Major suggestion for a well rounded student

College Majors
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Hi my daughter is in 9th grade. She is doing well in her grades and getting all As so far and take highest level classes offered by school (a big public school). She loves writing, especially creative writing and always write at her leisure time. She is also interested in science, doing well in math but not particularly liking it. She is doing some cybersecurity contests and been advanced to state level but she is not particularly interested. She is logical and fair, and likes to contribute to community or causes she believes in.

She doesn’t have a particular interest in certain area yet and wants to hear what kind of major she can consider given her strengths. We talked about potentially law school. If she does go to this route, what major and what ECs/courses she can take to prepare for it?

For a kid who doesn’t know what to do, any advice or insight is appreciated!

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She’s in 9th grade. She should major in being a kid.

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She is in 9th grade. There is no need to think about this now. My advice is to enjoy HS!

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She’s in 9th grade. There is absolutely no reason for her to decide on a college major right now. She should be exploring her interests - which it sounds like she is doing. So, in other words, she is doing exactly the right thing for a 9th grader to be doing. Have her try new things and when she finds something she likes she can look for more opportunities to pursue it in depth. For example, if she likes writing, perhaps she could work on the school’s newspaper? Or try some writing contests? Or submit her writing to student publications?

But, at the same, it is well worth her time to join new clubs she might be interested in and take classes in new subjects. She might discover new passions. At this age, just try things! It is way too early to plan her law school applications :wink:

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Agree. There is absolutely no reason to start thinking about college majors yet. Here are some reasons:

– Hopefully the next four years will be a time of growth, learning, and exploration. Leave room for that change.

–HS should be a time to get a strong foundation in all disciplines. Focus shoud be on all of the core courses (English, Math, Science, SS, Foreign Language).

–My son’s wonderful guidance counselor strongly suggested we don’t think about “the C word (college)” until junior year. This was excellent advice.

–Your child should also focus on finding ECs, developing friendships, and enjoying family time.

–FWIW many students apply to college with an undecided major and that is just fine.

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My two cents is think in terms of type of school and not major. There are many undergraduate schools in the US (not so much elsewhere) that encourage a lot of exploration before committing to a major, usually not until the end of your second year. This could be an entire college, or it could be a subdivision of a college (usually called something like Arts and Sciences). This includes many of the most famous colleges in the United States, but also many more.

People end up going from such schools into all sorts of careers–law is one possibility, but also all sorts of different careers in business, finance, health professions, government, education, academia, media, and on and on. You never know what you will like, what you will learn from internships and such, and so on.

As others said, no one in 9th grade needs to be preparing specifically for this. Actually, more the opposite. These sorts of people are often high valued because they have a great range of basic skills, healthy habits, are social and good team players, and so on.

So, a 9th grader just needs to focus on healthy, well-balanced personal development. Academically, you should follow what is normally called a college prep curriculum, which basically means taking all the core subjects through at least three years and possibly all through four. Reasonably challenging yourself in terms of course tracks, depending on interests and abilities, is also a good idea.

But frankly, the vast majority of possible majors in college really have little or no high school equivalent. So, just develop your critical reading, analytic writing, math skills, scientific knowledge, understanding of history and cultures, a language . . . these are the core college prep subjects in the US precisely for this purpose, that a person who does all that will be well-prepared for this sort of US college experience.

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Not only are you years early, but a HUGE amount of kids enter college undecided and many schools don’t even let you choose a major, some for up to two years.

The only time a college should be mentioned is when you are watching a sporting event or driving past one on the interstate and you say - oh, this is where U of Nebraska is.

Even at 55 I’m not sure of my exact future.

Your student has many years of the unknown left. It makes life exciting.

More importantly - who is she hanging out with today ??

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When my youngest was in high school, possibly in 9th grade, she was concerned that she did not know what she wanted to do either. She pointed out that her friends did know what they wanted to do, but she had no idea at all. Like your daughter, she writes well and was good at a lot of different subjects. I pointed out that yes her friends did know what they want to to, but in 6 months they will have changed their mind. Then a year later they will have changed their mind again. We all figure this out over time. We try a bit of this and a bit of that and eventually find what is right for us.

“Interested in science” is a good thing. Writing well is a valuable skill for someone who is interested in science. Being logical and fair is useful for pretty nearly everyone – at least for anyone who is interested in working in a field where other people are involved, or living in a world where other people are involved.

Basically I could have written your post pretty nearly word for word somewhere around about 7 years ago. My daughters figured it out over time. Your daughter will similarly figure it out over time.

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lol, your post made me laugh. That’s exactly why I asked for help here. Her best friends all seem to have an idea what to do and develop theirs ECs and coursework around it.

The reason why we talked about potentially law school is that it seems to align with her core values. Like her friends who are preparing their coursework and ECs for STEM related majors, she wants to know what can she prepare in high school for a pre-law major. I think if she is truly interested in pre-law when time to apply for college, I would also encourage her to look into LACs to give her more options.

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So to be a lawyer in the US you (basically) need to go to law school, and then selective law schools will tend to admit a HUGE variety of majors. That is because there really isn’t anything you specifically need to know before law school.

That said, I think there are certain majors that can help you prepare for law school, even though they are not required. Basically, anything that involves a lot of expository writing is good. If it also involves a lot of reading of dense, arcane, possibly old, possibly non-English texts, that is even better. Because that is basically what law students, and indeed lawyers, tend to do–read a lot of difficult stuff and then write about it.

