First two college visits are Ole Miss and Howard. Quite a difference. My boss is a Howard grad, so he was excited to hear my son was interested.
Pitt sends out a pretty cool âadmittedâ videoâŠ
Ahmed Mohammed will end up in Harvard since he is interested in MIT. 
Are any of you concerned about whether your DC16s will be able to make a decent living financially, based on his/her current educational and career goals? We are, with our DD wanting to be a LCSW school social worker. Big topic of conversation in the house this week. How not to become an educated, but destitute, person?
I think I mentioned this already, mstomper, but D toured Howard last spring and loved it enough that itâs now #2 or 3 on her list. They offer very good merit aid, but it is NOT guaranteed. One of Dâs former schoolmates is a sophomore there and loves it. He was one of the lucky recipients of a full ride.
D wonât be old enough to vote in the presidential election, but follows politics very closely. Her dad works in local government and he and I are both former reporters. Sheâs only met local politicians though.
@dyiu13 Availability of social work jobs in our area is decentâŠwith most preferring an MSW but not all. Many of those are in the public sector (ie: APS, CPS, school counselor, etc.) but those type of jobs have at least modest or above salaries, security, benefits, etc. I think there are many other professions that are more likely to lead to âdestituteâ status post graduation!
@dyiu13 I wouldnât worry about he choices now. They might change over time. I actually graduated with my degree in psychology and human services and ended up a social worker at a domestic violence shelter, straight out of college. That lasted three years and then I totally changed jobs and ended up with two masters degrees in totally different areas. People typically change careers several times. College students often end up changing majors in college. That is why American colleges require a broad base of classes, to make sure students really understand what they want to learn. I would let her choose what she is interested in and see where it leads. She might end up something totally different after 4 years!
Well, D wants to be a teacher, and lots of people tell us that she could make more money doing other things. And itâs true that depending on where she ends up living, money could be tight. But itâs her mission in life and she knows that she wonât be living high on the hog, but then, we donât either.
Social work doesnât lead to âdestitutionâ. My exâs wife, my older kidsâ stepmom, is a social worker and was making a good living before she met my ex. She worked independently rather than in the public sector and actually lived in the âgood partâ of town.
Destitute is scrambling for the basics of food, clothing and shelter, not gainfully employed. It may not be engineering or ibanking, but I donât think social workers-or teachers-end up destitute.
@ballerina2016 congrats to your D and @4kids2graduate congrats on your Sâs acceptances! @nydad513 I enjoyed reading your Dâs piece.
@bajamm that will certainly be an entertaining experience for sure.
Itâs hard to know what people, or what majors, will end up making what kind of salaries. In my own family of four siblings, we have two teachers and two lawyers. And four widely different standards of living, based on specialties, public vs. private sector, spousal employment, city of residence, number of children, etc., even before getting into luck, skill, and financial choices. (And yes I think my sister-the-public-defender is a bit crazy in her zeal but we need people like her!)
ETA: There are also certain employment benefits/costs that make a big difference, too. Iâm thinking of things like travel, or like how since Iâm a teacher, my own kids can attend school in my district of employment (much better than our zoned district, and much cheaper, though we pay nominal tuition, than comparable private schools).
Itâs so hard to tell with career paths! Mr Petrichor and I both have degrees which should have led to Very Safe Eternal Middle-Classness-- and yet both of us got our (figurative) derrieres kicked by this last economic shift. Meanwhile our kids are told âbe a chemical engineer and youâll always have a well-paying jobâ-- yet the admissions people Iâve spoken with are saying âplease donât send us any more chem eng majors, because weâre up to our elbows in them!â So who knows, really?
@sseamom, I saw that Howardâs scholarships are basically given first come, first served. I canât think of any other schools that do it that way. His other choices have rolling admissions, so he should be early enough to make a decision before winter break.
I can weigh in on job opportunities in healthcare in the " therapy world" I canât tell you how often I hear from students that they choose to become an PT,OT or SLP because" they never have to worry about having a job" Many of these students are told this by well meaning GCs and family members. This is not necessarily accurate. Therapy degrees are requiring more advanced degrees with many PT degrees going to doctorate level. Programs have become extremely competive , with some programs being more competive than med school. These
students rack up large amounts of debt and find out after graduation that jobs are not as plentiful as they believed. They may be able to find a job, but often have to relocate to find a job , especially if the area they attend school has multiple therapy schools graduating in the same area. What I often encourage students to do is look at what about therapy interests you ? Usually the answer is " I want to help people" There are many health related careers with rising opportunities. I love my job and have been doing it for a very long time, but if I were looking at starting college right now , Iâd be looking at jobs like physicians assistant, biomedical engineering and orthotist / prosthetists.
Ha! Yes, DH and I both have masterâs and unfortunately DH is in a field thatâs dying and where careers are now being demonitized. Not sure if heâll be employed after next month. Just in time for FAFSA base year to wrap up. Me, Iâve done one huge career shift just before marriage and baby (good timing as my first field imploded) and Iâm hanging on with no rasises in a world where all the expenses are going up (local taxes, transportation, etc.). Never expected being middle-class was going to be such a challenge, as we thought we did everything ârightâ for the American Dream. Now, Iâm wondering if the DC will manage it.
And, may I note that colleges arenât doing a good job of leveling with prospective students about the labor market forecast for each major?
@dyiu13, that was the case back when I was in grad school. In my field (libraries) there was supposed to be a huge spike in demand as older librarians retired. The same was supposedly true in academia. Neither forecast ended up being accurate, although the outlook for librarians has been a bit better.
Not sure which schools you are dealing with! 
Chemical engineering is one of the hardest majors anyone can pursue and I canât imagine a whole bunch of people applying but then I can see whole bunch of people dropping out of it. You have to be extremely good in Math and sciences in order to graduate.
Labor market forecast is often topic of conversation in our household. It is almost impossible to predict what will be in demand twenty years from now, but well educated people always be in demand.
I also remain convinced that hard working smart people will always be in demand, no matter what they studied in college. My current field has nothing to do with my undergraduate major (political science). No, my family canât afford to live the high life in San Francisco, but we can have a pretty darn nice life in rural Wisconsin. I take care of lots of people who are somehow making it with no college and working a the local minimart or gas stationâwe have it great compared with them.
I actually feel that there is way too much emphasis on what major will make money for these kids. I wish college could be more focused on learning and less on âwhat comes nextâ.
Iâm not so sure about demand. So many jobs are being demonitized to the point of $40K
is doing well. Still, being liberally educated helps you be a good citizen and understand life, and thatâs something!
@Booajo I agree emphasis should be placed on learning , but many careers require specIalized training and certification to practice so thatâs what the emphasis needs to be on.