How to even start thinking?

[Anonymous]

I have a sophomore who will be starting this whole process but truly has not idea what she wants in life. Are there any good websites or online quizzes that can help direct her toward fields or programs of study that might be helpful? There are just so many career fields that she’s overwhelmed. She is a solid student but has no specific academic passions. No real interest in anything lending itself to a specific major. She knows she is not interested in medicine or engineering. Liberal arts is vague at this age.

How do you even begin finding a school for someone so scattered?

[Anonymous]

Our school (MoCo public) gave career interest tests to the kids in tenth grade (I think that was the year). It is offered through Naviance I think. If you have not heard mention of this, I would ask the guidance counselor if they offer something similar.

[Anonymous]

Your child may not be able to articulate a job title, but what do they enjoy? Like mine loves animals, so I found a book "Careers with animals." Just try to notice what excites them (outdoors? reading? service? art? social media? arguing?-- all of that could be turned into a job)

[Anonymous]

I chose a school that didn't require specialization until junior year for this reason, and I'm glad of it. After two years of core course and a wide range of electives, I realized there were fields out there I had never even hear of before; had I chosen in HS I would have gone into computer science, and where I ended up was vastly different.

[Anonymous]

The field of schools is huge, but you can make some major cuts with high level important/not important criteria like:

2-year or 4-year
In state or out of state
Distance from home (a drive or a train or a flight?)
Private or public (or price range -- though merit money and financial aid realities factor into this; you can still make a rough cut starting point)
Urban, suburban, or rural
Big sports school or don't care
On campus focal life or not
Big Greek life or not
Are there whole regions you can cut easily (e.g. US only, not southern, not west coast, not cold weather, etc., etc.)
does it matter if it has a grad school?

[Anonymous]

It is ok not to know what you want at that age, since most of us wind up doing things 17 year olds can't imagine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is ok not to know what you want at that age, since most of us wind up doing things 17 year olds can't imagine.

I always remember an episode of "The Wonder Years" when the kid asked his dad, "What do you do at work?" And the dad said something like "I'm the assistant purchasing manager" and the kid said "Did you always want to be an assistant purchasing manager?"

[Anonymous]

Naviance has a lot of tools to help your child investigate interests, and then will help you find colleges. However, if your child doesn't have a specific interest, Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL) may be a good fit. Read more about them at https://ctcl.org/ and in this recent thread: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/694333.page . McDaniel, Goucher, and Juniata are relatively nearby and I know people who have gone to those three and loved it. Don't be put off by the price-tag of a private school - if your child is academically well qualified, there's a good chance they will get a merit scholarship.

[Anonymous]

Students don't all need to go to a four year college right away. Two years at community college taking general ed requirements and exploring options, and then transferring to the state university to finish a four-year degree is very common.

[Anonymous]

A sophomore is too young to make these kinds of decisions. Why are you pushing her to make these kinds of decisions? She's a year away from when most students begin to visit schools. Back off. let her be. Its really unhealthy for a sophomore to start the process.

[Anonymous]

Come up with a list of schools to begin the process. As you learn more you can add or delete schools off the list. Given she doesn’t know what she wants to do, I would go with big school that offer variety of majors and schools you will be able to offer.

[Anonymous]

OP, at this very early date, I would explore for yourself schools that you think might work. How much can you afford Are you/your spouse likely to agree on the value of public/private. Mostly you need to face if there are going to be any hot-button issues which will affect her.

[Anonymous]

I read once that most people excel/prefer one of three areas: 1) science/math 2) social sciences 3) literature/languages. With my kids it was pretty easy to see. One was science/math, another was social science. I could tell by 9th. Fast forward ~ one has a doctorate in stem. The other is in political science/govt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The field of schools is huge, but you can make some major cuts with high level important/not important criteria like:

2-year or 4-year
In state or out of state
Distance from home (a drive or a train or a flight?)
Private or public (or price range -- though merit money and financial aid realities factor into this; you can still make a rough cut starting point)
Urban, suburban, or rural
Big sports school or don't care
On campus focal life or not
Big Greek life or not
Are there whole regions you can cut easily (e.g. US only, not southern, not west coast, not cold weather, etc., etc.)
does it matter if it has a grad school?

+1

I had no idea what I wanted to do at 15 (or 17, or 18...). I picked a school based on school reputation overall, athletics (I was D1), school size, distance, and "feel" on campus visit. Not based on the relative strength of a particular program of study.

[Anonymous]

Abstractly, you can always start from the best (likely to be) available state school option and have DC justify alternatives as worthwhile upgrades.