<p>"too many schools that are being presented to her seem to be selling specific things/programs. "
you need to understand something about the dirty little secret behind the mailings and emails expressing “interest” in soon to be college applicants like your D.
Its called the COLLEGE ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT business. The Admissions depts from these various colleges are NOT the ones sending her the emails and mailings she has been getting. They have never even heard of her or her accomplishments, believe me. Enrollment Management Companies, hired by the colleges [whose business is to get kids to apply to those colleges], are the ones sending them to her. The more applicants, the greater the EM companies income, since it is paid on the basis of how many applicants the college receives. They scour various data bases- PSAT scores and SAT scores from the collegeboard, zip code income information from credit card companies, enrollment information from past years from her HS, her city, her zip code etc, etc, etc…
These mailings and emails are SPAM. They are Advertisements, trying to get kids to want to BUY[ i.e. send an application to a college. Dont let them turn her, or your head.</p>
<p>I think you can relax about this during high school, then let her go to college and explore. </p>
<p>Medical schools take all kinds of majors. Most kids who think they want to be doctors, change their minds in the first year of college. In fact, many, many students change majors, period.</p>
<p>Unless she has a strong pull inside her toward a specific career, such as nursing or engineering, just let her be. If she develops interests naturally, on her own, by all means find her ways to develop them, but overplanning can sometimes hurt more than help.</p>
<p>Once exposed to all kinds of new things at college, she will find her way.</p>
<p>I am kind of surprised at her counselor, but maybe I shouldn’t be. This premature careerism is really making so many kids (and parents) anxious.</p>
<p>p.s. I told my kids not to check the box on the SAT’s and they received no mailings at all, other than the ones we requested directly from schools.</p>
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<p>You don’t. Each of mine <em>think</em> they have an interest area - one in the sciences, one in history / political science. That may very well be, or they might take a course in something completely different and do a 180. That’s fine. It’s ridiculous and asinine to expect someone to know exactly what they want to do at age 16 – in a world in which half the careers that our kids will be in haven’t even been invented yet. Let it go and let it unfold. Meanwhile, it’s best (IMO) if you’re not wedded to a particular area to then just focus on a college that’s good enough in a multitude of areas that if you go from one discipline to another, you’ll still get an excellent education.</p>
<p>Letting it go and unfold is easy if one is not paying the bills. Even if college were free, in my view, if one does not have a pretty good idea of what they’d like to do they’re unlikely to put up with the hardships of major specific hardships and will keep bouncing back and forth.</p>
<p>I can understand about the careers not existing when we start. I never heard of Human Factors Engineering 30 years ago. But a general area (engineering, biology, physics, literature, history, economics) is not too much to ask, is it? </p>
<p>If kids and their parents can take tremendous amounts of effort preparing for SAT, on EC’s, and college trips that would rival the Lewis and Clark expedition, they sure as heck could try to determine what is it that they may be interested in. Even if it changes daily.</p>
<p>My 8th grader has shown an interest in physics… So, we’re exploring what physics is all about. If she likes it, we’ll dig further. If not, we’ll keep it in the back of our minds.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with going to college undecided, but taking enough math and science as a freshman (and in high school) so that you still have options when the time comes to officially declare a major. I was good at math and science and art and found architecture a good fit for me - I’d probably also have been good at science writing for a general audience.</p>
<p>I think any student taking a solid pre college curriculum that includes math and sciences will be fine. I know very few…very, very few…kids that knew what they wanted to do while in high school. I know the high schools have been focused on this for a number of years, doing career assessments and talking about jobs but for the most part it’s difficult for kids to make the connection between high school course work and what they might want to do at 21 or 22 years of age. I think the PLAN gives the kids some career suggestions based on the ACT scores. I remember S1 did some sort of assessment that suggested he be a zoologist which was hilarious. I don’t know about your school but in ours I know the kids wouldn’t be “required” to tell a GC what they might want to do for a career unless it was a “check the box” exercise on the part of the GC. I would not be in the least concerned about “picking” a career with a high school student unless they had no inclination to go to college…and then it might be a good idea to start pointing them toward an occupation of sorts.</p>
<p>This board is great…very helpful to us new at ‘the game’.
No, they do not have to tell the GC what they want to do ‘for sure’ but they do work on getting the top students into free or reduced cost selection only summer programs where they can explore their interests AND be on college campuses that might be realistic options for them.</p>
<p>I am glad to know that there is indeed still the route to do general classes for the first year or so of college and then make some choices. </p>
<p>Finally, yes I understand the college SPAM. Mass mailings, espcially after the PSAT in 9th grade, are all part of the marketing game.</p>
<p>T</p>
<p>My comp sci kid was told to be a meteorologist, which is actually not unreasonable except, he’s been a comp sci geek since 2nd grade and I can’t imagine how any reasonable assessment couldn’t have figured that out. My younger son swears he was honest on the assessment and it told him to drive a garbage truck! Needless to say I don’t have much faith in these instruments.</p>
<p>Just don’t burn any bridges, by not taking courses that you ought to take to be well educated anyway. Americans are most apt to stop taking math and science in high school at a level where it is really hard to catch up in college. But I don’t think that’s the case with the OP’s daughter. I am more worried that she’ll be pushed, nudged or overly encouraged into a career she won’t really enjoy.</p>
<p>My daughter’s assessment suggested that she could be a conductor or… a clown!</p>
<p>Shepherd…</p>
<p>Vending machine repair (no kidding!)</p>
<p>"can understand about the careers not existing when we start. I never heard of Human Factors Engineering 30 years ago. But a general area (engineering, biology, physics, literature, history, economics) is not too much to ask, is it? "</p>
<p>I think it is. Your attitude leaves no room for serendipity or discovery. And I’m someone who applied to a specific honors double major and went ahead and did exactly that. I laugh at the idea that a 16 year old “should” know exactly what he wants to do for a living.</p>