You all masterfully guided me on my son’s list. We will have solid options that we can afford. Now that he has EA’s at the vast majority of them, we will be looking at selecting one soon.
Son: Far from decided on major but narrowed down (without a ton of thought) to a few (all very different I know, but its a start): Elementary Ed, Social Work, Nursing. We live on LI. We can afford all of the schools below. We would like him to have a “going away” experience for college. He has been pursued my coaches to play a sport at two of below, but I don’t want to say which to allow it to be significant bias. Its not enough of a factor, but a reasonably good plus.
Education Schools
New Paltz
Oneonta
Cortland
Nursing schools
Plattsburg
Brockport (not direct admit- competitive as a Soph)
Farmingdale
Social Work
Siena (already admitted- we expect aid to make it 10k or so more expensive than SUNY)
Binghamton (unlikely he gets in here unless admissions standards for SW are well below the general)
Purchase (already admitted)
My guys is probably very different from many of the kids on here. He knows a few areas that he does NOT want to go into (engineering, business, etc), but really hasn’t found that passion yet. Not an incredible student, but a reasonably hard worker. He is one of those kids who I am hoping will find his true interest in college.
My current thinking is
a)that he go to the best school he gets into as undeclared, and figure it out as he goes. But my fear is that 2-4 semesters in, he still doesn’t know, and just picks a major based on a short description and the need to do so.
OR
b) Pick one of the above majors he feels best about, and go to the best school he gets into in that major. He can always changes after a few semesters if he wishes, but at least its a shot.
Please advise as to best route, and best school associated with that route.
Since he doesn’t seem to have a direction yet I would pick the school where he feels comfortable and sees himself there for several years. I would not force him to pick a major yet.
You can always transfer to a school with a better program once he does figure it out.
If he doesn’t figure it out in a few semesters he can take a break or just get a degree so he has it. Then figure out life.
I know nothing about NY state schools but I know nursing. Has your son shadowed anything medical? Anyone in the family a nurse? I wouldn’t pick nursing unless your son understands what’s required.
Education and social work could have some overlap and transferability.
The majors he is interested will most likely require additional education , which I think is a plus because it gives him some freedom and flexibility. I honestly would pick the school that fits him the best in terms of size and setting. If he is somewhere he feels happy, the rest will fall into place.
FWIW, D20 is attending a school that doesn’t admit by major but where you have to declare by the end of sophomore year. She has about one semester left before the deadline and has seriously considered 5 or 6 different programs already. She is leaning toward something that draws on components of several of those. The pieces will all fall into place…eventually!
OK that is a good thought. Obviously his list as almost entirely SUNY, which gives us some flexibility to fun an additional semester, or more, if needed. I suspect that might be needed.
Nursing majors do require following a rather full curriculum from the first semester and have highly competitive admission for those not directly admitted, so going in undecided may not work that well for nursing.
So he may have to decide before matriculation whether nursing is a strong interest.
Agreed. We included a few direct admits for that reason. They might be long shots for admission, but if he were to get in, they would be a solid option to have an consider. Nursing is very tough to get into though.
If nursing is a possibility then I would choose a school that has nursing. Is Plattsburgh direct entry? They have an excellent nursing program and it happens to be a nice school.
If he goes to Plattsburgh (or Brockport) and decides not to pursue nursing, he can switch to education (also very strong).
He will not go wrong at any SUNY as an education major. He will need a masters if he remains in NYS to teach. At that point he can get a masters in education or decide on the MSW if he wants SW.
New Paltz and Binghamton are the hardest to get into. If he chooses Bing he will likely not make nursing (based on what you are saying). Bing nursing is very competitive.
I would choose Plattsburgh: direct entry nursing I think, so if he gets in he doesn’t have to worry about secondary admission criteria, and if after 1st or 2nd semester he wants to change to Education they have strong Education programs. If he pivots to SW he’ll need a Master’s, which he can access from a variety of bachelors.
If he hasn’t, see if he can shadow some folks in nursing (might be tough with Covid). At least have him talk with them about schooling and work involved.
If he comes home excited for that, go that direction because it’s “needed” from the beginning. If it doesn’t work, he can switch.
If he comes home deciding it’s not for him, you’ll be able to scratch that one from his list.
Kids at our school have to shadow someone in a field they are thinking about junior year. Many figure out yes or hell no from that day. It’s a very worthwhile endeavor.
If he’s already done this, then head nursing knowing he can change out if desired.
Check into the Education major as well at some of these schools. It may be similar to Nursing in that you are better off starting out with Education than trying to select it after freshmen year.
At the University where I work that is the rule of thumb. Education majors begin classroom observations in freshmen year and have some freshmen level seminar courses that are specific to the major.