My DC hates nearly all classes in Junior Year ... how to figure out how to target her college search and/or major?

[Anonymous]

She still likes writing. English and History aren't the ones she likes most, but she's not passionate about anything. She dislikes Physics, Math, Language. She was a happy A student through 10th grade. This year she'll have As and Bs with mostly APs. Competitive Public HS. She seems bored and burned out.

Should I guide her to gap year? She wouldn't be able to pick a major based on this year. She doesn't think English will lead to any jobs. How can she find out in advance of taking it, whether she likes Psychology? I don't think she'll like Economics because she's hating math right now.

[Anonymous]

For those majors she doesn't need to know exactly what. She can go in as undecided, or as an English major, take a bunch of gen eds and transfer to the major she uses.

Find a school that allows this, the majority do.

[Anonymous]

Pick a major? She’s a junior in high school. She’ll figure it out in the next three years.

[Anonymous]

Most liberal arts schools don't require you to pick a major until sophomore year. It really is ok for 16-17 year olds not to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives.

But I would be concerned if she's no longer enjoying the things she used to find pleasurable. Does she otherwise have signs of depression? Is she involved in anything outside of school?

[Anonymous]

She can apply as undecided for some schools, or pick one of those liberal arts majors (English, psych) and decide to keep it or change it when she’s nearing the end of sophomore year of college.

She can also change her mind later in life. I was a political science major who took no business courses in undergrad, worked for a while, went back for an mba, and have now worked successfully in business at fortune 500s for 20+ years.

[Anonymous]

my kid is a junior and sad and burned out too.

grades are not as easy this year either.

[Anonymous]

Google Flourish Career Coaching. She has a Launch Career Clarity Course for teens that helps to consider college majors. It’s a couple hundred bucks but could be good motivation for your teen to get engaged.

[Anonymous]

Most colleges do not require one to select a major as part of the applications process.

However, within a given university admission to a Nursing school, Engineering school, or Architecture school often is different than applying for admission to the Arts & Letters school.

Put another way, one commonly applies to a specific school within a university, but without declaring a specific major on the application.

[Anonymous]

She can apply undecided. She’s 16, she doesn’t need to pick her forever path.

[Anonymous]

It’s okay, OP. Support her in the now and I hope you aren’t weigh her down by talking about this with her. There are some colleges where you apply directly into a school and changing might be hard, but they certainly aren’t all like that. The end of sophomore year of college is when you’d like to have declared a major if you’re going to graduate on time. She’s got time.

[Anonymous]

A gap year because she doesn’t know what she wants to major in in November of junior year? Chill, OP.

[Anonymous]

College is not trade school, so please don’t expect a 16 year old to know what they want to do with their life. Just have your child go to a liberal arts school and figure out what they love by taking a wide array of courses. She doesn’t need to declare a major until the end of her second year of college, which is 4 years from now!

[Anonymous]

Just commiserating. My 11th grader is also burnt out. The days of grade inflation are over because there are no easy A’s.. my kid and their friends (smart students) are struggling.

[Anonymous]

This is how my kid felt in her junior year. It's just stressful and hard, because the stakes are so high. Now that all her college apps are in she is much happier. She is thriving this year, although objectively her course load is higher (all APs except for one fun art class).