<p>I am a CPA, and can say that even in a down economy, I have continued to be contacted by headhunters. I am employeed and have always been since the day I graduated from college. I have also had my choice of jobs and my career is exactly the one I want. I spent many years in public accounting, but am now the controller of a not for profit. I work part time and have made my own schedule…as I have since I had my first D 16 years ago. </p>
<p>There has always been a demand for accountants. I would recommend it as a major over general business. After all, an accountant can also work in a general business capacity, but a business major can not usually work as an accountant, once you get past the basic level.</p>
<p>I believe that good CPA’s will always be in demand. I do not know of any who have had trouble finding or keeping jobs. </p>
<p>I will have to check on what a first year accountant’s starting salary is, but I believe at a public accounting firm it may already be upwards of $50,000 per year. I am so far removed from that right now, I can’t be certain.</p>
<p>In comparing job prospects of busines majors vs PT majors, in addition to the excellent points above re long term earnings potential and reimbursement issues, be sure you are looking at definitive data re job opportunities. For example, there are probably national professional jurnals and websites which can provide such informaiton for accounting and actuary majors. Remember, too, that the economy is slowly mending.</p>
<p>With actuaries in particular, remember to focus not just on the demand, but on the supply–this i not that common a major, so there may not be that many fresh grads looking for jobs.</p>
<p>And this is an excellent topic for discussion with the placement offices of the schools you are considering–it is a great chance to explore their track record, resources and attitude.</p>
<p>My impression is that actuaries who pass the exams have no problem finding employment and can move into management over time. The critical thing is not what you studied but passing the exam. One good thing about the profession. There are no real actuarial emergencies.</p>
<p>But, I don’t see why the job of an actuary can’t can be outsourced to India, where there are several million smart people with advanced degrees in statistics (well several million might be an exaggeration but you get the idea). PT’s work can probably not be outsourced.</p>
<p>The big dynamic of the next few years may be more outsourcing of skilled positions (e.g., radiology in medicine) so you either need to be great/cutting edge creative or do something that can’t be done elsewhere (surgery although …, sales, relationship management, …).</p>
<p>mythmom, you are correct. The most selective schools – Ivies, Amherst/Williams/Swarthmore, and even MIT – choose to hit a 50/50 ratio because they can (though in MIT’s case, the numbers are not as strong on the female side but the institute says and I’m sure that it is true that the women they admit are plenty smart). As you drop down in the food chain, the pool of qualified males has been scooped up and adcoms would have to hurt their numbers to hit 50/50. At a mid-tier LAC, being male is probably a good hook. </p>
<p>Alas, our sons both went to highly selective 50/50 schools and my daughter is the one applying to 60/40+ schools. </p>
<p>My son did apply to Sarah Lawrence. We didn’t visit, but I wonder what that would have been like. My son hasn’t yet responded to girls, even fairly obvious ones. In high school, he concluded that girlfriends were very high maintenance and he didn’t have the energy. There is a great kid from HS who is sweet, smart, pretty ambitious and really nice to him and he seems to think she is one of the guys despite valiant efforts on her part to move in the other direction. She has come to share his interest in fantasy/sci-fi books and was leaning against him and reading a book to him (he still loves to listen to books) and she fell asleep in his bed. My son came out and said, “XXX has fallen asleep in my bed. What should I do?” Oh well. I emailed the Dad and explained that she had fallen asleep in ShawSon’s bed but from what I could tell, it seemed innocent. But, in case she didn’t come home that evening, I thought he should know where she was. He emailed back the next morning and said that it would be perfectly fine with him if it weren’t innocent (ShawWife and I feel the same way). So, maybe even at Sarah Lawrence, he wouldn’t have noticed the 70/30 ratio (with half of the 30 being gay) or whatever it is.</p>
<p>Some schools on my son’s “to be screened” list which have been mentioned previously on this thread (though reaches here, IMO), and are >= 45% male :
Binghamton, Dickinson, Lafayette, George Washington, Franklin & Marshall, Bucknell, Lehigh, Rochester, William & Mary. He crossed Off Union College (NY) for some reason, that would also qualify here.</p>
<p>Bucknell, Lehigh and Lafayeete are all strong engineering schools, which attracts primarily males. F&M, which went coed about 1970, is a good example of how the male schools which went coed became gender balanced much more quickly than the female schools.</p>
<p>Yes, kind of how girls jump to play with “boys’” toys like cars and blocks, but boys won’t play with dolls … or won’t wear pink … Seems like the boys’ loss to me!</p>
<p>I know there are fewer boy applicants all around, but I’m guessing this phenomenon is more due to attitude than numbers.</p>
<p>Just wanted to add this link that recommends some college websites. Some are related to college majors and job prospects - some are more FA oriented. I was not familiar with all of these - so thought others might want to check them out as well.</p>
<p>shawbridge – You’re lucky about shawson. Mythson spent all sophomore year on a young woman. They lived in a teeny-tiny single and spent every minute together. Thank goodness his grades were okay. His social life and EC’s really suffered. And he had an amazing gf in hs, but there were very messy things there, too.</p>
<p>I want to thank everyone for their great responses which really helped us in the college planning process. Now, I feel better about my son applying to an undergrad program and that accounting is still ok for jobs. My son is now thinking of applying to the business and assistant physical therapist programs at our local community college, Towson, and UT Dallas.
