It is much easier than last year for sure. So many fewer unknowns. We know what she needs, and most of it she already has. I can tell my daughter is ready to go back already, she misses her friends and particularly her boyfriend. She has managed to stay busy with a number of projects, but loves school so much. Her boyfriend is flying up to our place in August for several days. It will be fun for her to have him here and she has many activities planned. It will be great for us to meet him in person, though thanks to Skype we have met.
We have to drop her off a couple days before the returning student move in day in order to fly back to Asia and report to our jobs on time, so the move in is apt to be quiet compared to the chaos of everyone moving in at once. Though there won’t be lots of people lugging stuff for us.
DS is working at a summer camp away from home, and I’m missing him! I stalk the camp’s site looking for photos of him sometimes. Creepy, I know.
He has a job as a TA for a class and will be moving into a dorm nearer his classes, but with an unknown roommate. (Curse you, housing lottery!) We’ll get a couple of weeks with him before he goes back so that will be good, but we’ll be in competition with his high school friends trying to get caught up too. He also has to take his brother’s senior pictures before he leaves—can’t forget about that!
D’s not home for most of this summer so it’s not that far off the new normal for us.
BUT HEY - a timely topic maybe - MAJOR CHOICE.
I’ll start
D’s narrowed it down to roughly 3: neuroscience, biology or statistics, or possibly a combo of bio and stats (with an eye to grad school in epidemiology). She originally “declared” (as in on the common app) Chemistry/pre-med and while she has survived (even enjoyed!) the Chem courses and will continue into Orgo (mainly because the teacher is supposed to be awesome and she would need it for neuro anyway), they are not her favorite. She did the pre-med requirements to keep the option open (and she had to take most of those classes for those majors anyway) but is thinking about not bothering with them after next semester because she’s fairly certain she’s not interested in being a doctor. That could change again, I’m sure, but they do get in the way a little bit.
She won’t declare until next year sometime so she has some time…but the pressure is on. She wants to be on a fairly straight path by the end of next semester so she can make semester abroad plans for junior year and still complete what she needs to complete.
So how are your kids doing with that? Did they choose a major before enrolling in a certain school or program or are they weighing major options now? How is that going for everyone?
My daughter went in as a biomedical engineering major, and she is more convinced than ever that it is what she wants to do. She has grad school aspirations, now more than ever. It has been great to talk about all of this stuff now that she has a successful year of school under her belt. It will be fun to watch where this goes.
DS still wants to do mechanical engineering with an aerospace focus, but he won’t declare a major until next year. He says that he’ll make a final decision about the aerospace once he’s taken fluid dynamics .
My D knew she wanted to be a pharmacist. She picked her school with that in mind. She is going into her second prepharmacy year. Also organic chem, psychology, statistics, plus a few other classes of electives.
She has to take the PCAT this summer and apply to pharmacy school in the fall.
Another internet photo stalker here @mdcmom. DS’s drum corps has a parent and volunteers page that I’m always looking on for pictures. I’m so grateful to those on the scene who post lots of pictures.
DS is also a mechanical engineering major who seems to be in it to stay. Most of our conversations last year were about his participation in designing and building the race car for the ME competition team. He’s excited that he will get to start core engineering classes this fall.
DS went in knowing he wanted to double major in economics and something else, maybe government or pych. He hasn’t declared, but has decided on economics and pych and wants to go to grad school for behavioral economics.
Before each semester, we have the same argument, if he wants to go to grad school he has to take more math. Each semester he has an excuse and with only 4 classes each semester and several classes not offered every semester they are not bad excuses so we shall see.
He is working this summer as an inclusion companion for Parks and Rec. However, he is spending most of the summer working one on one at a camp with kids who can not be included because of the intensity of their needs. I love that he comes home with a giant smile every day and a story of how he connected with his kid.
D2 is still 100% convinced that Psych is the path for her. She understands that she’ll be needing at least a Master’s and probably a Doctorate but she hasn’t wavered for at least 4-5 years now. S initially had enrolled in Business but didn’t really have any particular interest in mind. He has now switched to Criminal Justice but hasn’t decided for sure which way he wants to go career-wise.
