Kid has no idea what to major in

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm biased, but I would recommend economics. It is the best interdisciplinary major in my opinion. It is a mix of social sciences and mathematics, and a foundation for numerous jobs. If your kid decides they want to go a more quantitative route, they can take courses in econometrics or forecasting. If your kid decides to go a more social sciences route, there are courses in economic history, law, and policy. More importantly, it also lays prepares you for graduate school or even a change of majors. The reading is great for pre-law and the quant courses are great for pursuing graduate school in accounting, data science, etc. If your kid decides to switch to a STEM major, they will have already taken the required math and stats sequences. If your kid decides to switch to business, the intro econ and math courses are taken care of. Economics really is the best major in my opinion.

NP. I'm glad to read this, my college freshman is leaning towards economics and I've been encouraging him while others not so much. Thank you for this perspective!

My economist aunt said the same thing to me (majored in physics and English lit). I think you have to like the subject matter though. I would not have been happy studying econ instead of physics or lit. Also, if an econ major really wants to be competitive in something like data science they need to learn python, not just R (which is more common for econ and the social sciences overall).

FWIW, for a STEM-inclined person I think physics is the best major. You can usually parlay physics + a couple extra electives into any kind of graduate engineering program (or engineering job). Same is true for most of the physical sciences. Well-trained experimental physicists also make excellent hardware engineers. Physicists also are significantly over-represented in quantitative finance jobs and in AI. My physics undergrad classmates went on to do everything from physics PhD (several of us are now in tech), MBA, law school (now a prof at T5 school), a variety of engineering PhDs, finance (incl. IB, hedge fund, VC...), and art school (product design). Once again, though, you need to enjoy the subject matter.

The vast majority of college kids don’t have the capacity to get a degree in physics. It’s a hard major. The reason you see physics majors in a lot of different jobs is because they’re very smart; not just because they majored in physics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm biased, but I would recommend economics. It is the best interdisciplinary major in my opinion. It is a mix of social sciences and mathematics, and a foundation for numerous jobs. If your kid decides they want to go a more quantitative route, they can take courses in econometrics or forecasting. If your kid decides to go a more social sciences route, there are courses in economic history, law, and policy. More importantly, it also lays prepares you for graduate school or even a change of majors. The reading is great for pre-law and the quant courses are great for pursuing graduate school in accounting, data science, etc. If your kid decides to switch to a STEM major, they will have already taken the required math and stats sequences. If your kid decides to switch to business, the intro econ and math courses are taken care of. Economics really is the best major in my opinion.

Best major is Computer Science period. It's the King.

Economics is a very good major, and many good points addressed.
However if the school have a dedicated undergradaute business program, try to get in there first.
Business programs are almost alwasys better than economics in art & sceicne provided that the school have both.
Job placement is better. It's harder get in and harder to change into. Much easier to change to Econ if you want anytime.

Examples: MIT Sloan, UPenn Wharton, Cornell Dyson, Georgetown McDonugh, Notre Dame Mendoza, UVA Mcintire, Michigan Ross, Berkeley Has, NYU Stern, etc.

CS is “best” in what sense? Sounds like a simplistic statement.

+1
The "CS is King" poster sounds very simplistic. No subject would make me run away faster than Computer Science. Horribly, horribly boring.

I realize CS is more than coding, but I am always blown away by how impressed people are with coding. It is the blue collar job of the future.

I’m assuming you don’t write code for a living. Or you do some JavaScript/web development and consider yourself a “coder”. Good software developers are difficult to find and make a lot of money; not exactly a job I would expect to become “blue collar” in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm biased, but I would recommend economics. It is the best interdisciplinary major in my opinion. It is a mix of social sciences and mathematics, and a foundation for numerous jobs. If your kid decides they want to go a more quantitative route, they can take courses in econometrics or forecasting. If your kid decides to go a more social sciences route, there are courses in economic history, law, and policy. More importantly, it also lays prepares you for graduate school or even a change of majors. The reading is great for pre-law and the quant courses are great for pursuing graduate school in accounting, data science, etc. If your kid decides to switch to a STEM major, they will have already taken the required math and stats sequences. If your kid decides to switch to business, the intro econ and math courses are taken care of. Economics really is the best major in my opinion.

NP. I'm glad to read this, my college freshman is leaning towards economics and I've been encouraging him while others not so much. Thank you for this perspective!

My economist aunt said the same thing to me (majored in physics and English lit). I think you have to like the subject matter though. I would not have been happy studying econ instead of physics or lit. Also, if an econ major really wants to be competitive in something like data science they need to learn python, not just R (which is more common for econ and the social sciences overall).

FWIW, for a STEM-inclined person I think physics is the best major. You can usually parlay physics + a couple extra electives into any kind of graduate engineering program (or engineering job). Same is true for most of the physical sciences. Well-trained experimental physicists also make excellent hardware engineers. Physicists also are significantly over-represented in quantitative finance jobs and in AI. My physics undergrad classmates went on to do everything from physics PhD (several of us are now in tech), MBA, law school (now a prof at T5 school), a variety of engineering PhDs, finance (incl. IB, hedge fund, VC...), and art school (product design). Once again, though, you need to enjoy the subject matter.

