<p>I stand by my opinion that working 25 hours a week is too many hours. Maybe it works for SOME students. BUT in this case it is being handed out as a punishment to “build character” in hopes the daughter will pursue a STEM major. I haven’t heard a peep about the student needing to do this to work her way through school.</p>
<p>Even so…I think going to college full time AND working full time (as one poster did) is something that is very difficult to do.</p>
<p>I agree that it is punishment if it is being required, as I stated, but I worked nearly full-time by choice. I’m not saying it would work for everyone, but most college students I know work 20-25 hours a week just for saving/spending money, they’re not necessarily even paying for their schooling. I don’t think it’s good either for a student to not work at all while in college, depending on their major and their requirements. I think the D should work if she wants to, and determine for herself how many hours are reasonable. </p>
<p>It all comes down to time management, and many students lack this skill. It is important to strike a balance and not have all free time outside of study be social time. Some professors are lenient with deadlines and even sometimes negotiate requirements, but this is often not true in the workforce. I don’t think it’s good if a student’s first real job outside of 5 hours a week in work-study is when they are 22 years old.</p>
<p>I have thought about it and decided that yes maybe working so much her FIRST semester probably would not be good for her grade - so what if we started her working the second semester of her freshman year. Again - I do not view this as “punishment,” - in the old days kids actually worked through college and supported themselve and got by just fine. </p>
<p>
Twice the time (from twice the course load) = twice the money. Though i realize that estimation is a bit off, I suppose it’s more like 2 extra years. I don’t have experience with double majors because neither H nor I had the opportunity and I assume S doesn’t really either since engineering is such a big major by hours. In any case daughter will have less credit going in and so it will take her all four years at LEAST to graduate - we’d prefer she didn’t play around… i know I will get flakk for saying that, but a few other posters have echoed what I am saying, that is “a jungle out there” with this economy. </p>
<p>But honestly this thread has softened us and so now we are just trying to find a workable solution that allows her to have a profitable major but also pursue the other things, maybe as a minor or certificate program, etc.</p>
<p>Most people who double major fit the requirements for both majors into the credit count for a single degree. In a few cases, a double major will require 5 years, rather than 4, but there is no reason that it should require 8. Even 6 would be very rare.</p>
<p>Engineering is a difficult field for double majors, but a double major in Women’s Studies and Mathematics should be possible in 4 years. I would imagine that Women’s Studies and some area of business, or Women’s Studies and Psychology could be completed in 4 years.</p>
<p>“parents are so gullible, ■■■■■ be trollin”</p>
<p>It looks like these tags at the bottom are added by the thread originator- is that true?</p>
<p>wondering, tags can be added by other posters…I just clicked “edit tags” and it says I can add 2 tags which will be visible to all users.</p>
<p>Double majoring is very rarely “twice the course load.” Depending on the major requirements, and if she planned well, she could fit it all in without taking any extra courses in a semester, and without doing any extra semesters. And if she did do one extra course per semester, or did an extra semester or year, that still isn’t “twice” of anything.</p>
<p>It is also very highly unlikely that she’ll get twice the money with a double major. She might have a good set of skills that will increase her pay, but no where near that substantially. </p>
<p>That’s fine if you require her to work, but keep in mind that every student has different skills. She may require more study time to do well than her peers. College is not the same as high school. And if that is the case, working too many hours will hurt her grades and alas, your plan will perish. However, if she can do well with minimal effort, I don’t see it being a problem.</p>
<p>The problem isn’t that you want her to work. The problem is whether you are requiring this very same thing from your son. Parents usually do tend to “favor” one child over another even if they don’t realize it - studies show that children are often able to agree on who the favorite was in the family even if the parents deny it to the very end. This can have detrimental effects on your relationship with you daughter in the long run.</p>
<p>Okay, thank you, sk8rmom. I didn’t know how those worked.</p>
<p>just a thought - could OP be an East/Southeast Asian/Indian immigrant unconsciously exhibiting the “son preference” well-documented in parents from that part of the world?</p>
<p>“Twice the time (from twice the course load) = twice the money. Though i realize that estimation is a bit off, I suppose it’s more like 2 extra years.”</p>
<p>Please do research before making erroneous assumptions, especially since you admit to not knowing what is required to do a double major. And listen to the comments made by parents who do know the ins and outs of double majoring, and then take the time to correct your false assumptions .
Double majors do not = twice the course load. Most colleges have general ed classes that all students must take. And most major requirements do not take up all remaining units required for graduation. There are usually elective units requirements that can be filled in any number of ways -with classes in another major or minor, or with classes in other subject areas that a student wants to explore. A few colleges have no gen ed requirements, but they are very much in the minority.</p>
<p>"in the old days kids actually worked through college and supported themselve and got by just fine. "</p>
<p>And in the old days people rode in horse and buggies. These arent the good old days. College is a lot harder AND you are not expecting the same of your son. The reality is that kids who try to work while going to college have a much higher drop out rate than kids whose job it is to go to college. Do some research. There is lots of data out there that shows this. Expecting her to work greatly increases the chances that she will fail and drop out. Is that what you want? Once again, if you are not expecting your son to work while in college, and the same should go for your D.</p>
<p>Re: double majors</p>
<p>Many majors make about 35% to 50% of the total courses or credits needed to earn a bachelor’s degree. A second major is often doable without needing extra semesters because either:</p>
<p>a. It is in a closely related field (e.g. math combined with statistics, computer science, economics, or physics), and many courses overlap.
