What major/career direction to steer my DD in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's got great test scores.

She has high grades, mostly As and a B or two, but mostly because she works hard and studies and not because of a particular talent in a subject area.

She likes working with young kids. She babysits and volunteers with infants and toddlers.

She's creative.

She likes to problem solve and is good with a routine.


Her guidance counselor is no help- just told her to take a general studies degree.

We don't have a ton of money, she will have to take out some loans, so it would be good if she could graduate with a career and not have to go to grad school right away to make money.

Pediatric nursing

Pay is decent with a bachelors. Pay is terrific if you obtain graduate level education. If she wants to have kids and SAHM for a bit, the field is very flexible with that and it won't harm her at all. Travel opportunities are terrific.

Uh hallo. Its not 1950. She can be a pediatric doctor if she wants to.

Nursing is a different career from doctor. Not a lessor one, a different one. It's not an insult to suggest nursing as a career option.

Sadly its a vastly lesser career in terms of how she would be treated, how far she could be promoted, how involved in clinical work she could become and ultimately how much she would earn. I know, my grandmother who SHOULD have trained as a doctor but spent her life as a nurse (trained in the 1940s). Much as I applaud ALL nursing personnel, telling them they are as important or as "good" as the doctors is just blowing smoke up their asses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are no good jobs working with children. Discourage that nonsense.

+1

[Anonymous]

Elementary Education? I liked the pediatrics comment. Nurses get to spend more time with the children than doctors. Hospital based may pay nearly as well as a pediatrician with less schooling.

The down side of nursing is you have to commit at an early age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's got great test scores.

She has high grades, mostly As and a B or two, but mostly because she works hard and studies and not because of a particular talent in a subject area.

She likes working with young kids. She babysits and volunteers with infants and toddlers.

She's creative.

She likes to problem solve and is good with a routine.


Her guidance counselor is no help- just told her to take a general studies degree.

We don't have a ton of money, she will have to take out some loans, so it would be good if she could graduate with a career and not have to go to grad school right away to make money.

Pediatric nursing

Pay is decent with a bachelors. Pay is terrific if you obtain graduate level education. If she wants to have kids and SAHM for a bit, the field is very flexible with that and it won't harm her at all. Travel opportunities are terrific.

Uh hallo. Its not 1950. She can be a pediatric doctor if she wants to.

Nursing is a different career from doctor. Not a lessor one, a different one. It's not an insult to suggest nursing as a career option.

Sadly its a vastly lesser career in terms of how she would be treated, how far she could be promoted, how involved in clinical work she could become and ultimately how much she would earn. I know, my grandmother who SHOULD have trained as a doctor but spent her life as a nurse (trained in the 1940s). Much as I applaud ALL nursing personnel, telling them they are as important or as "good" as the doctors is just blowing smoke up their asses.

You don't understand nursing at all. We are not lesser versions of doctors. They are different, but related fields. Nursing involves much more generalist care, patient teaching, and case management. Doctors are specialists with deeper s p specialty knowledge. Doctors diagnose and prescribe. Nurses assess and treat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elementary Education? I liked the pediatrics comment. Nurses get to spend more time with the children than doctors. Hospital based may pay nearly as well as a pediatrician with less schooling.

The down side of nursing is you have to commit at an early age.

No, you don't. It is very open to career entry at all stages of life. A great option is accelerated entry to the BSN or MSN after the bachelor's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's got great test scores.

She has high grades, mostly As and a B or two, but mostly because she works hard and studies and not because of a particular talent in a subject area.

She likes working with young kids. She babysits and volunteers with infants and toddlers.

She's creative.

She likes to problem solve and is good with a routine.


Her guidance counselor is no help- just told her to take a general studies degree.

We don't have a ton of money, she will have to take out some loans, so it would be good if she could graduate with a career and not have to go to grad school right away to make money.

Pediatric nursing

Pay is decent with a bachelors. Pay is terrific if you obtain graduate level education. If she wants to have kids and SAHM for a bit, the field is very flexible with that and it won't harm her at all. Travel opportunities are terrific.

Uh hallo. Its not 1950. She can be a pediatric doctor if she wants to.

Sure, but not everyone wants to spend eight years in school or owe hundreds of thousands in loans or suffer through a residency.

[Anonymous]

Definitely not accounting. I work at a big 4 accounting firm, the hours are terrible, the work uninteresting, and the pay not that great. I'd even question STEM, I read an article yesterday that said CS was the most popular major for women at Stanford. Think that cat is out of the bag.

