<p>We have a few in high school right now, all of whom are starting to think about college and careers.
For a student who is:
-Solid Student (just under 4.0 GPA)
-Plenty of ec and volunteer hours
-Likes to be BUSY
-Is physically fit and enjoys being active
-Strongest subjects are math and science, but loves history
-Good leader, works well with others and loves managing lots of things and making decisions.
...what would be some majors/careers to consider?</p>
<p>Her counselor recommended engineering or perhaps medical school working toward ER doctor. She went to engineering camp for a week at a great University and came away loving the school, but with no desire to enter any field of engineering. Medical school is a maybe, but more out of lack of other ideas. Only thing that she has been really excited about is being a tv broadcast producer (loves the idea of the fast pace, stress, decision making environment and changing things happening every day...especially with news.) Her counselor, however, encourages her to really play on her great strengths in math and science.</p>
<p>Help??? Any thoughts?
I know that kids minds change regularly, but we are coming up empty with even ideas to consider!
Thanks---
T</p>
<p>Don’t worry about it yet. Find an affordable school with lots of options available. I don’t think it’s beneficial to put any effort into major selection at this point, much less career selection. Just encourage the kids to keep exploring and putting their best effort into everything they do. The future will eventually fall into place.</p>
<p>Most TV newsrooms will let her “job shadow” as a high school student for a day. Would be a great way for her to visit a television newsroom, and see if she likes it. Despite what you may hear, TV news is a great business with lots of potential for promotion, especially in management for strong leaders. TV producers with web, digital skills have a lot of opportunities out of school. EVeryone wants to be ON TV, not the person behind the scenes making the decisions. PM me if you want more info.</p>
<p>How about a science reporter or meteorologist? I have a relative who is a TV meteorologist. He enjoyed science and the idea of performing on TV.</p>
<p>I know WAY too many people who were pushed into science and math careers because they were always told they were good in science and math and hence ended up doing more of it. And they wake up at 40, and discover they would have preferred to be photographers, dancers, psychologists, social workers, writers.</p>
<p>Now nothing unusual particularly with having a mid-life crisis. But what makes it sad indeed is that many of those knew it at 15 or 16, and found themselves simply pushed in and shoved in a direction that really wasn’t a free choice.</p>
<p>She is really young to be set on something, but it is not a bad idea to go and have a look at different careers. Due to her math/science scores, physical fitness, likes to move and be busy made me think of a physical therapist. You are not always at a desk, it is very challenging and a puzzle to figure out why a person hurts, and how to fix it, lots of opportunities for continuing education, some facilities are research-oriented, leadership in physical therapy organizations, teaching physical therapy fieldwork students, can own your own business if you would like, can work part-time if you like, most full-time jobs are 9-5, can get a job anywhere in the US and many places in the world, and can also volunteer all over the world, you work with really smart, interesting problem solvers, and, best of all, you get to help people get back to living their lives, priceless!</p>
<p>“I would prefer to have a job but that’s just me.”</p>
<p>Jobs are nice. I know so many unemployed science Ph.Ds that, to many of them, psychologist or social worker sounds awfully good.</p>
<p>The future is in retail/service sector (supply chain management) and in health care (especially geriatrics). Or so says the Department of Labor, but then what do they know?</p>
<p>I’m not sure the best approach is to go in with a profession in mind. The career I’m in didn’t exist when I was in college. That may be the way of the future in a changing world. I think the trick is to get solid academic training so that one can think in a number of ways (e.g., biologist, economist, etc.) and then pursue interests as they emerge. I think one should have an eye, when pursuing interests, about the employment prospects down the line, but even there, I have a friend who decided to pass up his admission Harvard Law School to focus on a major problem in the world. His focus on this problem caused him to write a book, which became a best-seller. He helps world leaders in this problem area, and has made millions of dollars. He’s an extraordinary guy but my point is that a premature vocational focus may rule out great career possibilities.</p>
<p>By that age they should have a very good idea if they like engineering or not, as well as documented proof. I started building model airplanes at age 12, designed my own at 14, almost made the national team at 18. Yet I was a lousy HS student, barely 13 out of 20 (why study when you can listen to psychedelic rock and build model airplanes?) and my guidance counselor (and I use the term politely) told my parents that I was no good for anything and suggested (kid you not) accounting. My brother was busy building pirate radio stations as a teenager. Both of us got into engineering thanks to the Hail Mary admission process back in the old country.</p>
<p>If you’re cut out to be an engineer and have the passion, you’ll know it. Instead of wasting time on Facebook you Google arcane facts about things mechanical or electrical. And so on.</p>
<p>Likewise for other professions or fields. If you’re not sure, study multiple things. But make sure you take time to discover your passion. And also things you don’t like. My older daughter was easy - OK student, likes art, drawing, very visual person, hates math (like me), ergo, decided on Architecture by 9th grade (and Hail Mary’ed her SAT’s and with a strong portfolio got in to her 2nd choice school with a nice scholarship). My younger one, an incredible student who aces every subject without even trying in 8th grade, has yet to find her ‘passion’. She knows it’s not medicine, not engineering, kind of likes Law but Tiger Mom is highly resistant, and right now I’m trying to introduce her to some areas of physics or chemistry that she may be interested in. I hope to have her sorted out by 9th grade.</p>
<p>Incidentally, when I interview or hire people ‘passion’ is by far the first thing I look for. ‘soft’ skills, well, they’re good to have, and ‘hard’ skills too, but passion is what keeps us up at night thinking of new things to patent…</p>
<p>I, too, would recommend she keep her math/sceince (i.e. engineering, medicine, etc.) options open. Any job, engineer or tv producer, will have its good days and its not so good days. Avoid colleges that admit you into a department and not the college, thereby trapping you into a specific department before you find out what it is really about. Most of those colleges are also hard (and sometime darn near impossible) to change majors in. Note that some colleges will ask you about a potential major but not hold you to it. </p>
<p>Freshman year is the time to get most of the general ed requirements out of the way. And in your daughter’s case, time to investigate what a specific field is really about.</p>
<p>She should also realize that you don’t probably start as a tv producer. You’d work a lower level job (and usually much lower pay) and work your way up. You have to prove yourself before you can get that kind of responsibility.</p>
<p>Let her try different things in college. Who knows where life will take her? Sounds like she has the skills to do just about anything she sets her mind to do.</p>
<p>Note, however, even at schools where changing major is easy, some majors require prerequisite courses to be started early to avoid delaying graduation, due to long prerequisite chains. Engineering and physics are common examples, but art, music, and architecture can also have this type of thing. So if the student is undecided, s/he needs to consider all of the majors that s/he might do and choose courses accordingly.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus, Quite right about getting into the class sequences in time. I was assuming that one needed to settle on a major at the end of their freshman year.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback. Yes, she is young yet to lock herself into a career, however she is thinkign that unless she goes the liberal arts route she needs to get some sense of what majors she might be interested in…and what careers they might lead to.
She is getting a lot of interests from military academies and invitations to apply for their summer programs…but she does not seem excited about that.
She does like the idea of doing summer programs in various fields, but is not sure what fields she really should look at (engineering and medically based things are pushed on her at school).</p>
<p>So, while there is NO telling where life will take her, too many schools that are being presented to her seem to be selling specific things/programs. I had no idea that some schools really seemed to want kids to have an idea of that they wanted to do. How do you know at 16?
T</p>
Find an affordable school with lots of options available. I don’t think it’s beneficial to put any effort into major selection at this point, much less career selection. Just encourage the kids to keep exploring and putting their best effort into everything they do. The future will eventually fall into place.</p>