<p>Okay, well, I tried bringing up the subject of me doing international relations/politics/ foreign service , and let’s just say that it didn’t go over so well. My parents also FREAKED when I told them I no longer wanted to go to law school, and now they’re putting down their foot on me doing anything other than business for UG because they believe that any job I’ll get out of an international relations/politics/ foreign service major would be low paying and hard to get. Is there any way to persuade them that this is not the case? Any statistics or data that shows them that I can get high paying jobs after pursuing those majors? or am I wrong?</p>
<p>Pay for it yourself? No…seriously. Do your research and present facts about job opportunities, salaries, etc… The funny part is if they force you into a major you don’t want, you may get the degree but you won’t work in the field… </p>
<p>The only caveat I have to this is if you are going to a school that is going to cost them a lot of money or create a lot of debt for you then they might be looking at it from the perspective of being able to afford to pay for the education or return on investment. Our daughter is going to Vandy and she is accruing some decent debt. She’s also going to graduate with a ChemE degree and stands a pretty good chance of making decent $$$'s to afford the debt. If she wanted to study social work or psychology she could do that at the local college for a lot less money. Can you give us more facts on the situation?</p>
<p>well, I am already trying to pay for my own education. I’m not asking my parents for loans, money, anything. We’re low-income, so I’m looking into schools that will meet 100% of demonstrated need/ eliminate loans, and I’ll probably end up doing work-study as well. I’m also looking at merit aid. They’re just dead set against me doing anything other than business because they’re scared I won’t get a job after UG. They were ok with liberal arts colleges in the beginning, because they thought I wanted to do law, which I no longer want to do (after extensive research, it just isn’t the field for me).</p>
<p>If you won’t be depending on them for anything then I say do your thing. Explain to them that the most important thing is to get a degree…any degree. Yes, some are better than others but I’ll bet if you search around you can come up with some pretty good evidence that business degrees are a dime a dozen. I don’t think they are the golden ticket to a good paying job that they think they are.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why you announced (imprudently imho) that you are not going to law school. How can you know the future so well? Many students change their minds about majors and career paths.</p>
<p>My advice is to be open to many possible careers, including law. You can get a better idea of your career path after a year or two in college.</p>
<p>I agree with adad. Keep your options open. I have a website that might give you some insight to the salaries. I will pm or e-mail it to you since CC is being ■■■■■■■■ and blocking the url.</p>
<p>well, my parents only now told me that the only reason why they’re letting me look at liberal arts colleges is because they believe that I’m going to law school afterwards. From my perspective, I don’t want them to have an unrealisitic expectation of me going to law school, because if they do, then they’ll be dead set on me going, and will refuse to let me even apply for schools strong in the majors i’m interested in. From my standpoint, letting them believe that I am going to law school right after college would be akin to lying to them, as they’re living under the guise that I’m going to be some bigshot lawyer. I’m not ruling out the option of law completely, it’s just highly unlikely right now that I am going, which is affecting my decision to apply to certain colleges.</p>
<p>You are foolish to rule out law school from the onset. You have no idea what you will be doing. I know a number of kids who had absolutely no intention of going to law school until they graduated from college. Adults too. It’s not as though you have to take a strictly prescribed set of courses to go to law school. Keep an open mind and your mouth shut.</p>
<p>Okay. I understand that as parents, you guys believe that I should keep my options open. Which is very true.