The vast majority of college kids don’t have the capacity to get a degree in physics. It’s a hard major. The reason you see physics majors in a lot of different jobs is because they’re very smart; not just because they majored in physics.

No, it's a combination. Yes, physics is a hard major. There are other hard majors. But the physics degree itself is a solid foundation for many things. There are few other degrees that enable you to go on to the variety of grad programs a physics degree does. Because of the courses they take, physics majors can get admitting to grad programs in almost any field of engineering. The reverse is not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm biased, but I would recommend economics. It is the best interdisciplinary major in my opinion. It is a mix of social sciences and mathematics, and a foundation for numerous jobs. If your kid decides they want to go a more quantitative route, they can take courses in econometrics or forecasting. If your kid decides to go a more social sciences route, there are courses in economic history, law, and policy. More importantly, it also lays prepares you for graduate school or even a change of majors. The reading is great for pre-law and the quant courses are great for pursuing graduate school in accounting, data science, etc. If your kid decides to switch to a STEM major, they will have already taken the required math and stats sequences. If your kid decides to switch to business, the intro econ and math courses are taken care of. Economics really is the best major in my opinion.

Best major is Computer Science period. It's the King.

Economics is a very good major, and many good points addressed.
However if the school have a dedicated undergradaute business program, try to get in there first.
Business programs are almost alwasys better than economics in art & sceicne provided that the school have both.
Job placement is better. It's harder get in and harder to change into. Much easier to change to Econ if you want anytime.

Examples: MIT Sloan, UPenn Wharton, Cornell Dyson, Georgetown McDonugh, Notre Dame Mendoza, UVA Mcintire, Michigan Ross, Berkeley Has, NYU Stern, etc.

CS is “best” in what sense? Sounds like a simplistic statement.

+1
The "CS is King" poster sounds very simplistic. No subject would make me run away faster than Computer Science. Horribly, horribly boring.

I realize CS is more than coding, but I am always blown away by how impressed people are with coding. It is the blue collar job of the future.

I’m assuming you don’t write code for a living. Or you do some JavaScript/web development and consider yourself a “coder”. Good software developers are difficult to find and make a lot of money; not exactly a job I would expect to become “blue collar” in the future.

DP here, and I would argue that the value is not the software development so much as the software architecture...and also an understanding of UX.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How normal is it for a high school senior to know what they want to major in? I hear people say their kids are a computer science major or pre-med. Amy kid has no idea. Could be absolutely anything from English to history to computer science to physics. Or anything else their college offers. Literally anything.

I think if a child was a STEM type, they'd know by senior year. So I'd cross science off the list.

History and english sound useless.

I'd suggest a business major like finance or marketing. Or could do communications.

MIT PhD here. Glad you weren’t advising me when I was in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How normal is it for a high school senior to know what they want to major in? I hear people say their kids are a computer science major or pre-med. Amy kid has no idea. Could be absolutely anything from English to history to computer science to physics. Or anything else their college offers. Literally anything.

I think if a child was a STEM type, they'd know by senior year. So I'd cross science off the list.

History and english sound useless.

I'd suggest a business major like finance or marketing. Or could do communications.

MIT PhD here. Glad you weren’t advising me when I was in high school.

Got MIT PhD in English LOL, but you are right, bad advising.

Communications is even worse than English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm biased, but I would recommend economics. It is the best interdisciplinary major in my opinion. It is a mix of social sciences and mathematics, and a foundation for numerous jobs. If your kid decides they want to go a more quantitative route, they can take courses in econometrics or forecasting. If your kid decides to go a more social sciences route, there are courses in economic history, law, and policy. More importantly, it also lays prepares you for graduate school or even a change of majors. The reading is great for pre-law and the quant courses are great for pursuing graduate school in accounting, data science, etc. If your kid decides to switch to a STEM major, they will have already taken the required math and stats sequences. If your kid decides to switch to business, the intro econ and math courses are taken care of. Economics really is the best major in my opinion.

Best major is Computer Science period. It's the King.

Economics is a very good major, and many good points addressed.
However if the school have a dedicated undergradaute business program, try to get in there first.
Business programs are almost alwasys better than economics in art & sceicne provided that the school have both.
Job placement is better. It's harder get in and harder to change into. Much easier to change to Econ if you want anytime.

Examples: MIT Sloan, UPenn Wharton, Cornell Dyson, Georgetown McDonugh, Notre Dame Mendoza, UVA Mcintire, Michigan Ross, Berkeley Has, NYU Stern, etc.

CS is “best” in what sense? Sounds like a simplistic statement.

+1
The "CS is King" poster sounds very simplistic. No subject would make me run away faster than Computer Science. Horribly, horribly boring.

I realize CS is more than coding, but I am always blown away by how impressed people are with coding. It is the blue collar job of the future.

