Junior high school having trouble thinking of a course

DS is a high school junior. He’s been asking what he should take for college, He’s into computer and math, from what I see. But he doesn’t really know what course in particular he’d like to engage in. He also showed interest in studying abroad.

What courses would be beneficial for his interest and future?

Are you asking what he might consider majoring in college? If so, he could major in computer science, math, computer engineering, other fields of engineering, or hard science. There are many things he can major in with those specific interests.

He doesn’t necessarily have to decide until end of sophomore year at many colleges, though the majors mentioned above have sequences of classes that start freshman year.

A lot can still change in terms of his interests. He is only a junior.

He can apply to schools that cover any of his options and then decide later :slight_smile:

@Parently73, you didn’t go to college in the United States, did you? I can tell from the way you used the word “course.” American students would never use that word the way you did – to refer to an entire program of study.

Where were you educated? If you let us know, perhaps people who are familiar with the educational system of that country could explain some of the similarities and differences between their higher education system and the one in the United States. Information like that could be helpful for when you’re talking about college with your son.

There is an exception – MIT has unusual (for the US) meanings of “course” and “subject”, so that “course” refers to what others would conventionally call a major or subject, while “subject” refers to what others would conventionally call a course. Example:

https://math.mit.edu/academics/undergrad/major/course18/theoretical.php

Wow, @ucbalumnus, that really is different!

But I don’t think the OP went to MIT. I suspect that an MIT graduate would be able to advise a high school student interested in math and computer science on possible majors and career paths without our help.

UCB, even my friends at MIT refer to their program as a “major.”

He does need to make a tentative decision if he is interested in engineering (not just hardware, some computer science programs are in engineering schools). Many of these programs have separate admissions from the rest of the University. However, if he goes to a regular university rather than a narrowly focused tech school, he can probably transfer out of engineering if he changes his mind. It may or may not be easy to transfer into engineering if he doesn’t start with that, so if he is unsure when application time comes, it might be best to try the engineering.

Studying abroad can be done in English or the language he studies in college, so that’s not really an issue, though any good college will want him to have some high school language, at least 2 years, preferably 4.

Offhand I’d say the highest level of math he can take, plus any computer science courses that might be available to him.

I’m pretty sure, based on a quick review of OP’s previous posts, that he or she is a kid who is having some fun trying to pretend he or she is a parent. I especially like the “Parently” moniker. :wink:

If so, not a particularly volatile or controversial topic.

No, I think it’s a fairly young kid so just pretending to be someone older can be fun - controversy is a whole other ball of wax…

“He” should take a look at Math, Computer Science and Engineering.