| My freshman is completely lost when it comes to what he wants to study. We’ve recommended talking to his advisor but at his school there isn’t so much a focus on exploration and being undecided (I know schools handle this differently) so there are only advisors within schools of study so they recommend he major with them. He’s not especially connecting with his school overall and has already withdrawn from a class. I’m hopeful that if he can just take some exploratory courses next semester he might find what he’s interested in and start enjoying school more. All I know is he for sure doesn’t want to have to take Calculus and higher courses. I just want this guy to enjoy school! |
| Political Science, Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, History, English, other languages, Communications, Pre-Law, Education, etc. |
| Think about all of his least favorite courses and do the opposite of that |
+1 International Relations too. |
-1. IR has a decent amount of Econ. Dad is doing IR and needed a working knowledge of Calculus. Political science, ouch, anthro and sociology all require at least research stats. Social science majors need math. No math would be pure arts and humanities. English, history, fine arts, and vinous women’s, black, Hispanic, etc “studies”. Foreign languages as well, although math and foreign language talent often go together. |
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Didn’t he take a vocational interest test when he started high school? Our MD public offered that, on Naviance I think. Check with your school’s Guidance Counsellor.
Those identify careers that people like your child would enjoy/excel at. That is a beginning anyway. |
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art
drama PE |
| Do you expect him to have a job later or do you just want him to enjoy college? |
| The college career center should be able to help. Also, go through the list of majors and see what he likes (and then talk realistically about what career prospects those have). There are a lot of jobs that require some numbers (project managers that need to track a budget) but not higher math. Would he be ok with that? |
| is this a freshman in HS or freshman in college? |
This is the answer. Don’t push him to decide on a major right now. Encourage him to think about what interests him and take classes in those areas. I’m guessing he doesn’t need to declare a major until the end of second year. He’s in his first semester of college—he doesn’t need the answer to this question yet! |
College. |
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What about marketing?
Or Environmental Science or Latin American Studies? |
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He should study 2 things: The Program of Studies --- which is *what it takes* to major in each major offered throughout the entire university AND The Course Catalogue --- which gives a description of each course, and also mentions prerequisites that need to be taken beforehand. So, that's a roadmap.
Op, to be a useful participant in this discussion, I recommend that you also know the above. |
I would not recommend environmental science if he’s trying to avoid higher level math courses |