Have you taken a look at Brandeis? You are not required to declare a major until second semester sophomore year, and there are lots of opportunities for double or triple majors. My son is a junior who went in knowing that he loved math and music. He has declared a math/computer science double major. In addition, he’s been in the chamber choir since freshman year, takes piano and voice lessons, and is in an improv group. He’s had parts in plays (you don’t need to be a theatre major to get in), and has found it easy to take whatever courses have interested him. Next semester, he will be studying math and computer science at the Indian Institute of Sciences in Bangalore, India through a Brandeis led exchange program. They also have very good merit aid. Good luck!
You are getting good advice on this thread.
Rice has both a music school and STEM. For LACs Oberlin and Bard have conservatories. For other ideas check out Lafayette and U Rochester which has a school of music. If he has the stats for Rice maybe also Swarthmore and Harvey Mudd ( if he is interested in smaller schools.) We looked at Brandeis and Brown with our older son. Also WashU where itis easy to study different disciplines across their schools, but his interest was visual art, not music.
Our younger son is similar – wants to study sciences but isn’t sure which one. Up until now Physics has been his favorite…but now that he is taking AP Chem and Environmental he now loves them as well. He is looking at smaller schools where sciences are strong and he can get mentoring and have exposure to different fields. I was particularly impressed at Lafayette when during an engineering open house they talked about setting up Shadow Days during winter term-- not only for shadowing engineers, but also medical professionals etc. That would be where a student like ours and yours (who knows he likes STEM but does not yet have a specific career path) would try out different settings and possible professions. I am figuring that other schools make this possible as well, but I liked that they seemed to have it already set up as opposed to the student seeking it out on his/her own.
Please keep us posted!
So many private schools being mentioned. Again, look at your public options as well.
At University of Pittsburgh the engineering majors all take the same courses in freshman year, Chem, Calc, engineering programming class, elective, physics, I believe. Then in the second year they specialize depending on which engineering discipline they pick.
It is probably easier to switch from engineering to A&S, but some do the opposite there as well.
As long as they take the engineering freshman classes and have a certain GPA they can apply for internal transfer.
I seem to remember the jazz program being strong there as well.
He should visit different schools and talk to faculty in the departments he is interested in.
But yes, he still has lots of time to decide.
My D and several of her friends enjoyed math and science in high school. She is in pharmacy school, one friend in PA school, one is studying statistics, another industrial engineering.
thank you for all the responses. As we have now seen a few schools, things have become more complex. My son now saying that while he is good at math and science, he doesn’t have a passion for them and instead, his passion is for music (he’s only 16 and this can certainly evolve but it has been true so far). He is lucky because we live in NYC and he is in two very high level city wide jazz bands (plus school jazz band and another one too). He’s feeling like he will never find this level of music performance at college. I may have to start a new thread about colleges that have strong music programs/students. It will be hard to find something comparable to one he is now. I have read about the dual degree programs and don’t know if that is really right for him. I don’t think we would really want to see him go to just a conservatory given how difficult it is to support yourself as a musician.
Kids don’t need to know their intended career when they’re high school. If they do have one in mind, chances are they will change it once they get to college and beyond. What they do need to have is some sense of special talents and interests to pursue in college, and then choose colleges that will allow them to explore and test AND redefine those interests without too many barriers between majors or career options.
Also, there are graduate-level degree programs in which the student can specialize or focus training – after having laid down a good foundation as an undergraduate. As one example, a student with good math skills and foundational study at the undergraduate level at almost any decent college could consider some of the applied “data science” masters programs. But s/he may well discover or focus on other interests during college. I’ll illustrate.
I come from a family in which my 4 sibs and I – same “genetic pool” – went to colleges at (a) UCLA (3 sibs: one majored in art [made career as artist, illustrator, mainly in film industry], one in business [went on to an MBA at USC after service in the military, then a career in business], and one majored in computer science [ended on a mommy track]); (b) Reed College (majored in political science, then PhD with specialization in Russian studies at Wisconsin; career as college professor); © Caltech (BS and PhD in physics, career in mathematical physics).
Nobody could exactly have plotted out those 5 career destinations. But the undergrad schools were the right choices in retrospect, since they provided key background skills and credentials for later study and career choices.