What advice would you give a college student who has no idea what career she wants?

[Anonymous]

My daughter is a rising sophomore in college, and she truly has absolutely no idea of what kind of career she wants. It's extremely frustrating for both her and us. She has decided to major in Sociology only because she find the classes interesting but she knows it won't make her employable. Personally, I would rather she major in something more practical where she can at least earn a decent wage while she figures out what it is she really wants to do.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, that wouldn’t fly - at least if I’m paying for it.

[Anonymous]

For me, college is way too expensive to major in something useless like sociology. She can choose it as her minor but she needs to pick something that can help her find gainful employment after college. I loved sociology and history BTW so I got a history minor and an accounting degree.

[Anonymous]

How about marketing with a sociology minor.

[Anonymous]

Find out what kind of services your career counseling center offers for this problem and take advantage. Also do some internships and part-time jobs to figure out what she hates.

[Anonymous]

What appeals to her about sociology? I have three kids who all wanted to major in non-marketable majors and once we extracted what specifically about those subjects they liked, we were able to steer them to a more marketable major that still incorporated those strengths and likes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about marketing with a sociology minor.

Or Industrial/Organizational Psychology (I/O Psychology) http://www.apa.org/action/science/organizational/education-training.aspx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about marketing with a sociology minor.

Or Industrial/Organizational Psychology (I/O Psychology) http://www.apa.org/action/science/organizational/education-training.aspx

You need a PhD for that...

[Anonymous]

She should take some math and the hardest statistics classes - sociology can be very quantitative, and she should make sure she has good grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What appeals to her about sociology? I have three kids who all wanted to major in non-marketable majors and once we extracted what specifically about those subjects they liked, we were able to steer them to a more marketable major that still incorporated those strengths and likes.

I've tried that, but she just likes learning about. Nothing that could be considered an offshoot such as social wok, criminal justice, or being a counselor appeals to her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about marketing with a sociology minor.

Is marketing really an employable degree? What would a typical entry level position be for a marketing major?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For me, college is way too expensive to major in something useless like sociology. She can choose it as her minor but she needs to pick something that can help her find gainful employment after college. I loved sociology and history BTW so I got a history minor and an accounting degree.

Do you think most anyone could get by as an entry level accountant? This is what I would like to recommend to her. I realize that there is a high likelihood that after a few years of working as an accountant she would want to look into switching careers, but I would rather she spend 2-3 year after college working as an accountant instead of Starbucks, while she figures out what her true calling is.

[Anonymous]

STEM !!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:STEM !!!

Even if you're not the math and science type?

[Anonymous]

Good grief. Let he major in. Sociology. Encourage her to seek internships to wzplore possible careers.