The major problem here is that my parents are refusing for me to be NOTHING but a business major and ONLY apply to those schools that have them. Right now they’re refusing for me to major in political science, etc, as they no longer think I can get a good job with those majors if I decide that I’m not going to be a lawyer. I know that most likely I will change career paths, but right now I’m trying to look at schools that DO have strong programs that I’m interested in. telling me to “keep an open mind and your mouth shut” is hardly going to help me persuade my parents that people do survive without being business majors.</p>
<p>Don’t worry, and your parents shouldn’t worry, about law school this early. Try to mend fences with your parents, you have several years before it becomes an issue. Check on law school admissions requirements at some schools- you will find that ANY major is acceptable, in fact you have a better chance with some of the less commom for law student ones (specifically, you can show your parents the UW-Madison website info for an easy way to prove this point). Unlike medical school you do not face specific prerequsites- you can tell your parents you will consider law school (you are not lying, you can consider and reject it…), major in anything you want to and by the time you will be thinking of the LSAT you will be far enough along in college to marshall arguments for your favored postgraduate plans. In fact, a math/science background may be a good choice for a future in handling legal issues such as patent law. There are many ways to honestly justify any school/major and still be eligible for law school admissions. You could also point out that you are likely to get better grades in a field you most enjoy and at a school you most want to attend. Lawyers are typically great at using material to benefit their side of an issue, parents who want you to be a lawyer can’t complain about you acting like one, right? Relax, don’t panic,from your other thread I’m confident things will fall into place.</p>
<p>^ thanks for the advice. The reason why this all blew up in my face was because I’ve been looking into Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, and my parents point blank refused for me to apply there because they were all “have no job opportunities after you graduate” and “whatever happened to law school/business school” ? </p>
<p>and then all hell broke loose. I wish my parents weren’t so controlling… they did that to my sister and now she’s stuck with a major she loathes.</p>
<p>You can major in anything and go to law school, so I fail to see how law school can rule certain majors and/or schools in or out.</p>
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<p>After you graduate from college, you can be completely on your own financially and you should be on your own emotionally as well imho. It need not matter whether your parents are dead set on you going to law school.</p>
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<p>No one said to tell them this. The advice here is simply to stop making pronouncements about five years from now that you cannot know for certain and are negatively affecting you right now. You are blazing your own trail to business school!</p>
<p>Edit: Well, if you can’t apply to Georgetown that is a shame but you can still apply to good schools and have a good major and career. There are many roads to success.</p>
<p>I agree with wis75. Don’t tell them now you’re not interested in law school. There is plenty of time for that after you graduate. Most people these days don’t go straight into law school after undergrad anyway. You can major in anything for law school and, since you want a high GPA, make it something that interests you. Perhaps you will find you are interested in going into international law.</p>
<p>By the way, Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service would also be fine as preparation for law school. Why are you poking the bear?</p>
<p>haha at the bear metaphor.
I think I’m telling my parents that I’ll still consider law school, and apply to the schools I want to apply to (CMC, Georgetown, etc) and do some more soul searching before I decide which route I want to take. That way they can’t shove business school down my throat, and by that time, it’ll be too late. </p>
<p>My parents are control nuts though, so it’s going to take some time. I’m not kidding, they basically mapped out my sister’s entire life. I guess I’m “rebelling”. The other day my mom asked me when I’m going to get married and have kids. I’m not even eighteen for crying out loud!</p>
<p>Yes, you are poking the bear.</p>
<p>Athenegoddess, I strongly suggest going back to your mom and dad and telling them that you’d be looking at law schools after all. You’ll have 4 years to think it over. Whatever you end up majoring in, it DOES NOT MATTER for law admissions, as long as you have a good gpa and LSAT score. You do not have to major in “pre-law”. You can major in organic chemistry with 4.0 gpa, for god’s sake, get 180 on LSAT, and every law school in the nation will be after you. I have a book somewhere in my pile of college-admission stuff, which has a little table showing how different majors perform on LSAT. The so-called “pre-law” majors were outperformed by biologists, political science majors, philosophers, etc. In fact, that book states that law schools hate when you focus on studying “law” - it is their job to teach you the real deal. And you know, not everyone who gets a law degree is going to be standing in front of the judge cross-examining bad and good guys like they do in Law and Order. Many lawyers end up running corporations or doing something else besides practicing law. It is the knowledge of the legal system and the law that empowers them.</p>
<p>I could see having some issues if your parents were pushing engineering or premed or computers and you hated taking the necessary courses, but for pre law you can take practically anything. It really is not going to limit you at all.</p>
<p>This is good practice for you. You need to figure out a way to make your own choices while letting them think the choices are also theirs. Give them the illusion of control. When you get older, you’ll be better prepared to just tell them nicely that you appreciate their imput and will factor it in to your decision.</p>
<p>^ yeah, I think this is what I’m going to start doing. This will be hard, as I’m as easy to read as an open book (according to several of my close friends) but I really really really don’t want them to run my life. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice.</p>