Help my below average son chose a college major

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

NP here, could you elaborate on the personality traits that would help a future accountant? My son is second year college student in accounting.

Btw, OP, your son sounds like a great kid and just reading this thread shows how many paths can lead to success. Good luck to him!

My daughter is graduating with a BBA in accounting (with honors, yeah... I'm proud!).
Her personality is one that has always loved and thrived with structure and rules. There's no one who loves rules better than her. She is meticulous and organized. She appreciates the "a place for everything and everything in its place" adage. She likes solving problems, organizing data, and creating visual representations of her work. Her program was difficult, Intermediate 2 (and it's a 2-semester class) is the huge weed out class and there was much crying - not just her, the whole class was stressed. She absolutely loves audit, a lot is done by AI now but using the programs to go thru financial statements and compare transactions, look for material issues, etc. is something she enjoys. Accounting requires learning a new way to think and a new language, accounting is the language of business. She enjoys it but her major was hard compared to others in the business school. She is starting her grad program in January as she wants to take the CPA.

[Anonymous]

I would agree with some type of health science major, and look at:
Cardiovascular Techs
Medical Appliance Technicians
Radiologic Technologists and Technicians
(some) Registered Nurses
Surgical Technologists
Medical Laboratory Technicians
Nuclear Medicine Technologists
Radiation Therapists
Medical Laboratory Technologists

They make very decent salaries, and once you master the job skills, not a lot of stress for the most part, other than nursing can be stressful depending on the situation. You can work in an outpatient/office or in a hospital. My child has a serious medical condition, and I think we've met all of the above, and they were all very happy and very relaxed people.

[Anonymous]

The military would be fine with an officer with a BA Geography from GMU. Even if he did not stay in as a career, being an officer for 4 years or so would prep him for lots of other non-tech/non-math government sector positions. And being a veteran with an honorable discharge is a plus at hiring time, both for industry and civil service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP! Thanks for posting so I could read all of the responses. Like you, I have kid that's a senior with terrible grades and a SAT score in the 900s. As a person, super sweet, pleasant, easy going. I feel like we are all alone when reading the questions about college typically in this forum. I am just hoping my kid can get in somewhere and then I'm hoping they can actually be successful there. I haven't been thinking too much about a major, but maybe I should be!

OP here. Thank you to all, I am writing down all of the majors mentioned to run it by him. Also will reassure him and myself that there is no rush. I just want to say thank you to this poster because yes, it feels very alone. My son is so sweet and a good kid but he just doesn’t seem like the kids on here and that scared me a bit. My son has many positives. Looking back, I see how my post mentioned only his weaknesses. He is respectful, he plays sports for fun, he likes to work out, he likes to keep his room in order/clean, plays video games, good with his much younger siblings and likes science the most. I honestly could see him being a health or PE teacher!

PE Teacher is a good start, but it's one of the least stable teaching jobs. When there are cutbacks, PE and art are one of the first things to go.

But, he could start as a PE teacher and end up in admin. One of DC's MS PE teacher did that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about sales or something else in business?

Sales requires a self-motivated mindset to be successful.

[Anonymous]

I find kids like this often grow up to be the most empathetic and effective school-based counselors.

[Anonymous]

My DD school has a 60-credit core curriculum with major coursework designed to be taken in the Jr and Sr years. She didn't choose a major until right before she started her 3rd year. Chances are, your DS has time to explore and decide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP! Thanks for posting so I could read all of the responses. Like you, I have kid that's a senior with terrible grades and a SAT score in the 900s. As a person, super sweet, pleasant, easy going. I feel like we are all alone when reading the questions about college typically in this forum. I am just hoping my kid can get in somewhere and then I'm hoping they can actually be successful there. I haven't been thinking too much about a major, but maybe I should be!

OP here. Thank you to all, I am writing down all of the majors mentioned to run it by him. Also will reassure him and myself that there is no rush. I just want to say thank you to this poster because yes, it feels very alone. My son is so sweet and a good kid but he just doesn’t seem like the kids on here and that scared me a bit. My son has many positives. Looking back, I see how my post mentioned only his weaknesses. He is respectful, he plays sports for fun, he likes to work out, he likes to keep his room in order/clean, plays video games, good with his much younger siblings and likes science the most. I honestly could see him being a health or PE teacher!

A) OP, it sounds like you have a terrific kid.
B) The lead PE teacher at our ES is one of the most respected people in the whole school. It sounds like a great idea for your DC. My undergrad school had a major in exercise science that would really probably be better described as "health and fitness."
C) Good things for your DS to try and see if he likes it would include working as a camp counselor or volunteer youth coach. So many organizations could really use a kid like him!

He sounds like a sweetheart. One of my kids is also leaning in this direction. I'm from a flyover state, and he sees my siblings who are teachers and coaches and understands that they have very happy lives.

[Anonymous]

He should go to a college that doesn't require him to declare for the 1st two years and try a range of classes.

[Anonymous]

For college it's not just about getting in, it's about getting out. Not all colleges/universities have a path for success for this level student (900 SAT) Be careful. Note the foreign language requirements. Note the math requirements. Do some digging into requirements, what it takes to be accepted into various majors, and what it takes to complete the requirements for graduation.

[Anonymous]

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?

Firefighters in big cities make a lot of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The thing about the military is that it is always there. I enlisted just out of high school and started completely at the bottom. If I had finished even one semester of college, I would have started at a higher rank. Let him do the first term and see how he goes.
I was a terrible student in high school, with very little motivation, but 4 years in the Army gave my brain time to catch up, the Army taught me how to learn and I saw that the people without college degrees were cleaning the toilets while the people who had college degrees were watching us do it.

I got out of the Army, and using credits I'd gotten in the Army, graduated university in 2 years - no more cleaning toilets for me

I think that a student going into the military has to take the possibility of going to war seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find kids like this often grow up to be the most empathetic and effective school-based counselors.

Yeah that's just who you want advising and counseling your kid, someone who has failed at life due to lack of motivation and ability to succeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find kids like this often grow up to be the most empathetic and effective school-based counselors.

Yeah that's just who you want advising and counseling your kid, someone who has failed at life due to lack of motivation and ability to succeed.

Um, school counselors have master's degrees and work incredibly hard. I'm sure that OP and many of the rest of us here would be proud to have their kids pursue something this meaningful. And OP's kid can hardly be said to be falling short professionally: he hasn't even started college yet! Type B personalities aren't failures or lazy. They just don't crave competition. And Type A personalities find that totally mystifying and belittle them for it - because doing so is another form of the competition that A's need for fulfillment! OP's kid will be just fine on his own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find kids like this often grow up to be the most empathetic and effective school-based counselors.

Yeah that's just who you want advising and counseling your kid, someone who has failed at life due to lack of motivation and ability to succeed.

Um, school counselors have master's degrees and work incredibly hard. I'm sure that OP and many of the rest of us here would be proud to have their kids pursue something this meaningful. And OP's kid can hardly be said to be falling short professionally: he hasn't even started college yet! Type B personalities aren't failures or lazy. They just don't crave competition. And Type A personalities find that totally mystifying and belittle them for it - because doing so is another form of the competition that A's need for fulfillment! OP's kid will be just fine on his own.

They are losers who got a "check the box" masters at a sh*t tier institution.