b. It is in an unrelated field, so it automatically covers some of the breadth requirements (and the first major covers the breadth requirements relative to the second major).</p>
<p>Of course, the student needs to plan his/her schedule more carefully if s/he wants to double major, since there will be fewer completely free electives.</p>
<p>Doing a double major where one or both majors has a lot of requirements (e.g. engineering or music) can be more difficult.</p>
<p>Two of my kids double majored – one did math and music. Another did physics and German. Both graduated in four years. No, it did not cost extra to double major. One of them did it by testing out of some courses. The other took a heavier than usual course load most of the time (didn’t do a lot of extra curriculars). Their older sibling who did not double major took took more than four years to get through school. Go figure. </p>
<p>I think it helps a lot to have an idea about double majoring from the get go. Planning is key.</p>
<p>Engineering usually has so many requirements that it is difficult to double major and graduate in four years, or so I’m told.</p>
<p>Working 25 hours a week is a lot. 10 -15 hours a week is much more reasonable to start with. You can always add more work if 10 or 15 hours seems too easy.</p>
<p>Definitely double major, liberal arts majors (and arguably a lot of ‘easy’ science majors) are not going to get her good jobs after undergraduate school, unless she goes on to grad school. If she plans on working right after graduation, I don’t see much of a benefit in pushing her to do any science major unless it is highly practical like engineering or computer science. </p>
<p>And why in the world do women even study women’s studies??? lol</p>
<p>Women studies majors can work anywhere anyone with a BA can (excepting where technical skills like engineering and CS are expected), and may be drawn to journalism, political lobbying groups, legislative aide, nonprofits groups that serve Women and Children, other nonprofits (they can often pay well), health and social services, filmmaking…students with this and other humanities majors typically have strong critical thinking and English skills so companies in need of these skills will be targets.</p>
<p>As others here have mentioned, double majors are often done in 4 years, complimentary degrees would be Communications, Policical Science, Public Policy. These double majors may open many more doors. </p>
<p>Students within this major (and several others) will want to be well postitioned for graduate school (law school would be an obvious one, other graduate studies) just in case, so it is imperative to have the grades, research experiences and internships that give one these opportunities. </p>
<p>To work so much will detract from the student being a top student. Especially freshman year is a time of adjustment and working the first year should be avoided, imo. Although my daughter was on Federal Work Study, her school gave grants to waive that for freshmen. After that, all her work study was done with professors doing research, which builds a great resume. Your daughter should be persuing such type of extraciricular activity that enhances her attractiveness to employers and grad schools. Research/internships are vitally important and it’s never to early to look for that. </p>
<p>Although I do think this is a ■■■■■ post trying to yank our chains (I resisted replying before), in case it is real, I hope the parent can look at ways to support and help with success instead of trying to knock the kid down. Condifence is so important to instill in children and can be a key to success, but if your parent thinks less of you, doesn’t see what is special about you, discounts your intersts and skill sets, doesn’t take your preferences into account, that’s something you can never really rise above and makes the parent the ultimate underminer.</p>
<p>OP, I think you should make an appointment at one of the schools your D might be interested in and talk about academics, courseload, majors/minors, etc. so you BOTH have a good understanding of what it takes to graduate with one major, two or whatever. Ask at what point at their school does one have to declare a major. Ask what their 4 year graduation rate is.</p>
<p>I feel like you are making a lot of assumptions re: academics that may be very off.</p>
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<p>Though your post is cyber-bullying I understand where you are coming from and appreciate your advice.</p>
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Really? Can I please see some stats. I understand that there is a lot more to “know” in science now than when I was a student, admittedly but does that make it “harder?” My point is that I know plenty of people who have worked during school and done just fine, in fact aren’t there statistics that show that people who work actually do BETTER in school? I might be lying but I remember seeing those stats somewhere. I can imagine it though, because you have to work you study twice as hard to make sure you get the grade. JMO, though … anyway we are thinking about telling her she MUST get an internship/research every semester or we will not fund her … the posters were right, a job at the Subway won’t impress many future employers…</p>
<p>Sure…a new poster that just found this site is going tit for tat with veteran posters. Yeah, just like OJ didn’t do it and the earth is flat. Are we really all buying this BS? Nice try Rob.</p>
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Though I told myself i would NOT reply to any more of these posts, I have to ask you, what is the natural response to being attacked? I was not just going to lay there while people were calling me an idiot, bad mother etc a few pages back. What would “YOU” do?</p>
<p>“Working one’s way through college” without needing (or needing much) parental support or student loans was significantly easier in the old days because college was a lot less expensive back then (after adjusting for CPI inflation).</p>
<p>Also, this was commonly done in community college for the freshman and sophomore years, which may be more than two years due to attending school part time while working to save up money (community colleges are more flexible for part time attendance, as well as less expensive than four year schools).</p>
<p>The amount that a student could earn working while attending a four year school is generally not considered (by financial aid offices) to be very much in comparison to current costs of attendance at a four year school.</p>
<p>Back to the original topic: Look at the career survey information in post 43. Majoring in biology would not give significantly better job and career prospects than majoring in many social studies subjects. So it would be a very misguided effort to push your daughter into biology under the assumption that any STEM subject has better job and career prospects.</p>