Did you review the curriculum for DC's major?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few years ago, my wife was the head of program that hired 60-70 college grads each year. She would tell me stories about parents reaching out to her about hiring decisions related to their kids. The level of intrusiveness was shockng. However, I see this stuff on this board and it doesn't shock me.

You could see OP being one of "those" parents who calls the dean to argue about a grade.

No, OP, I don't look at the curriculum for my kid. I do make sure that the colleges they apply to are accredited and have decent reputations, and not necessarily T50.

I went to a T150, and I make six figures. Have been doing so for like 20 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:if parents are paying, they absolutely DFo have a responsibility to know what their kid is studying, whether they are obtaining marketable skills and to help be an advisor.

your "kid" is now an adult. If you don't trust that your kid knows whether they are learning something or not, maybe don't trust your kid with living away from you either.

If your adult kid asks you for advice, that's one thing, but for you to review the curriculum and course catalog and tell your kid what to do is another. That's pathetic.

Did you not look into the college before they applied or accepted, and whether they have a good reputation in that field?

My kid tells me what they want to study and they decide with their advisor what classes they are going to take. We talk about what classes would be good, but it's my kid who leads that discussions, not the parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:so my kid is supposed to trust his college advisor who has a billion other kids but not a parent who may even be in a similar career?

The college advisor knows the school and academics there better than you do. If you are in a similar career, and your kid wants your advice, then sure. But, are you forcing it on them? Are you calling the school?

[Anonymous]

Yes, we both compared the curriculum at his two top choices (separately), and my son went with the one he preferred, and I concurred. Done.

[Anonymous]

Curriculum for my son’s organic chemistry class:

Introduction to organic chemistry; structure of organic molecules, reactions of the principal functional groups, and basic theory. Emphasis on prediction of reaction products and rates using reaction mechanisms as a unifying principle.

Sounds pretty basic, right?

Organic chemistry is a wash-out class for pre-med majors, and my DS is killin’ it!

[Anonymous]

"It strikes me as odd that a parent who is going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to send their kid to school wouldn't examine these things and provide some guidance."

+1

My husband and I are definitely asking questions and making sure DC is thinking about these things (rigor of curriculum and marketability of major). I don't think the former is on the radar for the average 18 year old, since they have had no college experience yet, and it is important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"It strikes me as odd that a parent who is going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to send their kid to school wouldn't examine these things and provide some guidance."

+1

My husband and I are definitely asking questions and making sure DC is thinking about these things (rigor of curriculum and marketability of major). I don't think the former is on the radar for the average 18 year old, since they have had no college experience yet, and it is important.

Thank you!!

[Anonymous]

I'm a professor and have served as a program director, department chair, and on several curriculum committees. I also have a first-year student in college (not mine).

Parents, do NOT do this. If you are worried about your child maximizing their college experience, encourage them to speak to their professors, the department chair, their academic advisors, and older students in their major. When they have the opportunity to choose electives, they should aim for a balance of fulfilling requirements for their intended major and also should take a class outside of their major from a professor who has a reputation for being an excellent teacher (use word of mouth for this, NOT ratemyprofessor).
As a parent, you really likely have little understanding of why the major is structured the way it is. There are factors that you likely have not considered (such as availability of certain faculty, accreditation concerns, budgeting issues, class sizes, etc.) that affect curriculum.
As for hiring or graduate school, in many cases a student's recommendation from professors, internships, and GPA are important. For many jobs, content is learned on site, not in a classroom. Employers are looking for trainability and skills that can't be taught easily at work, like the ability to write well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I guess I wasn't clear. I'm asking if, during the school selection phase, you looked at what the school was offering for your DC's area of study. For example, if your DC wants to study management, did you bother to look at what classes are required for that major to make sure it's not a joke major at this school, and that it will actually require them to learn some skills? I never mentioned anything about helping an enrolled college student select their courses. But the parent who posted about monitoring progress toward meeting all degree requirements made a good case for why one should.

Nephew does not attend the flagship public and is out of state.

With my nephew, my concern is that he's in a major that is considered a super easy one at his school (based on Reddit comments it's what most recruited athletes choose), and the school itself is not known for being an intellectual or academic powerhouse. He isn't in a major that involves accreditation or where students are being prepared for external certificates, so there is no third party making sure that the major is not a joke. IOW, nobody is looking out for whether this major is going to help him accomplish his goals.

I don't say anything to him or his parents about this, so I'm not getting into anybody else's business.

