Majors for a non-math kid

[Anonymous]

My DS is a freshman at a Jesuit school. He thought he might want to pursue business but he is a terrible math student (I was too). He would have to take calculus and stats and maybe a few other math courses and he's scared that he won't pass (he barely passed pre-calc as a senior). He doesn't have to declare a major until next year but his adviser told him to try out some courses in business. He's taking microeconomics now and barely passing. BTW- he is an excellent writer (thanks Catholic school!) so any ideas on majors that might involve writing and are not math heavy?

[Anonymous]

Public Policy
Political science
International Relations
English, History or Philosophy then Law School.

[Anonymous]

I was like your son. I was briefly an economics major, but didn’t do well in that. I realized all my easy As were in English classes. I was much better at reading novels and writing papers. After graduation, I worked on Capitol Hill then went to law school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public Policy
Political science
International Relations
English, History or Philosophy then Law School.

Agree with all but philosophy. Philosophy requires a mathematical mind. It's all logic, like math, but the logic is applied to language and ideas in search of reason and proof. It is also closely aligned with aspects of computer science. I was a math major who switched to a double major in CS and Phil. and explored the crossovers in my thesis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public Policy
Political science
International Relations
English, History or Philosophy then Law School.

Agree with all but philosophy. Philosophy requires a mathematical mind. It's all logic, like math, but the logic is applied to language and ideas in search of reason and proof. It is also closely aligned with aspects of computer science. I was a math major who switched to a double major in CS and Phil. and explored the crossovers in my thesis.

NP, to add, law school also involves logic.

For OP, if there are undergrad business majors that appeal to him, there is probably a basic calc course that counts for the business program and/or he could look into whether the university would accept a summer CC course for that requirement (which in some cases might be easier than taking at his university, if he's at a more selective one). It sounds like he's already having to deal with micro.

Most social science and humanities majors involve heavy reading and writing. While it is beneficial to have quantitative skills even in those fields, he can certainly get through a degree with minimal quantitative effort.

Note that most degrees have a statistics requirement, though difficulty of the intro course is not likely to be significant in some of those majors.

[Anonymous]

Could you link to your kid's school and list of majors?

[Anonymous]

Communications or Psychology. It’s fine he’ll be able to land a job. He just needs to string together a few good internships in the area he wants to pursue…
International Relations as one PP mentioned above requires a few economics courses, and if he isn’t doing well in Micro, we won’t do well in the others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Communications or Psychology. It’s fine he’ll be able to land a job. He just needs to string together a few good internships in the area he wants to pursue…
International Relations as one PP mentioned above requires a few economics courses, and if he isn’t doing well in Micro, we won’t do well in the others.

Psych is massively over-subscribed and unless you want to work in HR for your entire life you need post graduate study.

[Anonymous]

He is limited by what his college offers. Unless he's willing to transfer. I would suggest you help. First of all: a business major, even with low grades, is ok. It's valuable learning. Really, any practical degree even with low grades, is worth it. Get a tutor if he needs it

If he can't pass required courses, that's another question. If he hadn't started college already and was looking for a college with other possible majors, that would be another question.

[Anonymous]

Communications. DH was terrible at math and took the bare minimum in high school, barely passing Algebra 2 then stopping. He majored in this. It takes networking and work experience but 30 years later he makes significantly more than me. I majored in a STEM field. It’s what you do with a degree afterwards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public Policy
Political science
International Relations
English, History or Philosophy then Law School.

Agree with all but philosophy. Philosophy requires a mathematical mind. It's all logic, like math, but the logic is applied to language and ideas in search of reason and proof. It is also closely aligned with aspects of computer science. I was a math major who switched to a double major in CS and Phil. and explored the crossovers in my thesis.

NP, to add, law school also involves logic.

For OP, if there are undergrad business majors that appeal to him, there is probably a basic calc course that counts for the business program and/or he could look into whether the university would accept a summer CC course for that requirement (which in some cases might be easier than taking at his university, if he's at a more selective one). It sounds like he's already having to deal with micro.

Most social science and humanities majors involve heavy reading and writing. While it is beneficial to have quantitative skills even in those fields, he can certainly get through a degree with minimal quantitative effort.

Note that most degrees have a statistics requirement, though difficulty of the intro course is not likely to be significant in some of those majors.

Business major at most schools (especially jesuit schools) will require business calc, stats, 2 Econ classes, 2 accounting classes and then basic Finance, Marketing, Info sys, etc. If you struggle with pre-calc, it will be damn near impossible to survive business calc, stats, micro/macro Econ and both accounting courses. It is math intensive. Your kid will likely tank their gpa with mostly Cs for many of those courses. Even a business minor will require many of those courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He is limited by what his college offers. Unless he's willing to transfer. I would suggest you help. First of all: a business major, even with low grades, is ok. It's valuable learning. Really, any practical degree even with low grades, is worth it. Get a tutor if he needs it

If he can't pass required courses, that's another question. If he hadn't started college already and was looking for a college with other possible majors, that would be another question.

Grades do matter. Without a 3.0+ he will have trouble getting an internship. Will also have trouble getting a job upon graduation. 3.0 is a screening point for many many jobs and internships. So I would not encourage my kid to do a major they will barely get a 2.0/2.5 in and will struggle with. Much better to find an area that interests them and search for meaningful internships (since a basic humanities degree doesn't just guarantee a job, you have to search and sell yourself a bit more).

But there are jobs out there that hire smart motivated people with any degree to work, they train the non-STEM kids for the job. They need writers and people who can communicate. My business major is working for a technology based company as an end user tester/quality manager. 80% in that job were humanities majors. Turns out my kid is an excellent writer (struggled with that in MS/HS) and is typically the one tasked with all the writing and general communications/presentations now (3 years into job). They work along side many psychology, English, general humanities majors along with some STEM/business majors. What they all have though is a 3.0+ gpa and the ability to communicate and working well with others---the EQ quotient is key for getting the jobs.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for everyone's replies. He's a freshman at Loyola MD. Here's a link to their majors and minors.

https://www.loyola.edu/admission/undergraduate/academics/majors-minors


It isn't just calculus that he'd have to take, it's business stats, data analytics, accounting, etc. He is registering for next semester soon so he has plenty of core classes to take so he isn't forced to make a decision now about a major.

One of his classmates is a communications major and he is going to take media writing just to see what it's like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for everyone's replies. He's a freshman at Loyola MD. Here's a link to their majors and minors.

https://www.loyola.edu/admission/undergraduate/academics/majors-minors


It isn't just calculus that he'd have to take, it's business stats, data analytics, accounting, etc. He is registering for next semester soon so he has plenty of core classes to take so he isn't forced to make a decision now about a major.

One of his classmates is a communications major and he is going to take media writing just to see what it's like.

That is a v short list of majors. He doesn’t like Math so anything related to Data, Science, Engineering, Math, Econ, Analytics is out…. I stick with my previous recommendation of Communications or Psychology

[Anonymous]

Major in English or History and go to law school.