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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We are immigrants of South Asian origin and most of my friends don't give kid option to go into lower paying fields and I feel like they came out ahead in long term even if there was friction for some years. We let our kids decide what they wanted and just supported that. [/quote]
Struggling with this now with one DC.

They want to major in something that isn't going to pay well.  That would be fine except for the fact they like their comfortable lifestyle and to shop, a lot.  I keep telling them that this job doesn't pay well, but they keep saying that they know. But, I don't think they really know.

I tried to explain to them the cost of rent, food, insurance, etc.. and then they would tell me that I'm discouraging.  I tell them I'm trying to get them to be realistic, but they keep fighting me.

I don't want them to be in a situation where it become much more difficult to pivot and to struggle.

I grew up lower income, to immigrant parents who don't speak English.  I struggled a lot. I have shared with them how difficult it was to be poor and not have any guidance. So, I'm trying to give them as much information as possible because I don't want them to end up struggling like I did.

It all falls on deaf ears.[/quote]

What is it do you think won't pay well?[/quote]

[b]Plenty of cool-sounding but ultimately misleading and pointless master's programs[/b] and career tracks that are interesting when you're in your early 20s but don't pan out unless you make the very top 1%. Things like museum studies or any kind of social services work.

[b]I did a master's in city planning [/b]and it was entirely due to one conversation I had in senior year in college when I mentioned to a professor I liked architecture but was more interested in seeing how spaces come together than individual buildings and he suggested planning. Since I didn't know what else to do I went ahead, with some misguided belief that it could be the beginning of a career in RE development. Actual outcome, despite a fancy professional school, was an entry level county planning job, just like most of my peers from the program. Now that we're 20 years out I'd say the top 10% of grads have done fine, typically in the 100-150k job brackets as senior planning administrators or equivalents, a director or two. Bottom 90% are just plodding along having lots of meetings and writing policy reports no one really looks at and attending nighttime community meetings and making 50-80k.

As a PP commented, jobs requiring the same aptitude and workload can have hugely different salaries. I figured this out quickly and after a few years as a planner lucked into a corporate gig and now easily make at least double what I'd have made had I remained in the field and interviewed my way up to a supervisor level role. It means a very different lifestyle. I know my output and effect on the world is meaningless, but it's also true for almost all planners too. Our day to day work is not dissimilar, it's lots of team meetings and preparing reports (them) or strategies (me) but I make double. The people like me who left the planning field for more lucrative roles have all had the same experience and with no regrets.

Following your "heart" when you're 21 in most cases doesn't deliver the outcome you think it will.  [/quote]

I don't know anyone that thinks "City Planning" sounds like a cool degree.  It literally sounds exactly like it is...a degree that will get you a city/state government job helping plan a city.

I guess maybe now you could get a cool job working at SpaceX planning Starbase.[/quote]

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