My 16yo D said she is thinking about being a philosophy professor, a psychologist, possibly doing something with marketing or advertising, maybe the film industry, maybe the fashion industry. Hope that helps you see that your kids are probably typical.
Have you mentioned all of this to the college consultant you hired? Perhaps he has some opinion about this. (Still wondering if he is selling you annuities…).
As noted upstream, the vast majority of college students switch majors while in college. Many switch majors multiple times. Some don’t declare a major until junior year. Some graduate with an undergrad degree in one thing…than get a masters or a job in an unrelated field.
These twins are 16 year olds. It’s actually good that they are thinking of many different options…and NOT locking themselves in…especially since they really don’t seem so sure about what they want to do in the future.
Two kids, two different answers…
—My S applied to business schools and was fairly set on that direction from the start. He enjoyed the classes in the b-school and had an aptitude for that area. He is now a CPA. It was all very straightforward for him.
—My D was a different story. She went to a LAC thinking she would study chemistry or psychology (no idea how she came to those two choices) and was considering pre-med. After much thought sophomore year she decided that she didn’t want the long haul of med school so dropped that idea. She majored in psychology also took a lot of science courses. Junior year I began to ask her what direction she was considering. She knew that she wanted to work with kids and hoped to put her psychology and science background to use. Based on that she started to consider a number of different careers/did some research/shadowed some people in different fields etc. and she eventually decided that she wanted to become a speech pathologist. Fortunately things worked out and my D is now in grad school in that field. She took a more circuitous route but is very happy with her choice.
I would be concerned about a 15 year old who was certain she knew what she wanted to do, and wouldn’t hear otherwise. It’s normal and healthy to change passions at this age. And with globally gifted kids, locking in comes later, because they have many interests and talents, and find it difficult to do the hard work of excluding and letting things go. They have to spend more time going down the rabbit holes before they can eliminate things that should be hobbies and interests, but not a career.
My son is a sophomore and still hasn’t declared a major. He has a general idea of what he wants to do, but isn’t 100 percent sure. He’ll probably declare English as a major, but it could just as easily be East Asian studies, since he has taken so much Japanese.
My daughter is a senior, who will graduate with degrees in medieval studies and French. She chose her major because it allowed her to take art, history, language, music, religion, and philosophy courses. She quite literally chose it by looking at all the courses she wanted to take in college and seeing what major they added up to. She wants to be a hospital chaplain and has applied to divinity school.
But even adults change careers several times over the course of their lives, so I don’t think we have to lock in on anything permanent.
Be sure to check the realistic college within uni and major change policies at any colleges contemplated.
Also make sure they apply to the most competitive option they are considering, such as engineering or PT first.
Easier to transfer out of such specialized programs than into.
Two different approaches to indecision :
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Cheap in state public school, wont cost much for 6 years of undergrad if they aren’t sure of major
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Expensive private that allows easy change of college within uni. Some publics have strict enrollment
limits in popular majors like business, engineering, etc. Start in the popular major and transfer out
if not for you. My sons large private made it easy to transfer within the university (had to prove yourself academically but no quotas or application process, just grades in proposed major intro classes is the only consideration).
Two very different strategies can help deal with need to explore…
Of course, “just grades in proposed major intro classes” could be a low bar (e.g. “at least a C in each major prerequisite”) or a high bar (“at least a 3.6 GPA in major prerequisites”).
D1 went off to college with a vague interest in science, and so she majored in Biochemistry. She switched to Physics after her freshman year, mostly I think because she had really liked her HS physics teacher. And she went on to earn her degree in that field. After graduation she worked for a few years as a software engineer, then a web-designer, and then got a job doing particle physics research at a linear accelerator national lab. I don’t know that she ever “locked-in” on any of it. She just kept doing what she liked, kept following the opportunities as they came along, and has always managed to stay employed.
D2 enrolled in college with an interest in Neuroscience and so she majored in that with a vague plan to eventually earn a PhD in that field. But at the end of junior year she discovered that what she really liked was doing the statistical analysis of the data rather than doing the experiments to generate the data. It was too late to switch majors, but she crammed a lot of math, stats, and computer classes into her senior year course work. And after graduation she applied for grad programs in Biostatistics. She was accepted into all 7 grad schools to which she applied. She enrolled in her top Reach grad school and is currently finishing up her master’s in Biostats. She will graduate this spring and is interviewing for jobs now. So I guess you could say she “locked-in”:at the end of her junior year of college.
When I was 8, my family was in a car accident. My uncle’s friend was a lawyer and he took the case. A couple of years later, we went to court. I fell in love with it - the pomp, the arguing, the men in fancy suits and, I will admit this, the relative paucity of women. I loved the idea of being a woman in a man’s field and since I had no interest in medicine, computers or engineering, trial law seemed like it would do. I tried a number of different majors in college - journalism, history, English and, finally, poli sci - but always with the end goal of being a trial lawyer. I have been working in my chosen field, although I very early on abandoned criminal law for civil, for over 30 years. I have never once regretted my choice.