I wrote the OP because I'm curious how common it is for parents to not care about the quality of the college education they're going to pay $200K+ for. Are parents really fine with their kids not learning much in the classroom so long as they graduate? Do parents realize that this is something they could and/or should do? Today is the day kids have to make decisions about where they'll attend, so I wonder if families bothered to look at this sort of thing as part of that decision process.

OK, yes. That's different. I'm a PP who doesn't review course schedule with my kid to be intrusive and check on them, but they share their courses with us.

My younger DC is interested in a major that is not offered at most colleges. So, yes, I looked at which schools have the major and what classes are required because I don't know some of those schools.

And it's not like I went to a high flying top school. I went to a T150 but majored in something that I knew that school was good for.

[Anonymous]

Of course I would help an adult with making big life decisions. My college age kid. My spouse. My parent. My sibling.

Making solo decisions on important things is so stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course I would help an adult with making big life decisions. My college age kid. My spouse. My parent. My sibling.

Making solo decisions on important things is so stupid.

I will help if they ask. Otherwise no. Sometimes people can/prefer to make decisions on their own. Thats not stupid.

[Anonymous]

I feel like you've posted before about your nephew in the run of the mill state school. I think you need to let this weird obsession go. Not everyone needs "rigor", and if he is a kinesiology major (assuming that's what you meant by an athlete's major) he will likely be in high demand when he graduates.

No I did not review course catalogs for my college kids. One did run his proposed course registration by us, the other did not. They are both very successful working adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my experience a course catalogue description of a course is cursory, oftentimes only barely describing what they actually do. I took a religious studies course to fulfill a humanities requirement. It was supposed to be a comparative course on the major pillars of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. I don’t think any of those religions were ever even mentioned. Instead it was entirely about tribes like the Yanomami. Same with an English course. It was supposed to be about “classic” American authors, but the reading was by quite obscure ones.

But to the larger point, MYOFB

That's why OP looked at the actually syllabus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have any idea about the academic rigor of your DC's program of study, and do you even care if it's rigorous and makes them a stronger thinker?

My nephew is "killing it" according to BIL at his run of the mill state school. BIL brags about how the kid is getting As. I took a look at the list of courses he's taking and he has shown me the syllabus for a class that relates to my field. I can't believe how little this college expects of its students. They basically just collect tuition for four years, stamp their diploma, and send them out into the world without bothering to make them learn how to write or think critically. I'm sure the kids who major in job oriented things like nursing or structural engineering have to actually learn something, but my nephew is not being served well by his college IMHO.

I remember reading something about a study showing that most college kids didn't increase their intellectual skills much from freshman to senior year. I thought this had to be a poorly done study, but now I can see how this is possible.

Lots of schools are like this. Unless your kid is at a top school you should look into it. Mine are in schools that challenge them and increase their intellectual capacity every single semester. The classes require a lot of reading, 10-12p papers, difficult problem sets and problem based long-answer tests where 1/3-1/2 requires creative analysis and applications of knowledge. Prior to applications, I did compare syllabi and talked to professor friends about how much or little they have to dumb down content at their respective schools. They gave great insight on what schools provide an intellectual education. Both thought William&Mary is the best public school in VA, UVA second, because there is no way to coast through W&Mary and UVa and especially VT have a large % of phone-it-in classes in certain majors.

Assuming you have a motivated child, it makes more sense to compare the ceilings rather than the floors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have any idea about the academic rigor of your DC's program of study, and do you even care if it's rigorous and makes them a stronger thinker?

My nephew is "killing it" according to BIL at his run of the mill state school. BIL brags about how the kid is getting As. I took a look at the list of courses he's taking and he has shown me the syllabus for a class that relates to my field. I can't believe how little this college expects of its students. They basically just collect tuition for four years, stamp their diploma, and send them out into the world without bothering to make them learn how to write or think critically. I'm sure the kids who major in job oriented things like nursing or structural engineering have to actually learn something, but my nephew is not being served well by his college IMHO.

I remember reading something about a study showing that most college kids didn't increase their intellectual skills much from freshman to senior year. I thought this had to be a poorly done study, but now I can see how this is possible.

1. No parents do not look at the curriculum your student should. They are adults not babies.
2. Religious college curriculums are worse than state schools. Ie places like https://www.onlinechristiancolleges.com/best/https://www.onlinechristiancolleges.com/best/conservative-universities/ all worthless.
3. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a state school and yes your nephew is learning something.
4. MYOB you are really stupid.

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