If he does not get accepted to Towson or to UT Dallas with merit aid, then he will start at the local community college and then he can apply as a transfer student to Towson, UT Dallas and U. of Maryland Business school.</p>
<p>My son has Asperger’s and I am delighted that he can see my point of view that having a major which will help him be self-supporting is important. I am also trying to help him find majors where I think his personality will shine by eventually working in a quiet, low key social setting. I can see him getting the physical therapy assistant background in order to gain some work experience and possibly use this knowledge to work in health related business.</p>
<p>Has your son ever shadowed a PT or actually been in a PT clinic?</p>
<p>I’ve had extensive PT and have accompanied elderly parents. EVERYONE from the receptionist to the PT assistants to the PT’s to the orthopedic surgeons have had an abundance of people skills. This is a very hands on (no pun intended) touchy/feely branch of the health professions. You need to take a voracious interest in people, you need to be able to ask personal questions and probe if you don’t get direct answers, you need to touch people, and you need to take feedback very well.</p>
<p>The aspy’s I know would be terrible and very unhappy in such a setting. The PT assistants at one of the clinics I used had significant patient interaction; it was a large sports medicine clinic (even though I was post-operative, not sports related) and it was a loud, bustling, place (think hospital ER waiting room but without the blood, but there was definitely moaning and shouting at times.)</p>
<p>Your son needs to spend a week or two shadowing a PT before you decide this is a good plan.</p>
<p>mdcissp - DH and I both have undergraduate business degrees and I still feel this is the best way to go - particularly if your focus is on finding a job after graduation from college - rather than putting yourself in a situation where you have to go directly on to grad school or law school. S1 had always planned to major in political science or history and then go to law school - I did not push - but so glad he decided on his own to major in business as an undergrad - he can then work for a few years - and then go back to school - whether it be law school or a MBA program - I think this provides the most options. S2 still has no clear path - but until he presents me with a viable alternate plan - I’m gently steering him towards a business major.</p>
<p>I wanted to try one more time to get info on the number of Jewish students at Salisbury and try to determine if there was any Jewish life at all on campus, so I e-mailed admissions today and this is the response I received,</p>
<p>“Salisbury University has had a Jewish Student Association over the past 5 years; however, at this time the student organization is not active.”</p>
<p>The writer went on to say that she had no idea how many Jewish students attended Salisbury. So I think this school is officially off the list - which is kind of a shame as it made a nice academic and financial safety school, being in-state for us. Oh well.</p>
<p>hi RM; shame about Salisbury; I had heard that a couple of years ago but wasn’t sure if anything had changed…</p>
<p>on another note, I found a document on Elon’s website that broke down geography/religion (if stated) as of Spring 2010…close to 30% of Elon’s students do not state a religion on their apps; I guess this was what the head of Hillel eluded to when she was asked about Jewish population numbers…makes it difficult to assess</p>
<p>Interestingly, the deans list for Spring was posted on their website…unless I was mistaken, there seemed to be more Jewish sounding names on that list than the total number of kids stated as “jewish”…yes, I know that can be misleading…but interesting none the less…</p>
<p>I am so looking forward to visiting Elon again this fall - it will be interesting in that when we visited with S1 - he was not terribly interested in Hillel - so we did not make that a focal point of the visit. But my recollection is that we were so impressed with everything we saw and heard - so I hope it is as good as I remember. But first, Gettysburg and James Madison in the next few days and I will report back.</p>