Help my below average son chose a college major

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS who is awful at math is a communications major. He’s a good writer and all of the non-math classes have been easy for him so far in college. He is at a liberal arts school so the first two years are core courses in a lot of different areas so he didn’t need to choose a major until the end of sophomore year. He only needed to take one math course to satisfy that requirement. He took pre-calculus again and that was the end of his dreaded math courses. Look into small, supportive liberal arts schools with a focus on undergraduate teaching. My son went to the tutoring center to get help with that math course.

What fuggin school does he attend?

[Anonymous]

Get his gen ed classes and priority one: he needs to find a person in the career office, and say, "I'm going to be in here for four years. I want an internship every single summer. I'm not a star student, but want to try things." They'll love him for that.

During parents weekend, very first year, make sure this has happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of his grades, he doesn't need to know his major yet. Half of those people that "know their major" will change anyway.

This, this, this!

Also, the military is still an option after college, and then he could go to officer training and become an officer (almost) immediately versus going in as enlisted.

Someone with a 900 SAT is not a great candidate for this.

(Don't come at me, you know I don't mean the SAT is required for OCS.)

SAT is just one part of a person. Of course its ok for military. But enlisted life sucks.

Yes, it's fine if one wants to enlist. But PP was suggesting he do officer training after college.

[Anonymous]

Don’t sign up your kid to become cannon fodder for a wannabe dictator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t sign up your kid to become cannon fodder for a wannabe dictator.

Jesus Christ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about law enforcement? You can get a criminal justice degree, which from what I have heard is not that hard, then go to the police academy. I believe you get paid more if you have a degree.

Or a fire fighter? EMT?

Ooooh, I like these, OP!

Yes! NP. And definitely no to military.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS who is awful at math is a communications major. He’s a good writer and all of the non-math classes have been easy for him so far in college. He is at a liberal arts school so the first two years are core courses in a lot of different areas so he didn’t need to choose a major until the end of sophomore year. He only needed to take one math course to satisfy that requirement. He took pre-calculus again and that was the end of his dreaded math courses. Look into small, supportive liberal arts schools with a focus on undergraduate teaching. My son went to the tutoring center to get help with that math course.

What fuggin school does he attend?

This is pretty standard across many LACs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you all for the responses. I was so worried that I would get slammed for this. He is a senior in high school. I guess he feels like everyone else knows their major so he feels like he should as well. I did tell him that the first year will pretty much the same for everyone no matter their major. He will be taking the non credit Math, Reading and Writing classes during the Summer, on campus, because his SAT was so low. He does not like that idea but I think it is great to help prepare him for college. To follow up with others, he is not artistic at all, he struggled with advanced Math and we bumped him down to regular and he obtained a B. He is a kid that honestly has no motivation or desire. His dad thinks that he is perfect for the military. He is the type of kid that if you tell him to do it, he will do it and not complain but does not take initiative on his own. Dad said that is the military for him but we have to support that he wants to go to college.

People are generally nice to parents that don't seem to be trolling with questions like "my 1590 son with a 4.8 GPA is trying to decide whether to go to MIT for computer science/math double major or go play quarterback at Stanford with an economics/physics double major. OR should we reconsider the offers at princeton, yale or caltech?... PLEASE HELP!!!!"

You son might be a late bloomer but we all know kids that ended up financially successful without the aid of AP calculus or particle physics. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard and fortunately for your kid, most kids are not working hard these days (sorry, not sorry).

[Anonymous]

I would consider business with concentration in management and then an accounting adjacent career path in Accounts Payable, Billing , etc. Google Billing Analyst, Accounts Payable Analyst positions. Very minimal basic math and very basic accounting skills required but there is a career progression to supervisor, manager, director roles that pay pretty well. Procurement is another accounting adjacent field with a similar career progression path. Look up procurement analyst roles. Plenty of options for him in Corporate support roles. Another option is a concentration in HR with careers in payroll processing or HR, including benefits, recruiting, training, etc.

[Anonymous]

digital adverstiing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t sign up your kid to become cannon fodder for a wannabe dictator.

Jesus Christ.

Feel free to pray your stupid away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone belongs in college straightaway. Try a couple of years at a community college and see how it goes.

4 year colleges that accept kids with this profile have lots of supports for them, they know how to serve their students. Community colleges have far less supports and as a result high drop out rates.

[Anonymous]

OP your son sounds like he has some great strengths - if you tell him what to do he does it with no complaint! That is actually huge in the workforce. I would try to find something that has more of a "professional" path that is clear. It really helps folks not super internally motivated when the path is kind of laid out. For example, someone mentioned occupational therapy but that requires a grad degree. Having a college degree is a great foundation to have, sociology or marketing are two that I would consider. I would take a look at the courses required for those majors and see what interests him. But for the "professional" piece I would also think about things like surgical tech. Any chance he would be interested in that? It doesn't require as much schooling, if he can handle blood I think your role is very clear and you still have a professional cohort, etc. without needing a grad degree. Radiology tech, respiratory therapist. Those are things that came to mind for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would consider business with concentration in management and then an accounting adjacent career path in Accounts Payable, Billing , etc. Google Billing Analyst, Accounts Payable Analyst positions. Very minimal basic math and very basic accounting skills required but there is a career progression to supervisor, manager, director roles that pay pretty well. Procurement is another accounting adjacent field with a similar career progression path. Look up procurement analyst roles. Plenty of options for him in Corporate support roles. Another option is a concentration in HR with careers in payroll processing or HR, including benefits, recruiting, training, etc.

Accounting requires some stats classes. Also, not everyone is cut out for accounting. It takes a certain personality. I worked with accountants most of my career.

[Anonymous]

There’s a kid in my neighbourhood who had a middling hs GPA, really nice guy and good with people. He went to Community college and got his training as Electrician. Now at age 24 he makes almost as much money as I do and has work booked out for months and months. He has written his own ticket and it’s just doing so great. Someone may have mentioned this earlier in this thread but I would definitely take a look at the trades. There’s so much work there and the pay is great, can offer both job stability and independence.