Gerontology major?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Social work...and if she does a 3-2 or 4/1 program she can get a masters with a specialization in georontology

Low pay.

[Anonymous]

An adjacent option would be consideration of occupational therapy. Since the kid seems to like leading activities, one could consider some kind of gerontology minor - as others have suggested - along with something like exercise science or kinesiology, athletic training, music therapy, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Social work...and if she does a 3-2 or 4/1 program she can get a masters with a specialization in georontology

Low pay.

Not always.
Old folks have money to steal

[Anonymous]

is she also interested in business?

its one of the hottest sectors in the economy right now and with boomers aging, expected to continue. there are experts in this field hired by consulting firms and banks too....

https://www.entrepreneur.com/franchises/as-the-population-ages-senior-care-businesses-boom/468908

https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2023/11/02/2772521/0/en/Elderly-Care-Market-To-Reach-USD-1-902-7-Billion-By-2032-Report-By-DataHorizzon-Research.html

[Anonymous]

If she’s STEM oriented there are a lot of fields that cover physical and mental aging:
Neuroscience
Nutrition
Molecular Biology

Search using the term ageing research fields (not in quotes) and I think you’ll find solid results that could be helpful to you and your daughter. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I did an MSW with Gerontology concentration and am now licensed. There are a good number of options and opportunities, but unless you are doing therapy...the pay is not that great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD has started thinking about majors based on her volunteer activities. She really enjoys working with senior citizens leading activities.

Can someone tell me about gerontology as a field and where to find programs? I’m trying to do some preliminary research to get ahead of the questions.

I don’t see her going into counseling, and those are the results I am seeing when googling.

A bit off topic but would you mind sharing some of her volunteer activities? My daughter will be a HS freshman this year and also enjoys working with seniors and would like to plan activities etc. Would love any volunteer ideas. thanks

[Anonymous]

Medicine or nursing are options if she wants to go that route. Dealing with aging parents, I've learned there's a shortage of that specialty.

If she's okay with allied health, she could also consider OT/PT/SLP (speech language pathologist). We had an elderly loved one in a skilled nursing facility where most of the patients were seniors. The therapy staff were so kind!

Any major leading to a job in community services may be okay too (public admininistration).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An adjacent option would be consideration of occupational therapy. Since the kid seems to like leading activities, one could consider some kind of gerontology minor - as others have suggested - along with something like exercise science or kinesiology, athletic training, music therapy, etc.

This is what I thought, too. Good for your child! There's going to be a lot of demand for jobs working with the aging population!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is she interested in health sciences, like public health? Otherwise, I think many jobs working with seniors are at the local government level so perhaps something like public administration or public policy would fit. It really depends what she wants to do.

This is something (“working with seniors”) where I don’t think you necessarily need to specialize to go into the field. Plenty of liberal arts programs will probably get the college education needed and then perhaps she’d be ready to specialize more at the graduate school level.

+1
Do NOT specialize for undergrad. Pick a public health/public service type undergrad major and maybe minor in that area. Keep your options open for any type of public sector "helping others" jobs, so you have options.

[Anonymous]

If she is a strong student, she might plan to get a PhD and study aging (within sociology or psychology). It is also a medical specialty for physicians. If she prefers planning or designing services for old people , I would suggest public health or social work.

[Anonymous]

UMBC

[Anonymous]

Speech language pathology is a great specialty that could have her working with aging or really any population. Lots of options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If she’s STEM oriented there are a lot of fields that cover physical and mental aging:
Neuroscience
Nutrition
Molecular Biology

Search using the term ageing research fields (not in quotes) and I think you’ll find solid results that could be helpful to you and your daughter. Good luck.

Sounds like she is interested in the human aspect and working with actual people not working in a lab.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Social work...and if she does a 3-2 or 4/1 program she can get a masters with a specialization in georontology

Low pay.

I worked in elder law and there are plenty of jobs working with the elderly.

Which would you choose 1) working 14 hour days in an office with three computer screens in your face for a high income with a few weeks off every year or 2) working with a vulnerable population knowing because of your work your clients don’t need to worry about being hungry, being cold, lonely. You’ve increased their quality of life for a middle income?