<p>Great to see that Rob took my suggestion of looking into Caltech.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And please don’t advocate non-scientists pursue careers in science.</p>
<p>And shock…some kids get engineering degrees and choose NEVER to work in the field of engineering (we have one of those in our house…has the engineering degree and will likely never work in the field).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Please! Smelling salts, quick! I simply don’t believe it. Every 18 year old knows exactly what he / she wants to know, and pursues a path immediately to that end. Without fail. I don’t believe you; you are clearly a liar.</p>
<p>
You can call me a ■■■■■ if you want but “<em>how dare</em>” you call me a liar or a bad mother as some here have suggested. Please stop posting in this thread if you will continue to insult me on a personal level. We do want what’s best for our kids - everyone does. No we don’t expect her to know exactly. But she should have some idea. She should be able to say, I want to go to law school, I want to work for the government, a nonprofit, etc. Son went in not knowing exactly what field of engineering he wanted to do but quickly decided. Undeclared gives her too much opportunity to just play around with random classes, wasting time and money.</p>
<p>Also, I love the total makeover. From angry anti-makeup dad to allgussiedup mom. Nicely done.</p>
<p>No one called you a bad mother, so chill.</p>
<p>And there is absolutely nothing wrong with an 18 yo - an 18 yo! - not knowing what she wants to do, and using the first 2 years of college to explore, take distribution requirements and figure it out. </p>
<p>You know, many of the jobs we fortysomethings have weren’t even around when we were in college, and many of the jobs our kids will have haven’t even been invented yet. It’s linear and unimaginative in-the-box thinking to think that she should know “the job” as though it’s a static world out there.</p>
<p>I have two college freshmen in top 20 schools. They have general areas of interest (chemistry and poli sci) but who knows where their first 2 years will take them? That’s a GOOD thing, gussied. Because that’s the purpose of education - to open minds to possibilities, not narrow them down to very specific fields off the bat in the dutiful, boring plodding towards the world of work.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My kid (the engineering major who will never be an engineer) enrolled in college as an undeclared arts and sciences major. She declared her engineering major at the start of her second year of college. She picked up a second major at the beginning of her THIRD year of college that was much more interesting to her than engineering turned out to be…but she did finish that degree too.</p>
<p>I think you are trying to force your child to choose a major now. Most colleges do not require students to choose a major until the beginning of their junior year. Many many students change majors multiple times before landing on the thing they really want to do. AND many get their undergrad degrees and never have really get jobs in the field related to undergrad degrees. Some enter other fields for careers, and others go to grad school.</p>
<p>The notion that a high school senior can be forced to choose the “RIGHT” major by making her work 25 hours a week or have no college support at all is beyond my ability to understand.</p>
<p>I DO understand that you want your daughter to have some good reason for her major…but the vast majority of college freshman are undeclared…because they simply do NOT know what they want to do. That is why many colleges (and my engineer had to do this too) have core course requirements now…they WANT students to explore options before choosing a major. There is nothing wrong with this.</p>
<p>Oh btw - it’s disgusting that your son’s choice of electrical engineering is viewed by you and the whole family as a “cut above” your daughter’s interests. I would never allow one of my children to put down the other’s major or interest areas. They’re mature enough to see value in academic areas that aren’t their personal cups of tea. Maybe the Gussied family might learn a little something.</p>
<p>While this may very well be a ■■■■■, I believe there are Americans who actually are this ridiculous and we should not just assume it’s a ■■■■■. </p>
<p>To the OP, I think working anything more that 15 hours a week would be wasting your tuition money. She does need some time to read the liberal books and write the liberal papers about women’s and gender studies in order for her to get the critical thinking skills that you’re paying for.</p>
<p>How is it that your D’s employment to date doesn’t “count” as EC’s? One of mine did essentially the same during HS, plus one competitive sport, and has interviewed well and landed several internships so far (not STEM). It seems that adcoms and other grown-ups can relate to a kid who has a confident and professional demeanor, a solid work ethic, and good grades, regardless of their previous job experience. Anyway, many kids work during high school and have little time for clubs, etc. and I’ve never heard anyone claim that’s not a solid EC. </p>
<p>I can understand your concern about her choice of major and your potential investment but steering her into a BS in biology isn’t likely to give her many good job opportunities either. It’s not uncommon for kids to start college with undeclared majors and find their true interests once they’ve tested the waters. Has she done any shadowing and does your HS offer any such programs? If she’s more interested in working with people then she might find some decent career opportunities in the business, education, allied health, or counseling fields. There are many, many careers that don’t involve STEM majors. (Psych, btw, is not a field where one can find jobs with a only bachelor’s degree.)</p>
<p>Personally, I think that 20 hours/week is too much if a student is taking 5-6 classes and freshmen are also trying to get their feet under them and adjust to college. The gen-ed/liberal arts classes do require a lot of reading, research, and papers. It may be easier to get an A in these classes, especially for good writers, but there’s still a fair amount of work involved. My impression is that many students work 10-15 hours/week while class is in session and full-time in the summer. If she can find a job on campus that is somehow related to her studies/interests then she’ll get more exposure to working professionals in the field and that will help her figure out what to major in. For example, my D, an OT major, has always intended to work with pediatric patients and chose to work in the campus daycare center where she can observe the developmental stages she studies while she works.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Ooooh, supposed to be angry now. Too bad the writing sucks so bad it rings entirely false and empty.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Its really not the position of the OP that makes them a ■■■■■. I know plenty of people, just on this board, who express this viewpoint. </p>
<p>It’s just in this case, it’s so stupidly written that it’s insulting to adults taking the bait. If people want to have this debate <em>yet again</em> why not just call up one of the old threads on the very same thing and continue with it? Why would you encourage more bored children to waste everyone’s time here when there are REAL arguments and problems to solve?</p>
<p>I’m thinking about paying my D to forget this college nonsense and become a plumber. You can’t outsource leaky pipes to Bangladesh, can you?</p>
<p>You sure can’t, annasdad! Or a massage therapist or garbage collector. Or even barista. Can’t outsource that either.</p>
<p>I didn’t even make it through the whole first post before I knew it was a ■■■■■. Bad writing and very juvenile. No bait taken here!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I am “disgusted” with both of these posts and i am puzzled as to why you would take your time just to come on here and insult me. Yes ClassicRockerDad, we are not liberal and so what? Why do you want to live in a country made up all of people who believe the same thing? Please stop this and address my original post</p>
<p>To the OP: If you are “for real” then why in the world are you even asking for the opinions of total strangers who obviously don’t agree with you? You don’t seem to really want advice - you just want people to validate your opinions. Are you really open to changing your mind? I don’t see any evidence of that. So what’s the point?</p>
<p>I don’t think the OP is real, but is just pulling some chains. If she is, maybe her D wants to go into women’s and gender studies in order to learn how to change attitudes like hers. </p>
<p>Poor STEM. It will never be a bloom.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>LOL - like “engineering and STEM are the only worthwhile majors.”</p>