<p>My husband and I were talking about our youngest son's college search. I think he would like to do something with computers and film, editing or something along the lines of digital media. I've been looking at colleges have that major. My husband thinks son should sort of figure out some career possibilities and that would lead to what major would suit the career. Something that he pointed out that had not occurred to me was that some careers, like a techy one, would probably mean a job in a city. So when figuring out a major, did most of your kids have a career or job in mind or did they just major in something that was interesting to them? Oh, and if they've graduated, how did that work out?</p>
<p>Son himself is at camp so he can't weigh in, but don't worry, we're not plotting anything without his input.</p>
<p>I think for engineering and science majors in particular, many people consider the career first and then work their way back to the major that applies best. For example, if one wants to be a software developer they can discover that most employers are generally seeking CS degreed grads to fill those positions so the person should choose the CS major (there are exceptions of course). If one want to pursue the application of the combo of computers/film/editing then it makes sense to do some research of the types of jobs available in that area that sound appealing and then work back to what degrees those employers are looking for and then work back to which schools have that major. Included along with this is to determine which schools are more highly desired by these companies.</p>
<p>So yes, many times it’s the career then the major.</p>
<p>I don’t think my computer science major kid knows exactly what sort of job he wants at the end of it. He’s worked for a company that does websites and knows he doesn’t want to do that, this summer he’s debugging graphics cards, which he seems to think is more interesting. I think he’ll figure out what he likes through internships or trying on a few jobs. </p>
<p>For myself, I had a vague idea that I might like to be an architect, somewhat influenced by gap year experiences and not liking courses in what I thought would be my major freshman year.</p>
<p>Dh wanted to major in biology and physics and always knew he was headed for some sort of biophysics research, though the physics part of his research has pretty much fallen away. His interests have been somewhat influenced by the availability of grant money.</p>