Don't steer her into anything, let her make up her mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not accounting. I work at a big 4 accounting firm, the hours are terrible, the work uninteresting, and the pay not that great. I'd even question STEM, I read an article yesterday that said CS was the most popular major for women at Stanford. Think that cat is out of the bag.

Don't steer her into anything, let her make up her mind.

Because anthropology pays such great dividents.

[Anonymous]

^dividends

[Anonymous]

I second the suggestion for a masters in education and curriculum. It can be done in five years, she will be able to get a job immediately, and if she is able to go public in state for college, even better. Granted it was a while ago, but this is what I did. Started as a theatre major, realized I didn't want to be a starving actor. I had a ton of English credits and I stayed at the same school (Va Tech) to get my masters. I also loved working with kids so that was part of my decision. My parents were able to help pay for my school and I had a few scholarships. I secured a job before I even graduated and now make a pretty decent living. I supplement my income by tutoring privately (and in Moco I can charge $50/hour) and teaching at smithsonian summer camps and educational enrichment programs.

I also agree that pediatric nursing might be a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Any kind of engineering. They make good money right off the bat with only a bachelors.

Something that interests me is computer forensics. Pulling data off computers for use in criminal investigations. Like the recent FBI fight with Apple over the the mass shooters' phones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's got great test scores.

She has high grades, mostly As and a B or two, but mostly because she works hard and studies and not because of a particular talent in a subject area.

She likes working with young kids. She babysits and volunteers with infants and toddlers.

She's creative.

She likes to problem solve and is good with a routine.


Her guidance counselor is no help- just told her to take a general studies degree.

We don't have a ton of money, she will have to take out some loans, so it would be good if she could graduate with a career and not have to go to grad school right away to make money.

Pediatric nursing

Pay is decent with a bachelors. Pay is terrific if you obtain graduate level education. If she wants to have kids and SAHM for a bit, the field is very flexible with that and it won't harm her at all. Travel opportunities are terrific.

Uh hallo. Its not 1950. She can be a pediatric doctor if she wants to.

The OP said that she wanted something that didn't require graduate
school. The poster above stated that nursing is a career that pays decent with a bachelors. Why would she suggest becoming a doctor to someone who doesn't want to commit to graduate school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's got great test scores.

She has high grades, mostly As and a B or two, but mostly because she works hard and studies and not because of a particular talent in a subject area.

She likes working with young kids. She babysits and volunteers with infants and toddlers.

She's creative.

She likes to problem solve and is good with a routine.


Her guidance counselor is no help- just told her to take a general studies degree.

We don't have a ton of money, she will have to take out some loans, so it would be good if she could graduate with a career and not have to go to grad school right away to make money.

Pediatric nursing

Pay is decent with a bachelors. Pay is terrific if you obtain graduate level education. If she wants to have kids and SAHM for a bit, the field is very flexible with that and it won't harm her at all. Travel opportunities are terrific.

Uh hallo. Its not 1950. She can be a pediatric doctor if she wants to.

Nursing is a different career from doctor. Not a lessor one, a different one. It's not an insult to suggest nursing as a career option.

Sadly its a vastly lesser career in terms of how she would be treated, how far she could be promoted, how involved in clinical work she could become and ultimately how much she would earn. I know, my grandmother who SHOULD have trained as a doctor but spent her life as a nurse (trained in the 1940s).


Much as I applaud ALL nursing personnel, telling them they are as important or as "good" as the doctors is just blowing smoke up their asses.

Yeah, and then your grandma would have only been able to play a bit part in raising her own children.

[Anonymous]

Can she do some mini internships or shadow people in professions she might find interesting? I was able to be a substitute teacher during college breaks and it showed me that teaching was definitely not my interest. I worked as a hospital volunteer in college and found that I loved the medical environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Perhaps steer was the wrong word to use, just give her some ideas and direction for somethings to look into.

As I mentioned, we don't have a lot of money and she'll have to take out loans so I'd like for her to be able to pay things off quickly upon graduation .

She's also a bit shy and introverted so I don't know if teaching would be a good match.

1) most girls love kids, that isn't unique and pp is right, those fields have miserable pay and long hours. Even teachers summers off are spent working to make enough money for rent. Unless she Marries a breadwinner, but assume you don't want 'man is the plan' answer.


2) she loves kids so she will want her own someday independent of the wealth of her spouse. So a job that is flexible and supports her career and family. Nursing and accounting are the fields for this; every mom I know in accounting makes good money AND works part time.

3) being a doctor could be as flexible but requires 3x the schooling, potentially crippling debt, and if she is an A\B student in high school may not have academic chops to get into Med school. But if possible a very good option as well.