I understand from most of my friends and colleagues that I am an exception.
My kids had no clue at 15 what they wanted to do and most of them still don’t.
Back in the Stone Age, my husband was a chemistry major in college. He switched to physics after one year. Then he took a bunch of years off and worked in the arts doing sound and lighting…primarily in NYC. He then got a job with an arts organization full time.
But wait…he decided he wanted to be an engineer…and went back to school. He was 28. So…he was a full 12 years older than the OP’s kids when he “locked in” on what he wanted to do.
And it all worked out just fine!
Relax. They will figure it out in due time… or not… and your Ds will be OK. Do any of us ever really know when we’ve found our calling?
When my son was young – probably in elementary school – someone asked him if he would ever want to be President. “Yes,” he said, “But after that I would really like to be Major League Baseball commissioner.”
His actual “adult” life and career goals evolved after he enrolled at the University of Chicago. I had made sure he attended a college that would allow him to do almost ANYTHING later in life. As he was about to enroll, I asked him to “give science a chance.” Although he was very talented in math, he hadn’t been inspired by his science courses in high school. The core at Chicago has fairly rigorous distribution requirements, and I thought that he might just decide that he wanted to be a physicist or chemist after all.
But he didn’t take the science path in college. Instead, he majored in economics, and after graduating he has worked in management consulting, blogging about baseball, and blogging/writing about politics. I doubt he’s on a career path toward the Presidency or Baseball Commissioner. But he’s doing very well anyway.
My daughter didn’t have any idea what she wanted to do when she was in high school. She chose her college major (economics) because it was the high school subject she hated the least. She added a math major to that during her freshman year, but still had no idea what she wanted to do. She added a finance major at some point and graduated with all three. (Her MO was to add, not to change). She then decided to get a masters in Statistics, still not knowing exactly what she’d do with it. She has a job waiting for her after graduation this spring that will use a large portion of the skill set she acquired in all of those subjects, but it’s the job she happened to find, not a job she pinpointed and singlemindedly pursued.
Way back when, I majored in business (triple major in accounting, economics and finance - the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I guess) because my father suggested it. I had considered about 5 other majors throughout my high school years, all totally unrelated to business (such as medical technology and nursing). I then went to law school because my friends were going. I took a Big Law job in NYC because that’s the job I found. And I loved it. I think I would have liked any number of careers. A lot of people just bloom where they’re planted.
I wouldn’t worry about it too much - they’ll figure out (or fall into) something they want to do.
My older D wanted to be an artist from a fairly young age. There were some very specific details included in this desire. When they began to take career aptitude surveys and such as part of college and career prep in high school, she told us that she was going to be a coroner, IIRC–I don’t think she liked being pressured to decide. Late in her junior year of high school she decided she would be an engineer. We were pretty confused–the artist thing made sense to us, but she was certain enough to choose a very tech-focused college. She’s doing awfully well in engineering school and enjoying it, and recently told me that CS is fun too, now that she’s been exposed to it, and if she had known what it entailed earlier, she might have majored in that.
Younger D wanted to be a nurse when she was 16. Then drifted to international relations/international development. She’s a freshman now, majoring in Economics at an LAC.
Son is the same age as your daughters. He wants to be a music teacher, has wanted to be a music teacher since he was in middle school, if not earlier. He is very certain. He’d love to start college now, mostly so he could drop every other class and just take music. We’ll see, but this path does make sense for him.
I had no idea when I was 16 what I wanted to do. I deliberately chose a college with a ton of core requirements and went in as an undeclared major. I decided on Econ after two years of taking those core classes and trying things out. It was a good choice for me.
DH was pre-med all the way. Made a small course shift late in his junior year of college and applied to pharmacy school instead after completing his bachelor’s degree. Great choice for him.
We know a kid who left for college to study a very specific wildlife biology field. A year later he transferred to a different school and changed majors to psychology.
I’d say most kids in high school are just having their horizons opened to all the many things they could become. It’s hard to narrow things down right then for most kids.
My daughter wanted to be a Disney Princess when she was 4. And when she was 12, and 16, and now that she’s 21. she still wants to be one. And she may have her dream come true someday. She tries out when Disney has auditions, she did the Disney College Program, and she knows all the rules (no tattoos!).
I know a few people who knew they were going to be a doctor or nurse from an early age, but most had more of a general idea if they wanted to do science or math or politics.
At age 15, our daughter wanted to be an artist and to attend a stand-alone art school. We sponsored her participation in summer pre-college art programs at the Art Institute of Chicago. This helped to build her skills and a portfolio. At the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), she earned a BFA with a major in industrial design. RISD students can take several courses at Brown University, which is adjacent to RISD in Providence. One course that she took at Brown was on society and the environment. This stimulated an interest in the ecological aspects of industrial design.
