<p>By my son’s junior year of HS, he knew exactly where he wanted to go to college. His dream school worked out and now he’ll be headed back for his third year of college in late September. I’ve realized over the summer that he really doesn’t know what he wants to do after college. He’s majoring in math and thinking about adding a second major in computer science. School for the past two years has been h<em>ll for him. I’ve asked a few times if he wants to stay where he is and he says yes, he wants to get through h</em>ll. (it is so surprising he wants add a second major when all he talks about is how hard school is, but I think he doesn’t want to let go of his life long dream of being a math major). But he seems to have no idea what he’ll do after he gets his B.S. </p>
<p>When do students start making decisions about what to do after college?</p>
<p>D1 just returned for her jr. year. She is a business major with concentration in Marketing/Sports management. She is very focused on finding a job with a professional or college sports program. She’s wanted to do this way before she entered her college program. Her plan is to work at least one to two years and then enter grad school part time while continuing to work. Most of her older friends who graduated last spring knew what they wanted but had to accept jobs that weren’t on their radar due to economic situations. Flexibility is a good thing!</p>
<p>I suggest that you ask your son to go to the Career Placement center on campus, talk to a career counselor, and find out about various options with his math major.</p>
<p>This is definitely a “your mileage may vary” question!</p>
<p>S1 knew he wanted to become an economist by 10th grade. Stuck with it all through college. Now 3 years post grad, he is an economist … and just entered evening grad school for public policy. Decided he loves economics, but has slightly different goals for the rest of his life. So, even though he “knew” what he wanted to do way back in 10th grade, fortunately no one made him sign it in blood.</p>
<p>S2 is in grad school also, still pursuing his 7th grade goal of becoming a professional musician. So far, no wavering.</p>
<p>D is a college sophomore without a clue … no different from when she was in 10th grade.</p>
<p>The guideline for parents is to stay flexible.</p>
<p>yes, binx, this is a “your mileage may vary” question! Oh goodness, I wish DS had a clue(beyond getting his BS in math) - or even seemed interested in looking for a clue…I feeling like he’s got his head in the sand and doesn’t want to think about that real world that’s looming just a couple of years out. He’s hoping for an internship in Japan next summer. I’m hoping he gets it and it helps him figure out the real world…I was just thinking, wasn’t someone’s kid on CC thinking of going the professional gambler route? DS did discover he’s quite good at blackjack and has made a few hundred dollars at a casino (the only casino I know of that lets 18+ year olds gamble) maybe he should just try gambling…or maybe its time for mom to head over to SA and get a drink and stop worrying about what DS is going to do with his life.</p>
<p>oakland mom, I’ll meet you for that drink. DS is getting an undergrad in criminal justice. One of his sociology profs is trying to convince him to enter a MA/PHD program in sociology. He keeps tell me you get a $14K per year stipend!<br>
Of course, the program is in CA where you can’t live in a cardboard box by the side of the road for $14K.<br>
Drinks all around!</p>
If he’s interested in CS this might not be a bad idea since jobs in the field are plentiful and starting salaries pretty high. A lot of math majors end up in the field anyway. Maybe he’d be interested in some of the more math intensive areas of CS.</p>
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A colleague of mine did this. He was one of those strange programmers who bit his nails down to nubs and apparently rarely took showers but he was very bright. He quit and became a full time blackjack player counting cards. I met up with him a couple of years later and by then he had just quit being a pro gambler. He said he made money at it, enough for a living, but it was very stressful and took a lot of work. The stress includes sticking with the plan even when luck is against you regardless of odds and you’re ‘down’ by quite a bit of money. He also got made at some casinos and was no longer welcome in them. He also had to put a lot of hours in it and maintain concentration the whole time as the casinos are trying to distract the players with alcohol and pretty women.</p>
<p>My oldest has wanted to work with computers since he was in elementary school - but he doesn’t really know exactly what he wants to do with them. Not the sort of programming he’s done in the summer at any rate! Easy to find work. I think most people stumble into their life’s work.</p>
<p>I think junior year is when a lot of students start thinking about what they’re going to do after college. I know that as of the beginning of junior year, my son, who was a computer science major, didn’t know whether he wanted to get a job immediately after graduating (or in what area within computer science he would like to work) or whether he wanted to go to graduate school. I think he spent a good deal of time during that year “processing,” and the opportunity he had to start some undergraduate research helped. By the end of junior year, he knew that he wanted to go to graduate school – which is where he is now.</p>
<p>Another question thats just come up - is it common for students to receive letters from graduate school departments asking them to apply? DS has received a couple this summer from math departments. They start out with “congrats on your Putnam score” and then list reasons why he should consider applying to their masters/PhD program. DS sees them as junk mail.</p>
<p>Yay for casino smoking bans. My aspiring to be pro S only plays in no-smoking rooms. AC is no-smoking overall, but made some exceptions for gambling rooms–S won’t play in those that don’t optionally ban it.</p>
<p>S has not received any recruiting letter, so it’s not common. But then, he has not participated in the Putnam. Congrats to your son! I would not consider these junkmail. The Putnam is not like PSAT and NMF. It’s far more prestigious, and departments do track it.</p>
<p>S loved his internship; on his last day, his group took him out to lunch, gave him advice about grad school and encouraged him to come back and work for the company. It was a great introduction to the world of work.</p>
<p>I think my son is preparing to take the GRE within a few days. He will be going on to Grad school somewhere in the U.S. He is a senior and is in charge of what he is going to do. i just enjoy hearing about it. What an exciting time of his life. He is so academic and seems to love learning and has many side jobs. This is one of those years where the earth will move.</p>
<p>D1 has been interested in hearing science since she was 5 and rode a special ed bus to kindergarten with deaf kids and their interpreter/aide. (D1 was in a G/T program that was considered special ed, so they shared a ‘baby bus’). Her elementary school was a G/T magnet as well as a handicapped/deaf ed center, so that furthered the interest. She is now in grad school to become an audiologist.</p>
<p>D2 is a junior who just emailed us that she officially declared a math major. She has no earthly idea what she will do with it. She has switched from 2 different engrg majors already and spent the summer at a physics REU. She also spent a summer doing stem cell research. All this has added a 5th year to get to graduation even tho her univ. says she has enough credits to have senior status, she isn’t close to an actual diploma. Nevertheless, something vaguely resembling a “plan” is percolating in her brain, and her physics research this summer involved soil mechanics, so the engrg and the math are coalescing into some form or another, and she tells me not to worry about it.</p>
<p>fwiw - my cousin’s D is a math major junior, minoring in criminal justice, and she is being courted by both the CIA and the FBI. Her plan is to work for one or the other after graduation, no grad school. Just throwing that out there as some of the math options available. My D would rather jump off the roof than work for either one of those two.</p>
<p>S is a senior this year and still plans to go to law school and go into public service law. He’s already taken the LSAT and scored very, very well. His grades are… eh. Could be higher. His immediate plans are to stick around campus after graduation and work as a waiter, teach LSAT prep and help run the campus radio station (as a volunteer) for a year. If he were to somehow get a paid job as a sports commentator in radio, I’m sure he would forgo law school. </p>
<p>I’m picturing him living on mac and cheese next year. Sigh.</p>