Choice of Major Does Impact Jobs

No idea :slight_smile: I do know my son’s job requires a specific skill set, and that one of his profs texted a screenshot of his final exam in a very specific course to a connection at the bank, which implies specificity. He would never have gotten the job focusing only real estate; finance maybe, but unlikely as he’s in the bank’s real estate division.

This thread has got me thinking – how did we convey our views about post graduation employment, and about majors? Our second son is very different from the first and doesn’t have a clear direction. We spent at least 10 hours together this summer (between his freshman and sophomore year in college) doing the exercises in “What Color Is Your Parachute?”. It was really useful and has got my son thinking of a few directions he can go. If I had to take a guess, I would say he might major in psychology, a very general major! But with that, one could attend medical school, become a sports psychologist, or teach at a prep school, which right now are the top 3 contenders for a career. In this example, a psychology major with no clue about what you would do with it is a bad idea. But with a general plan (that could be completely changed!) I think it’s a good major. It’s not so much the major as the plan.

Even though we are not poor, my kids don’t have the option/luxury of figuring it out later. (Understanding that sometimes there are good reasons for that etc)

What is my point? I guess this: that I would focus on post graduation career – in a gentle way – even before starting college, and certainly in the first year or two of college, vs focusing only on one kind of major.