I’m also in the camp that your D doesn’t need to know what they want to major in now. She should think about her strengths and interests, take career inventories, and see what aligns. As noted, lots of people end up working in fields they didn’t expect. I have a psych degree and ended up doing hospice work. I can tell you that 18, I would never have predicted that.
3 Likes
Older son was an Environmental Science and Resource Management major. He worked for the Department of Fish and Wildlife for several years but is now an Environmental Biologist for a Environmental Consulting firm.
Younger son was a CS major. Works for a Cybersecurity company involved in Cyber Espionage.
Niece1 was an Environmental Earth Science major and works as a Geologist.
Niece2 is currently a Biology major, plans to take a Gap year and apply for PA school.
2 Likes
I think there are a couple of ways to approach college and my kids did it different ways. Two of the three are in careers specific to what they majored in. One son has a degree in cyber-security and works for a cyber-security firm. My daughter has an undergrad in education and a masters in international education and she works for a well known international education non-profit. My other son however, got a degree in English and works as his companies Business Analyst. He’s always had an interest in technology but loves to write. His job is totally remote and he’s a digital nomad, currently working from out of the country.
One of the things I heard early on in my kids college search was to not think of a major as a forever career path, but more of a first step. I think that family finances should play a role in this though. It’s easy to say explore but college is expensive and if a student is going to a high cost college, every detour is going to add up.
2 Likes
My good friends daughter got her degree in philosophy. She’s the type who would rather stay locked up with a book. Originally her goal was law school but she changed her mind and now works in insurance. Turns out that someone actually does have to read those complicated policies! I always wondered what someone did with a philosophy degree besides teach philosophy but it really teaches you to understand what you read and analyze it. She did have to study for some type of certification but after her under grad content it was a piece of cake.
2 Likes
My D19(HS) is getting a Micro-Bio degree and a Spanish Degree and she added an Education Minor recently. She went into college as Pre-Med. She decided not to pursue that.
She is probably going the route of HS teacher after college. It will be a little interesting how she ends up getting certified. She should have no issues getting a job with Science and a Language certification.
Part of me wishes she would do something else, but since she won’t have loans from undergrad it does give her some flexibility on what she does for work. In the right state HS teachers have make a decent living and end up with a pension.
She did meet over break with her old HS Personnel Person to discuss her route.
2 Likes
Tell her to move to Massachusetts. She’ll earn decent money and will retire with a pension.
https://profiles.doe.mass.edu/statereport/teachersalaries.aspx
1 Like
One way to think about this is to look at a list like this at your local Florida university and see what other people are doing: University of Florida - Degrees Conferred by Program of Study - ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ This will give you a sense of which majors are popular. Then you can dig down and see what jobs those majors get you. I don’t know if the U of F tells you what jobs you can get, but here is a 3y old link at a different university on what kind of jobs are available for each major – just to give you an idea: https://career.berkeley.edu/Survey/2018Majors You need to click on one major at a time to figure out what jobs those people do.
3 Likes
Great link. Really good stuff !!
2 Likes
One thing I like about this topic and responses is the hope given. There are a lot of successful launches being made here. Just an opinion but I bet in many of these cases there was more involved than choosing a degree, graduating and getting a job. In my brief exposure it’s the students that put themselves in the position to succeed are the ones who do.
4 Likes
I think a lot of this has to do with developing a resume while in college.
You could be any major and intern for a school district…. in their policy dept… during the summer. This might lead to an interest in education policy…
My D’s friend was a journalism and political science major. She’s now in DC.
You have to be willing to knock on doors and talk to people etc. My coworkers S was an economics major. He applied for a paid internship in Australia doing something not related to his major….and got it. He had a fabulous summer experience where he found some new interests that might lead to something unexpected.
I think what you do during your 4 years of undergrad definitely helps… and I agree that putting yourself in a position to succeed is important (and not always easy).
5 Likes
I think it wouldn’t hurt to start working early – say in the high school summer. In the case of one of my kids, work done during high school (both summer and school-year project) helped to get a freshman internship. And the freshman internship could lead to a sophomore summer internship etc.
1 Like
Good point.
My daughter is a freshman - worked in a golf club as a hostess. She’s exporing a hospitality minor but also knows you don’t need the education to work in the field. She was exposed to things like - how much wine do they buy and why - in addition to all the customer stuff.
My son - an engineer - couldn’t find an internship after freshman year because most don’t take engineering interns that early and it was the summer after covid first hit and we all thought the world was ending. So he got a job doing mobile detailing on cars - hard work, great pay, he wants to be in the car industry and got to see the interiors and even drive (albeit short distances) lots of cars - high and low end. Last summer he worked at an auto plant in MS and will again this summer near home in TN - same company.
Colleges put in their brochure about “internships” - but they don’t just happen - it’s up to the kid to use the school resources or their own. And to explore new areas. My son hated the idea of a summer in MS - but as I told him, it’s only 12 weeks - and he lived in/near a downtown (albeit a small city) for the summer and got to experience that too.
So much to learn - because every day when they are in the job, it’s a new experience for them - whether it’s working at Dunkin (for $16 an hour - wow) or having a formal internship. Any type of work experience helps!!
5 Likes
In HS, my D worked at a sub shop, did a ton of volunteering through school and church, and spent time shadowing adults in fields she thought she was interested in. It was really helpful.
I’ll also put in a plug for hustling to find resuming building opportunities in college. As noted, it doesn’t just happen. Kids should go to their career center early on, go to all the career fairs to practice interviewing skills, and do meaningful activities on campus that you can talk while job searching.
9 Likes
This. You don’t want your college senior to wake up in the January before graduation and say, “Oh, I guess I’d better start thinking about maybe getting a job after graduation; what do I need to do?”
5 Likes
both of my kids changed majors several times and graduated in their planned 4.5 years. The older one graduated from Chico State as a Finance major and works for a company that administers 401ks - so, he’s certainly working in his field. The younger one graduated in December from Ft Lewis - a small public LAC in Durango CO with a psych major. He’s evaluating his next step options and - after taking (his passion) mountain bike racing as far as he can, is leaning toward a Chiropractic college.
Most college students change majors at least once. If your high schooler has an academic passion, certainly pursue it - knowing it might change as they are exposed deeper to the topic as well as other subjects. If not, encourage your kid to apply undeclared or into something really broad like Business and let them chart their course. For most kids it makes more sense to pick a school and environment that suit them rather than a program with a narrow focus.
2 Likes
How Much of a desk job is it? She captained her Cyber Patriot team and enjoyed it, and likes the idea of working in the aerospace industry. At one time she thought aeronautic engineering, but not now. She likes CS stuff but pictures it as a desk job.
Product jobs coming out of a CS major are not desk jobs. They are very people oriented jobs.
1 Like
What are product jobs? Thanks
Here is an example: 1,000+ Product Management Intern jobs in United States (53 new)
Also see: https://productmanagerhq.com/product-manager-internship/
1 Like
I must caution that these jobs are (much?) harder to get than engineering jobs. Someone like Google may hire 5000 new grad engineers globally, but hires less than 50 new grad product managers a year
1 Like