Link?
S earned a B.S. in Economics. I supported his decision and he is in banking.
D went to college intending to major in English and I supported that choice. She’s now considering majoring in Environmental Studies or Women’s and Gender Studies. Although the decision is hers to make (and I’ve always said as much), I admit I’ve been discouraging WGS as a choice of major. I feel guilty about that, but what does one do with a WGS major?
the comment about a 20% unemployment rate refers to Pharmacy school, correct?
S1-Political Science-always wanted to be a college professor. Changed his mind and is now a financial analyst/journalist.
S2-Biology & Theatre-working in neurology clinical research currently with plans to go to med school
S3-Theatre-making money outside the industry and trying to break into TV/Film
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I forgot to answer the question if I supported kid’s major and we did. Never would have occurred to us to interfere or discourage kid’s choice.
DD’11: Math major. Career interest: HS Math teacher
DD’15: Psychology. Career interest: MD
DD - AB Religion, totally supported her a major, Only constraints set were that she had to be on the 4 year plan (completing the degree). She really loved her major
Took a gap year to do some good deed doer work
Went to law school with interest in public service (was considering schools that had both JD and MDiv. )
Working as an attorney
This.
Child 1 - English major. Happily working in publishing.
Child 2 - Major/minor combination of Poly Sci/Econ/French. Still in school.
Overtheedge, my students that have GWS majors generally go on to do activism work, work in nonprofits, graduate school, etc. All of them are employed after graduation though 
D’11. Finishes BSN in May. Has job lined up, but decided last summer during her externship that she’s probably better suited to being an MD. Will work nights and finish up remaining premed prereqs. Am I supportive? I guess. I mean it’s her life, not mine. Did I suggest another path? Absolutely. I personally don’t feel medical school is worth the price/debt. Is she going to do as I say? No. And good thing, too. I hope I raised my kids to think for themselves and make their own decisions.
D’14. Started as a Math major. Discovered she likes computer science and added a second major in that. Toying with an Art minor. Am I supportive? Sure. Again, her life. And her career path? She has absolutely no idea.
Thanks romani! That is comforting to know that they’re employed. I really want to be 100% supportive of whatever major she chooses. And I don’t care how much money she makes as long as she can support herself. I was just nervous about the options available to a WGS major.
Completely supportive of both kids.
ShawSon ('13) had a triple major – economics, math and an independent major in behavioral economics which basically meant adding psychology to the mix and writing a thesis in behavioral econ. I suggested that he take a math course every semester, so he was an accidental math major but turns out to be extremely good at it. He started a company and now is in grad school getting an MS in Data Science (he was admitted in part because of his math skills) and an MBA.
ShawD (‘15) graduated in January with a BSN after starting as biology major at a different school and transferring. She does very well at the science part and accumulating and using factual knowledge. So, @ordinarylives, several doctors said, “You should go to med school.” She is in a 5 year accelerated BSN/MSN program to become a Family Nurse Practitioner. She says, “I want to have a family and be able to spend time with my kids so I don’t want to be a doctor.” She has seen female doctor friends of ours have difficulty really finding time for kids – they essentially have to decide which part of the kids’ lives they want to miss. Plus, they are on call. NPs typically are not. Relative to an anesthesiologist, an NP salary is not great but relative to a Family Practice GP, an NP salary might not be so bad. We had saved enough so she will have no debt and will graduate as an FNP a month before her 23rd birthday. (From http://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/medical-economics/content/tags/career/primary-care-physicians-nurse-practitioners-physician-assistan?page=full, the average salary of a primary care physician was $185K in 2013, while primary care NP’s were paid an average of $118K and PA’s $105K). @ordinarylives, I would have supported my daughter if she had decided to apply to med school although when I talk to younger doctors, I’d say the bloom is off the rose of medical careers (still good, but less autonomy, lots of intervention by management and insurers, lower pay, high debt all following an extremely long and arduous training period) and a former hospital CEO friend says that the nurse practitioners will be the sweet spot for the health care system for a while. I’m sure your D has thought about it.
If someone had wanted an a major that had no obvious tie to employment (gender studies or ancient languages or poetry), I would have suggested taking a few courses in CS or stats so they would have a skill at the other end if they needed it.
@romani- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3687123/
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119634/pharmacy-school-crisis-why-good-jobs-are-drying
http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drug-topics/news/modernmedicine/modern-medicine-news/how-opening-new-schools-california-may-affect-p?id=&sk=&date=&pageID=2
DS is majoring in Computer Science, in a special program focused on animation and video game design. I totally support it. He’s minoring in theater (and his degree program also requires a minor in math). However, he’s a freshman and changes may come. If he switches out of the school of engineering and computer science, he’ll lose a good chunk of his FA, but we would work together to find a solution (may mean more work hours for him, or another school). He knew this going in so we’ll see what happens.
The PharmD articles are interesting. However, at quick glance, the job projections appear to assume that PharmDs will become pharmacists in one setting or another (community, institutional, etc). What about jobs in the Pharma industry such as sales reps, management training, R & D? Also, I know women attracted to PharmD precisely because they can work part-time and still make good money.
Oh, you are referring to ONLY Pharm jobs. I completely misunderstood. Mea culpa.
Son chose his majors and courses without any input from us. He is globally gifted so it was interesting to see where his interests have led him.
Started taking math, physics and some computer science courses plus a nice variety of electives in college. He finally declared his math major-Honors but overreached for top math grad schools and finished the second major in computer science instead. He chose to work instead of any grad school- well paid, good intellectual environment et al.
We parents wished he was in grad school but realize even advanced math degrees from elite schools do not mean a job. He’s only 25 so we’ll see what he does by the time he’s 30. I think he will eventually switch from his second job and do more theoretical work based on his stated interests. He was a software developer at his first job but that title became software engineer at his second one.
Our bright son is also creative so he went for a degree in business, majoring in Entrepreneural Studies and in his sophomore year added the second major of Information Systems. I had hoped he’d go into engineering since I thought there would be lots of jobs available, and plus he has the smarts for it. But of course, he wasn’t gonna listen to mom, and I’m fine with that. I definitely agree that he needs to honor the creative side of himself along with the intelligent side, and he felt that a business degree would give him the most opportunities to branch out; he didn’t want to sit in a cubicle all day.
He will graduate soon and has a job lined up with where he’s interning, it is a nonprofit Entrepreneural incubator, helping people grow their businesses. He also creates websites for companies as a side business.
My advice on picking a major is do what comes natural. Who are the people you gravitate towards and like to spend time with? Where do you feel comfortable, in a medical setting, academic setting, the business world? Find other people like minded as you and see what they’re into. It may give you clues what to go for as a major.
@shawbridge we tried to nudge her toward a DNP but so far it’s been a no go. She’ll consider it as a back-up if she can’t get into med school, but she’s just not a kid cut out for limits and her extern experience? Too much the NPs can’t do. Her decision came lat summer in the ER. A big code came in, pulling in everyone including the externs. They didn’t save save the patient, so I can’t even say there was some hero envy going on. But she wants to be the one calling the codes. And as a nurse, she already knows the bad stuff–the politics, the attitudes, the pecking order, the costs. Doesn’t matter. She says she can’t not try. She has the grades. We’ll have to see if she can keep them through the upper division chem classes. Like I said, not my life, not my choice, but med school wouldn’t ever be a direction I’d steer a kid toward!
BA French/fellowship year in France/MS Journalism. Graduated from J school with a reporting job. Most important: found the thing he loves. I look forward to his future.