Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have patience. She’ll get sick of the low salary and eventually land a job in corporate communications. Sounds like she has solid writing skills, and neuroscience was a good second major, so maybe she’ll put that to use at a large corporation in a few years.

This was me. My first journalism job paid $40k back in the late 90s. I switched to corporate communications in 2009 and my current salary puts me in the top 2 percentile of household incomes. I love having control of my time and being able to afford things for my kids.

Isn’t corporate comms a dying field thanks to OpenAI and ChatGPT? I mean, writing in general is pretty much dead.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

lmaple wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Journalism is never going to pay well.
If she wants cash she needs to go into consulting, they love college level athletes with science and engineering degrees, and get a network of people that can give her a job after 2-5 years if she doesn’t like working that hard long term.

OP here. I encouraged her to go into consulting but she refused, which was frustrating.

She played a sport in HS but not in college. Her personality is almost the opposite of the “Alpha College Athlete” type — she is introverted and bookish, and not gregarious at all.

In retrospect, I regret focusing so much on academics and wish I pushed her into team sports more so she could’ve developed the social skills and connections that are necessary for success.

I guess this is a warning to future DCUM parents: please put more pressure on your kid socially than academically. There is so much talk about colleges and AAP and GPA and SAT scores in this forum, but not enough about helping your kid develop the social skills necessary for success.

All this drivel because a 25 year old is making 70k? You are nuts.

I made 60k when I was 25…which was 25 years ago. To make that as a 25 year old now is really nuts.

This is exactly what I’m saying.

Anonymous wrote:Have patience. She’ll get sick of the low salary and eventually land a job in corporate communications. Sounds like she has solid writing skills, and neuroscience was a good second major, so maybe she’ll put that to use at a large corporation in a few years.

How much does corporate communications pay? Is that like being a copywriter? Aren’t those jobs all disappearing thanks to ChatGPT and AI? And isn’t communications an even lower paying field than journalism unless you become an exec?

And neuroscience was not a good second major — the only jobs that prefer neuroscience knowledge are all low-paying research positions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

lmaple wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Journalism is never going to pay well.
If she wants cash she needs to go into consulting, they love college level athletes with science and engineering degrees, and get a network of people that can give her a job after 2-5 years if she doesn’t like working that hard long term.

OP here. I encouraged her to go into consulting but she refused, which was frustrating.

She played a sport in HS but not in college. Her personality is almost the opposite of the “Alpha College Athlete” type — she is introverted and bookish, and not gregarious at all.

In retrospect, I regret focusing so much on academics and wish I pushed her into team sports more so she could’ve developed the social skills and connections that are necessary for success.

I guess this is a warning to future DCUM parents: please put more pressure on your kid socially than academically. There is so much talk about colleges and AAP and GPA and SAT scores in this forum, but not enough about helping your kid develop the social skills necessary for success.

All this drivel because a 25 year old is making 70k? You are nuts.

Yup. Terrible mother.

My older sister graduated from Ivy and worked in a low paying career. She and her DH lived in a terrible school pyramid because both of them are not making enough to be able to afford a home in a good school district. I bought them a home in McLean so that their kids could attend Churchill/Cooper/Langley pyramid because I love my sister. Money will not solve all of your problems but not having enough money will cause so many issues especially when you have children, and god forbid, they are SN kids.

OP is NOT a terrible mother. She is looking out for her DD best interest as she should.

OP here. That’s EXACTLY what I’m talking about!

This board is full of similarly minded parents who are concerned about their kids’ ability to survive in an increasingly unequal society. There’s constant chatter among parents here about pushing their kids into STEM and helping them get into T20 schools. This concerted cultivation is all so that the next generation can have a good life.

My concerns are normal — most mothers in my position would also be worried.

Anonymous wrote:Journalism is never going to pay well.
If she wants cash she needs to go into consulting, they love college level athletes with science and engineering degrees, and get a network of people that can give her a job after 2-5 years if she doesn’t like working that hard long term.

OP here. I encouraged her to go into consulting but she refused, which was frustrating.

She played a sport in HS but not in college. Her personality is almost the opposite of the “Alpha College Athlete” type — she is introverted and bookish, and not gregarious at all.

In retrospect, I regret focusing so much on academics and wish I pushed her into team sports more so she could’ve developed the social skills and connections that are necessary for success.

I guess this is a warning to future DCUM parents: please put more pressure on your kid socially than academically. There is so much talk about colleges and AAP and GPA and SAT scores in this forum, but not enough about helping your kid develop the social skills necessary for success.

My daughter is a 25 year old who has a decent job by any means, but is disappointing me (and I know that’s entirely a me problem and not a her problem!).

To give some background information, I am a single mom and a teacher with no generational wealth. I emphasized education as the path for upward mobility for DD all throughout her life, and she graduated from her MCPS high school at the top of her class. She had all the awards — National Merit Scholar, varsity captain of her sport, 4.0 UW GPA while taking 14 AP classes….

She went to an “elite” college (WASP SLAC, if anyone cares, but not super relevant here) on a hefty financial aid package. She graduated college in 2020 with a bachelor’s in Neuroscience and English, magna cum laude.

But she has not lived up to her potential. Since graduation, she has worked a series of low-paying jobs in journalism. Last year, she landed a job at a media company in LA that pays $70k/year.

I guess this is all to say that I am really worried about her. $70k in a city as expensive as LA does not go very far. And in general, media and journalism are not high-paying fields. She does not have any generational wealth.

I look at her high school classmates (many of whom I taught at her high school), and at 25 years old, they are making WAY more money than her despite being much less intelligent and hardworking. I can list countless classmates of hers who are making $200k+ in finance, tech, real estate, software sales, consulting, etc. I know for a fact that my daughter is more intelligent and more disciplined than many of those people.

It’s just frustrating to see her throw her potential away. I know that this is a me problem, but I can’t help but feel frustrated.

Anyone else in a similar situation here?