</p>

<p>My son is in his 4th year of a 5 year physician assistant program. He’ll be finished with rotations and his masters degree at the end of 5 years (that’s after high school). I don’t know whose unhappy words you copied regarding a physician assistant job, but a few things stood out. First of all, most physician assistants don’t make house calls or take phone calls. I also have never heard of any that claim to work harder than physicians. While it’s true that P.A.s must work under a physician’s supervision,

is also accurate. And if this poor soul is really so unhappy, please pass along a new program at Lake Erie College of Medicine. It’s a bridge program for P.A.s.</p>

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<p>Lots of engineers in my family tree. Lots laid off over the years, then hired back so I don’t really see engineering as a tremendously secure profession. It can be very vulnerable to the ups and downs of the economy. If you love engineering, then by all means do engineering. But I don’t think it’s a good idea to suffer through it because it’s “safe.”</p>

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<p>No, depending on the residency, the total training can be as long as 12 years or even longer AFTER college. Average residency is four years, many residencies are longer. My D is planing to get into neurosurgery; 4 year medical school, six years neurosurgery residency, 1-3 years fellowship. Assuming she gets through the program, the pay is very good though: average starting salary is over $600K. Obviously, this is not all class training. After the first two years of med school, most of it is clinical training in the hospital. During residency she will probably do more surgical procedures than during the next ten years of actual practice. That’s how hospital make money: work the residents to death. She does gets paid during residency and fellowship: around $50k or just enough to live on and start paying off her student loans. The big downside: probably no kids until her mid-30s.</p>

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<p>So I guess physicians go to school 7-11 years longer than P.A.s?!! My son just told me he’s applying for a neurosurgery rotation at Cleveland Clinic, as that’s his interest, too. Maybe that’s how hospitals will make their money!</p>

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<p>An entry-level accountant/finance analyst at my large manufacturing company starts at $41K. Excellent benefits, reasonable (as far as anything is these days) job security, opportunities for advancement and annual salary reviews. </p>

<p>Is this the job that someone from Wharton wants? Probably not, but for the average and above accounting/business major who wants a job and a life, it’s a good one. </p>

<p>If one only wants IB, then there are limited jobs. There are, however, thousands of companies that employ finance professionals. They also employ engineers, IT, people in marketing, business development, scheduling/planning, supply chain management and support services. Is it a road to being fabulously wealthy? No, but it will get you a job/career where you will live comfortably, pay off student loans and be able to retire before 75. </p>

<p>My husband is an engineer (mechanical) and has been employed for 30 years w/no layoff. </p>

<p>My older daughter is planning on OT - it isn’t something that can be done from another country and can be flexible enough to allow her to work while raising a family. As the population ages and recovery from stroke etc. is common, OT will continue to be needed.</p>

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<p>zeebamom, My husband is also an engineer of over 30 years with no layoffs. Older son making very good money and paid off his student loans (about $18000 including interest) within a year after his 09’ graduation.
OT sounds like a very good choice for your daughter. Had contact with a couple OT’s during my late mom’s rehab stints. The PT’s, OT’s , PA’s, nurses, were very helpful and I believe those kind of professions will always be needed.</p>

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<p>@sevmom what kind of consulting engineering does he do? i hear this once in a while, and always get puzzled what exactly engineering consultants do.</p>

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<p>@ the PA vs MD crowd</p>

<p>seems like both sides have benefits and disadvantages. would it be more practical for females to go into PA vs MD, considering length of time & starting a family, etc?</p>

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<p>My son’s P.A. class is made up of 5 guys and 45 women, so women are definitely drawn to the field. Besides his job, he looks forward to a lot of golf, tennis, traveling, and spending time with the family he will eventually have.</p>

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<p>testanalyst, There are many engineers in management or technology consulting (in general, you would need to be out of college at least a couple of years to be considered a consultant). Lots of consulting firms hire engineers- Booz Allen Hamilton,Bain, Accenture, McKinsey,etc. My son is a systems engineer.</p>