"I realize CS is more than coding"
Yes very much.

It's like saying English is more than grammar and spelling
Math is more than calculation.

You know what, we have huge advancements in computers that can actually do all kinds of calculations, but math majors(applied mathematics, statistics, etc. ) are getting more and more popular in the market.   

You do not advise your kid.  

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How normal is it for a high school senior to know what they want to major in? I hear people say their kids are a computer science major or pre-med. Amy kid has no idea. Could be absolutely anything from English to history to computer science to physics. Or anything else their college offers. Literally anything.

OP, my kid didn't know what to major in either as a HS senior, and now as a college freshman with a semester under his belt, still doesn't know. It was a little difficult for him when he tried to register this spring for a couple of classes in areas he wanted to explore, they were limited to students who had declared that major. Not sure if that would happen though at a larger school (his has about 8,000 undergrads).

But otherwise he's still figuring it out, and we've been fine with it. I had hoped he'd take the opportunity to take a variety of classes and see what interested him or lit a spark. My nephew is a college sophomore and went in sure he wanted to major in x-y-z. He's already changed his mind three times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How normal is it for a high school senior to know what they want to major in? I hear people say their kids are a computer science major or pre-med. Amy kid has no idea. Could be absolutely anything from English to history to computer science to physics. Or anything else their college offers. Literally anything.

OP, my kid didn't know what to major in either as a HS senior, and now as a college freshman with a semester under his belt, still doesn't know. It was a little difficult for him when he tried to register this spring for a couple of classes in areas he wanted to explore, they were limited to students who had declared that major. Not sure if that would happen though at a larger school (his has about 8,000 undergrads).

But otherwise he's still figuring it out, and we've been fine with it. I had hoped he'd take the opportunity to take a variety of classes and see what interested him or lit a spark. My nephew is a college sophomore and went in sure he wanted to major in x-y-z. He's already changed his mind three times.

Be aware certain majors and programs are competitive or limited, so hard to get in or change into

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How normal is it for a high school senior to know what they want to major in? I hear people say their kids are a computer science major or pre-med. Amy kid has no idea. Could be absolutely anything from English to history to computer science to physics. Or anything else their college offers. Literally anything.

very normal. I say this without snark but, did you go to college? Most colleges don't require someone to declare until Sophomore year or so.

If you're applying to a good school they want to know what your interests are. Don't say "I don't know what I wan to major in." That'll put you in the reject pile pronto.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How normal is it for a high school senior to know what they want to major in? I hear people say their kids are a computer science major or pre-med. Amy kid has no idea. Could be absolutely anything from English to history to computer science to physics. Or anything else their college offers. Literally anything.

place like JMU or Arizona State won't care too much.

[Anonymous]

As someone who wanted to major in Computer Engineering the minute I stepped on the campus of Purdue University in 2008, I changed my major from Computer Engineering to Physics after the semester. After the 2nd semester, I changed my major again to business. I am currently working for Goldman Sach IB. Previous employer was a startup. IIRC, the first 1 1/2 years is the same for everyone. Your kid will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How normal is it for a high school senior to know what they want to major in? I hear people say their kids are a computer science major or pre-med. Amy kid has no idea. Could be absolutely anything from English to history to computer science to physics. Or anything else their college offers. Literally anything.

lol Nobody just randomly majors in CS or physics. And CS has become the new "pre-med." Where every other insecure pretentious overconfident high school senior and college freshman brags that's what they're majoring in. Right up until they take their first one or two weed out courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How normal is it for a high school senior to know what they want to major in? I hear people say their kids are a computer science major or pre-med. Amy kid has no idea. Could be absolutely anything from English to history to computer science to physics. Or anything else their college offers. Literally anything.

lol Nobody just randomly majors in CS or physics. And CS has become the new "pre-med." Where every other insecure pretentious overconfident high school senior and college freshman brags that's what they're majoring in. Right up until they take their first one or two weed out courses.

My kids first computer science class was overbooked and the classroom was full for the first week.
After a month the classroom was half empty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How normal is it for a high school senior to know what they want to major in? I hear people say their kids are a computer science major or pre-med. Amy kid has no idea. Could be absolutely anything from English to history to computer science to physics. Or anything else their college offers. Literally anything.

I think if a child was a STEM type, they'd know by senior year. So I'd cross science off the list.

History and english sound useless.

I'd suggest a business major like finance or marketing. Or could do communications.

MIT PhD here. Glad you weren’t advising me when I was in high school.

Got MIT PhD in English LOL, but you are right, bad advising.

Communications is even worse than English.

I know you think you are funny. But those of us who have achieved highly in stem (especially in research) have dual undergrad degrees in a stem field and a classic liberal arts. The Vice President of research at Stanford has a bachelors in English Lit and Physics.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-benefit-cost-analysis/article/private-and-social-benefits-of-double-majors/CD1696DBF93DEFE3C2D3A759D6F0895B

OP - your kid who may not know what s/he wants to do as a high school senior is bound for greatness