After graduation, and working as an industrial designer for a few years, disaster struck: the recession and financial meltdown in 2008. She resolved to broaden her credentials. In a 3-year full-time course of study she earned an MBA and an MS in sustainable systems. After several extended consultantships and free-lance jobs (and a bit of a financial struggle), she’s now employed full-time at a university institute that focuses on the incubation of new enterprises. (Locked in, we hope.)
My husband graduated from college in 1976 with an anthropology degree. After a few years of unsatisfying jobs, he got a job as a lab tech and the company paid for him to get a BS in chemistry at night. Company also paid for a part time Masters at night. (He’s been there 37 years and plans to retire soon!)
D1 started in international affairs, and ended up falling in love with econ in college and double majored. She is heading back to school for an MBA full time this fall after 5 years of working.
S knew from a very early age he wanted to make video games. Has never wavered, got his degree, and has been working for 2.5 years.
D2 went into college undecided. In her sophomore year after taking her first ever computer class, she majored in CS and will be graduating in May with a good job lined up already.
I majored in something that I ended up not liking at all. I should have changed but I did not, worked for 5 years, and have happily been a non-working mom for 27 years.
It’s very common for gifted kids not to chose a career path until later than their peers. Generally gifted kids have a wide range of interests and most excel in various subjects so it can take them longer to narrow their focus. Both my kids are gifted though the older one more so. He is 15 and doesn’t have any firm ideas of what he’d like to pursue after high school. He excels in most subjects and really enjoys arts (especially music), humanities (loves history and philosophy) as well as physical sciences (physics and chemistry). His extracurriculars primarily consist of a variety of music commitments and business club (DECA). He also engages in substantial self directed learning in a variety of areas. About the only thing he is sure of at the moment is that he prefers theory over application and won’t be pursuing a career in health sciences (hates the sight of blood), engineering, or anything out of doors. He’s not a hands on type (except for music). I know that if he thought it was truly a viable career he would most likely pursue music, particularly composition, but he has a practical streak as well. TBH he really would be suited to a life in academia as he is very intellectually bent, but unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be viable career path these days either. I could see him down the road choosing to study law though.
Next year he will be in grade 11 and will have to start narrowing his course choices somewhat but he’s been careful to ensure that he can continue to keep his options open for a wide range of post-secondary programs. He’s narrowed his focus a little by choosing not to take Biology or continue with his 2nd language studies (French). Unfortunately Canadian universities are much less flexible when it comes to having an undecided major so he’s going to need to find a deeper focus in senior year, but he still has plenty of time. I’m starting to see a trend towards cross-disciplinary programs starting to pop up in universities and that may well be an option for him. He really would be suited to a true liberal arts program but that would restrict his options in terms of continuing his studies in graduate school. In any event regardless of what he chooses to study I know he’s going to want to take full advantage of his electives to continue to broaden his interests so I will be encouraging him to seek out programs with maximum flexibility in that regard.
Oldest was quite certain of her path and it was one that really limited her school choice. That path didn’t last one semester in college! She switched majors and finished a degree. She’s in the application cycle for grad school now, but has said, if she were to do it all again, she’d likely pursue a degree in engineering. She’s only 24, so I’d say I’m not sure she’s locked into anything yet.
Youngest was also certain of a major. Took a support course within that major her first semester and added it as a second major. Then, junior year, admitted to herself that her pie in the sky dream would be as a studio artist. She doesn’t have time left to add a third major, but if that kid goes to grad school, she’ll pursue an MFA, not a higher credential in one of her more practical majors. She’s 21, and I would say still not locked in.
As a freshman advisor, I tell my students every year that my favorite major is undecided. There are darn few majors (on my campus only one–nursing) that that student has to know, walking in the door, that they want it.
Both of my Ds started down their respective roads (CS and ChemE) with some idea of what they wanted and ended up solidifying and focusing their choices to specialties once they started rather than changing majors. For them undergraduate was always about getting an education rather than a job. After working in her field for two years, D1 is now in a PhD program doing exactly what she wants with an eye toward academia. D2 has been accepted in to a PhD program and is equally excited but plans to work in industry.
If you would have asked me 4 years ago I would have said kids don’t know what they want to major in until college…than along comes #3 who wanted to be a civil engineer since about age 6. Never strayed, never changed his mind and went to college with the single minded determination that is THAT kid and will graduate finally next year after 5 years as a civil engineer with a minor in construction management. He loves cement and pavements… what can say. I find it amusing. My other two never settled down until they had to sophomore year at their colleges and were all over the place freshman year when exposed to all the different majors after “high school.” Number one had an impractical major according to most posters but knew what industry he wanted to be in and his degree is a booster. Number two stumbled into his major out of a hobby and is very happy working in a related complimentary field and contemplating law school for a concentration in water resources. You just never know, but best to let THEM find themselves as it sure makes life easier.