What advice would you give a college student who has no idea what career she wants?
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Anonymous
This. If she knows a lot of stats, she'll do fine employment wise. |
Anonymous
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I majored music in college. It was a relative easy major but bleak outlook job prospect. Fortunately, I spent my down time in college and in the summer to study programming language like Java, Oracle/MySQL/Postgres database and network security. Got an IT job after graduation. That was five years ago. I am now making seven times more than any of my friends in college that majored in music. I still write music and perform on weekends because it is my passion but I need to pay the bill at the same time.
Your daughter can major in sociology but have here learn IT as well. You don't have to be good in math to do well in IT. You don't even need a degree to do well in IT. |
Anonymous
| What does she like to do? |
Anonymous
What entry level job would she get with a sociology major and statistics courses? |
Anonymous
If she hasn't figured it out by next spring, have her take a gap year. |
Anonymous
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Hopefully she has looked at some resources that try to match careers to interest areas. Another place to look is the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. They have descriptions of categories of all the classified careers that they track, along with median pay, and a top level overview of educational requirements. If you look at a particular career, it has more detail about the career and projected job outlook (increasing or decreasing demand).
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/ For example, veterinarians is https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/veterinarians.htm There is also Career One Stop, with tools to help you explore careers, career profiles, videos, https://www.careeronestop.org/ExploreCareers/explore-careers.aspx For example, veterinarians is https://www.careeronestop.org/toolkit/careers/occupations/occupation-profile.aspx?keyword=Veterinarians&onetcode=29113100&location=UNITED%20STATES Same underlying data, presented differently. I would take a look at the broad categories, and some of the specific professions and see if a general area can be identified for at least a short-term, out of school goal. The reality is that while there are many, many jobs that don't require a highly specialized degree, a pretty specific degree is needed to open doors in many fields. At this point, I would take the time to do a thorough survey of all potential career fields and make sure she isn't closing doors on potentially interesting careers because she doesn't study the right thing. |
Anonymous
| Logistics |
Anonymous
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Omg tons of kids don’t know what they want to major in or what they want to do for the rest of their lives when they are 19 or 20. Let her major in whatever she finds interesting and find internships she enjoys. Maybe a study abroad experience will inspire her as well. I would encourage her to find something she is passionate about and figure out how to make it her life’s work.
My parents wanted me to study business but in the end encouraged me to study what I liked. I was a liberal arts major and got a job related to my major, worked for three years, but decided that the work I had done in my earlier internships actually interested me more so I went back to grad school, then worked in the other field for ten years. Now I do something completely different than either of the first two things! Just let her get a degree with a good gpa, some good experience through clubs and activities, internships, volunteering, whatever, and then figure it out. At some point it will click. |
Anonymous
| gap year for sure, but a very productive one. work experience and travel. |
Anonymous
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quit helicoptering
plenty of entry level jobs just want college grads regardless of major |
Anonymous
If she can do a bit of programming, many of the same jobs as an Econ major. |
Anonymous
| Let her major in sociology. If you ahve a problem with that, should've sent her to a cheaper school. I majored in art and did very well for myself. She can go on to any number of graduate programs from that major. Most of what we learn undergrad is about ourselves and our world, not in the classroom anyway. |
Anonymous
| I was a philosophy major. I often read with amusement Yahoo articles such as, instead of this, major this. Instead of philosophy, major in education or business, for example. I always thought these advices were stupid. Instead of philosophy, obviously I should have gone into theology or religious studies. With a degree in theology or religious studies, I could have started a church - and the money would have rolled in. |
Anonymous
Data analyst/research analyst in marketing research. I hire interns for a marketing research dept and often they are psychology+stats majors and occasionally sociology+stats. |
Anonymous
| My cousin majored in sociology and now he's a VP at a credit card company making $$$. I'm not sure why you think it's such a dead end degree. |