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<p>Hmmph…of course this could be sour grapes, but with regard to PA’s vs MD’s, I think the sweet part is, ignorance is bliss. From where I sit, it would be much sweeter to not know what you don’t know, and not carry the responsibility (and med mal) that goes with it. I feel I am very often cleaning up messes some folks don’t even know that they made! One way some MD’s keep their income up is by hiring a lot of “extenders” that supposedly they supervise. When things go well, which is probably 99 percent of the time, it’s all good, money is saved, everybody feels “good”, and nobody knows any better. But underwater, there are a bunch of MD ducks paddling there legs off, and praying.</p>

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<p>@sevmom, thanks for the input. can you be a little more specific as to your sons job description? again i am still puzzled to the vagueness and scope of the consulting field.</p>

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<p>@shrinkrap, i totally missed the meaning in your post. perhaps you are talking about something that is more specific to the field than i understand. care to elaborate?</p>

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<p>testanalyst, You might want to just google consulting, systems engineering,etc. That might answer some of your questions.</p>

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<p>Nevermind…</p>

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<p>Cellardweller, Europe is a possibility - I would not be so quick to shut the door, and an EU passport opens a lot more opportunities than a Michigan driver license does. My older daughter is already planning summer studio courses in Europe and an MArch there (as well as one here). The younger one wants to do law, which may or may not be useful there. One of two ain’t bad.</p>

<p>I am afraid I will disagree with your rosy colored glasses view of outsourcing. In your spare time you might want to look up Professor Norm Matloff and his experiences with foreign workers. Since I went the H1 route myself in the 80’s I got a front row seat to the game… When I was competing against the real thing, IIT’ians and University of Moscow and the like, not Osmania University and the Skopje School of Engineering…</p>

<p>Perhaps from your level labor is not an issue - headcount and overhead are - but from the trenches, from the guy who spends 2 hours of his time a day handholding Elbonians, it is. Just like we were told in the 80’s there was a shortage of PhD’s in sciences (there wasn’t) and the like. If you’re in the life sciences, they’ve been outsourcing everything that moves, including science itself, to Elbonia, with catastrophic results. I’m quite familiar with FDA, GMP, and the like, as that’s what Mrs. Turbo does (let’s see for how long :-)) and while you can’t outsource SOME things, ie 10-20%, you can (and have already done so) outsource everything else. </p>

<p>Between consolidation, mergers, acquisitions, and outsourcing, tens of thousands of big pharma jobs have disappeared. Not just IT jobs at the help desk. Real science jobs. A compatriot of Mrs. Turbo was laid off after 22 years because ‘she was not generating enough patents’. Except her job description for the last decade was to handhold the Elbonian PhDs who (imagine that) could not patent kryptonite if they cooked up some in the lab.</p>

<p>For engineering, if we’re talking top talent, sure, Google and Apple are hiring. But, as I’ve said many times, aiming for a Google/Apple type position is like aiming for the pro leagues. In our days it was possible - I did it, one of a handful of Directional State U graduates among 1500 or so Top school graduates at a very prestigious Fortune 1 :slight_smile: Research organization. Things have changed. We have better universities, for sure, but what do we do with our graduates?</p>

<p>We aren’t creating enough jobs, not enough people are retiring, and squeezing existing workers already works wonders. Why hire more?</p>

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<p>As an ICU RN, just wanted to throw it out there that quality of life is something not to be dismissed when choosing a career path. I work part time (60 hours per 2 weeks…that’s 5 12-hr shifts) and am able to schedule around my children’s activites and have lots of time to run errands, etc and some “me” time too (working out, getting together w/ friends, etc). If I chose to work full time plus pick up one extra shift a week (4 shifts a week), I would probably be in the low 6 figures. Plus even though I am part-time, I get really inexpensive health, dental, vision coverage and a small hospital-sponsored pension when I retire, in addition to a small % of 401K matching. It’s plenty challenging/intellectually stimulating, and the job security is a perk, but honestly, the best part is being able to be there for all of my kids’ important events!</p>