We will be heading down to Lexington in mid-August to move D2 into her apartment that she’s planning to be in for the next 3 years. Hopefully that’ll make end of year pickups a little less stressful since she can leave a fair amount of her stuff in the apartment.
Is a certain amount of math a grad school requirement for behavioral economics?
I have encouraged D to take more math (statistics was my idea for her to try - she hated AP Stats in HS but that was more about the teacher, I think…it’s critical for what she wants to do so she is trying it again this fall).
@OHMomof2 I’m not sure, its just everything I read says the more math the better. He is good at math, but has no confidence in himself. He is thinking of trying to study abroad junior yr at LSE and I don’t think he will be able to because he will have limited math. He has credit for Calc AB and AP stats (5 on both). He has agreed to talk to the study abroad office early in the fall, but can’t take any math classes til the spring.
S just finished a 5-week summer school stint at a nearby community college – knocked out his second (and last) calculus class along with state government. His first calculus class in the spring was a spirit-breaker…why his major (Visualization – art, computer graphics/animation, etc.) has to take the weed-out engineering calculus classes when there are plenty of other calculus options seems to be a department mystery. Anyway, he did very well in the summer class, so he finished math on a high note. Next weekend he leaves to staff NYLT (boy scout leadership course) and skips out a couple days early in order to go to Philmont for two weeks to staff NAYLE (national advanced leadership course). I think he has about 10 days after that before he moves into his apartment. The summer is flying.
S claims he’s not going to come home as often this year – it was at least once a month last year for various reasons (mostly having a HS senior gf who lived here and really wanted to see him as much as possible). I doubt we’ll see him until Thanksgiving this time, and, since the apartment is a 12-month lease, he’s planning to stay at school next summer to do a way-cool special intensive class that’s not offered during the long semesters.
Meanwhile, my D is going to be a HS freshman this year, so I’m trying to get my head around that one, too. I just had her.
Good topic @OHMomof2 ! DS went in thinking he will do liberal arts with always an understanding that he will end up in business. He just had a different path in mind to get there. During the course of year, he fully immersed himself in business related stuff , talked to bunch of folks in his intended field and study and realized that as much as he likes math (and he is good at it) , he would much rather be up late doing stock pitches than math problems. So, he applied for internal transfer and got in. So, his major decision is complete. Am I happy with it? I am happy for him but part of geeky me is a bit disappointed. Do I think he made right choice? Yes. I always knew business is what he likes to do - it just took him longer to find that out! We will see what unfolds next! We shall keep mum that I helped shortlist those colleges that had a good business program too ! But I can tell you guys, right?
My S isn’t a super motivated, self-directed scholar type (understatement) so he went in undecided. Now at the school he’s transferring to, he’ll be in a general degree program that gives him lots of flexibility. The main goal is to get a degree and get a job…he’s got plenty of hustle, charm, and he loves money, so I have faith in his ability to develop a career that suits him.
@deborahb - up to you. If you care about the perception of the school on CC and think the poster is threatening it, then speak up. If you don’t, someone else might, so you can bookmark it and wait
@deborahb I think it’s good to correct erroneous information. If you just do it softly, like ‘I believe xxx university does have an honors college’, and provide a link, that’s probably ok.
My D originally applied as a math major, but before starting last fall, decided on computer science with a math minor. As she has some time to investigate other options, look at course descriptions and talk to older students, she switched to Industrial Engineering (which is quite mathy) with a minor in computer science. I think this suits her. She is hoping to straighten out the airline industry. I guess we have had a lot of flight delays which have made an impression on her. Lol.
She has spent most of her summer lifeguarding and giving swim lessons, and collecting things for her new apartment. She is partially moved in, though we will probably have to make one more trip before the final move at the end of August. The plan is for this to be her home away from home for the next three years. She will go back a few days before the start of classes to help the freshman move in. Summer is flying by, which makes me a little sad. She is looking forward to returning to school - I am happy about that. Better than the alternative!
@deborahb, I think you are doing some nice community service if you politely correct the erroneous information. There may well be students and parents out there reading the posts and it’s to everyone’s advantage if they are given accurate information by someone (or a parent of someone) who is currently enrolled at the school. I know I’d be tremendously grateful if someone did that for me when I was helping D in her search.
! But I can tell you guys, right?