<p>I wasn’t planning to post in this thread, but I just keep thinking about it!</p>
<p>One word in the thread title stands out to me: PRESSURE (pressuring, actually)</p>
<p>I imagine that this girl, from a family of very high-achievers, living in a very academically-competitive area, feels a tremendous amount of pressure. I can’t help thinking that watching movies from another era would be a wonderful escape.</p>
<p>I think she needs lots of unconditional love and, if it is in any way possible, a chance to learn about herself in a much lower-pressure environment. It would be nice if she could go away, visit friends or family in a different part of the country, or attend some sort of camp or something. I wish her all the best.</p>
<p>It sounds to me though that she is just like everybody else, special in her way and the same as others her age. Everybody needs a lot of love and support. However there are responsibilities that come with financial dependency and nothing could be done about it - as I mentioned this is a part where she is just like all her peers who have their parents to deal with. And yes, some of them have more resources than others and few have unlimited amount. We cannot advise without knowing complete set of circumstances, including family values.</p>
All the studies done so far say that employers prefer entry-level employees who are not vocationally prepared (except for the obvious accounting, engineering, etc. types of careers). Why? Because the vocationally prepared, like business majors, come in thinking they know it all. Employers would rather teach people their own business and they way they run their business, and not have the recent grad try to change things because “that’s what I learned in college.” Today, employers are looking for people who can read, write, express themselves coherently and persuasively, learn new things quickly and are adaptable.</p>
<p>All the studies done so far say that employers prefer entry-level employees who are not vocationally prepared (except for the obvious accounting, engineering, etc. types of careers). - Very untrue in many areas. And will be more untrue with lots of foreign proffessionals going back to their countries. Nope, nobody would hire the one who can read and write into my department, nor to my H’s place of employment. These is way too unrealistic expectations for kids, very prone to failure.</p>
<p>I think that really varies very much by field, by firm and by type of entry level position.
And by the quality of the general education. Its simply too difficult to generalize.</p>
<p>I dont think someone majoring in liberal arts, esp if its a good school and/or they have an energetic personality, is unemployable in generalist jobs, but by the same token I think lots of employers will look just as kindly if not more so on a business (or related fields) major</p>
<p>compmom, I agree with you completely but I find more and more that I am in the minority. When I went to college, the most important thing I learned was how to learn for the rest of my life. Now, it seems that children are forced to chose a “career path” in middle school. I kid you not, they are giving my 11 year old career aptitude tests. This is insane!</p>
<p>I agree with SmithieandProud: Instead of encouraging her to major in something that is more practical on-the-face, you should ask your sister if any Film Studies related career might be of interest (critic, academic, archivist, etc). </p>
<p>It might be that film is just some hobby that she doesn’t want to pursue professionally, but it also might be that she hasn’t really considered all of the options because your parents are so dismissive of the whole idea (and because she might not even know about careers like film archivist).</p>
<p>One need to study job market before spending tens of thousands $$ on college. When my D. said that she wanted to be a marine biologist (she is a swimmer who had tons of snorkeling trips), it was clear where she is coming from. Quick check revealed that there are few jobs in a field, but there are very few and the chance of getting one is very low. I also told her that I have been unemployed 8 times and although I loved to go to new place and learn new stuff, being unemployed is very depressing and the whole instability is not for everybody and if she wants to have more stable situation and loves biology, then medicine seems to be a natural choice. So, she decided that pre-med would be the closest thing for her. Well, if our family had unlimited resources and were sending child to college for getting education, yes, whatever she wants to study is fine. Since it is not the case, then a little more research seems to be prudent thing to do before spending all $$ and 4 years of one’s life. I imagine that original idea of college was for expanding kids horizons of well to do families. With few exceptions, I cannot see how it is still the same.</p>
<p>Mass. College of Liberal Arts has an Arts Management Program. I think it focuses more on the business side of the creative arts. But may link the idea of combining a solid business background with an interest in film and the other arts.
I was in a similar situation with my own kid. She didn’t have any burning desire for college- but realized that was what she was going to do. She was a sport management which focused on the business of sport. She took accounting, finance, lots of business courses and of course SM courses. So she is as well prepared for this job market as most 2010 grads. Probably better than most as she bartends too.
(I can’t tell you how many college grads I know who work as waiters and bartenders. And they are the lucky ones.)
but in this job market-- if you can combine a field that you enjoy, and have taken practical business courses–, you are ahead of the game.
there are probably many schools that have an Arts Management course of study. I just wanted to throw the idea out.</p>
<p>Our extended family has a relative who was a film studies major. He made a career in the retail book business, rising to become the manager of local outlets of a nationwide bookstore. College education was instrumental in moving up in management. A degree in film was not a hindrance.</p>
<p>There are millions of employed Americans who earn a good living who did not major in engineering or computer science or were premed. They majored in English, film studies, history, marine biology, art history, political science, etc., etc. There is more than one path to a lucrative career.</p>