OK, so if you have high school classes available that involve that stuff too, that is something to consider exploring. But then in college, there are a lot of options that are not typically available in high school, or not much. Like, some majors regarded as good preparation for law school are Philosophy, Classics, actually Linguistics, and so on. Stuff like that you probably won’t do much of in high school, and that is fine.

Many LACs are in fact great choices for those sorts of interests and possibly law school to follow. But I just want to emphasize that is only one possible path. Like, the Arts and Sciences division at most “flagship” publics is also going to be a potentially good choice. There are also many private universities which are very good for that sort of thing, and not just Ivies. Like, many of the Catholic colleges have long been producing a lot of successful future lawyers.

Honestly, a long-term goal of law school (which I hope is very much subject to change) is easily one of the most accommodating available. So many different academic paths can make sense.

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Her friends may change their mind- they are only in 9th grade.

She should engage in ECs she enjoys, rather than trying to align them with a career that may or may not happen. That being said, by all means if she has an opportunity/interest to volunteer with a local politician or community organization, write for the yearbook etc….go for it!!

I would not focus on specific colleges or careers. I would focus on being involved in activities that she likes. The rest will follow.

Once you begin visiting schools (if you visit) she will decide if she likes LACs. Right now it is a bit early and there are many options out there that will lead to law school.

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Law school can be achieved with any major and from any good college so that should not be a concern.

I would assure your D that she is in a great place and will figure things out.

FWIW my D changed majors and career goals while in college and it all worked out – she found a fantastic career that fit her interests, talents, and life goals and is doing great.

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The issue with pre law is - there is still no major. Interested in sociology? great. Journalism? Great. Biology? Great. Math ? Great.

Sure there are skills to conquer but even as lawyers, there’s so many different kinds of lawyers - from ambulance chasers to patent to estate to criminal to so so many.

I thought about law school after working in journalism a year…then sat in on a class at UCONN. Between the class and Communications Law Senior year, that idea was over.

4 years later, out of the blue, business school.

One never knows - and all kids who think they know don’t even know truly what jobs exist, what they do, and more importantly what jobs will exist tomorrow or in ten years when they graduate. Many will be different.

I’m not sure an LAC gives a leg up toward law one way or another - you can gather the same breadth and type of classes at many schools, both large and small, focused and otherwise.

Maybe late in 10th grade or early Junior year - take her to a couple local schools - the large public, the mid size regional, an LAC…and just watch.

Some schools actually have sophomore days - we went to one at Indiana…and you get a feel.

The student really needs to get a feel size, weather, whatever - what’s right for them…b4 building lists. Unfortunately all large aren’t equal and all small aren’t. My daughter loved W&L but felt Dennison way too big as an example. Loved U of SC and liked UGA but ultimately felt UGA was too big even though these schools are like.

But she’ll start developing ideas of what fits her, etc…but it’s too early to know now.

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This is the one type of experience I wish more high school students had, versus activities they think will look impressive. Simply spending a little time seeing what the actual day of a student or working professional looks like.

Ideally they would do that for things they think they might like (and I suspect in many cases they would learn better), but also some more or less random things they have no reason to expect they would like (and I suspect in those cases, they would be pleasantly surprised some times).

None of it would be about actually committing, I just think for obvious reasons kids don’t really have much understanding about what these things actually look like in practice, and the stuff that sounds fun to them is often not so fun, but also vice-versa.

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Free advice. Your daughter is what…14 years old or so. She has almost 3 years before she will even be applying to college. Her interests could easily evolve and change.

In my opinion, she needs to continue to pursue things that are of interest to her, and do well in her academics. Once she gets to college, and even still in high school, she will be exposed to lots of different things that could pique her interest.

Many, if not most, college students apply undeclared, or choose a major and then switch sometimes multiple times.

There are careers that will be in existence when your daughter graduates from college that aren’t even happening now.

So…enjoy the ECs she does, get great grades, have time for a social life, perhaps get a job in the summers, and be open minded about her future.

And for law school…she can major in anything she wants to major in…she will need to do well on the LSAT when the time comes. She will want top grades in college, and some strong relationships with some college professors for LORs.

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Which really limits their ability to be open minded and consider new things.

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OP-

Neither of my kids had HS ECs that were related to their majors or careers.

Once they were in college…that is when their ECs were more in line with their majors and paths. And…paths can and often do change.

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Heck, both mine walked dogs at the shelter - which made for great family time - all four of us did. And when they help one get adopted - what great joy.

Neither will work with animals professionally or really be involved with anything they did - theater, band, etc. but they did them because they loved them.

And my daughter is always singing and my son grew a love guitar which he plays right b4 bed just for chill time and he learned that after being in band (where he played sax).

Life is long - and nothing is defined now…or even later…even for kids that think it is.

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Our kid was deep into digital film production from 5th grade forward, and took first place two years in a row in our state flagship university’s digital media competition—when he was in 7th and 8th grade. He started a film society in HS and ran that as one of his ECs through graduation intending to apply to film schools for college. He always said he wanted to be a cinematographer. Instead, he went to a service academy, earned a degree in EE, and is now serving as a Cyber officer. I guess he changed his mind.

9th grade is way too early to worry about specifics. Encourage your daughter to pursue her interests, do her absolute best and, as it gets closer, college will take care of itself.

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This is worded very well!!

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