Anonymous
Post 09/30/2025 10:14     Subject: Majors for boy who might not crack 700 on SAT math
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:He is a senior and struggling a bit with high level math. But also not really that interested in soft subjects. His is a very good kid but his only current true “passions” are cars, his sports, and working out.

Should he even go to college?
Should we just send him anyway to LAC and let him figure it out? Unprepped SAT 1380, too late to prep now obviously.


SAT doesn't decide major only the school; send him to CC and let him figure it out there, set him up with job that has a path to his dream job. He'll quickly figure out what he needs to become a CEO. CC has a guaranteed admission to state flag ship schools that isn't determined by the SAT.

LAC only if you can lose $90K and wouldn't notice even then I'd worry.


many LACS below the top 15-20 LACs provide lots of merit pay. Focus on LACs ranked around #25-75 in USNWR.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2025 10:07     Subject: Majors for boy who might not crack 700 on SAT math
I hate the phrase “soft subjects”

For the science/math brains, those “soft subjects” can be challenging. And those “soft subject” skills are far from worthless. Can we please retire that phrase?
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2025 10:05     Subject: Majors for boy who might not crack 700 on SAT math
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What are his grades like? Unweighted GPA?
No EC leadership?
Favorite subjects?
Public or private HS?




UW 3.8, 8 IB classes
High level participation in sports with leadership experience
Doesn’t seem to have a favorite subject, how he feels about a class seems to depend more on how well he connects to teacher and other students in the class.
Public school



Are you full pay?
Wake ED?
WashU has an interesting sports leadership program - and both are really test-optional.


Otherwise, yes to SLACs.


Are his best grades in humanities or sciences? It would be helpful if he's aiming for competitive schools to help him frame his story just a bit (e.g., picking sociology as a major given sports etc might make sense, knowing its just a way to read his entire application).

If WashU, this is the minor: https://olin.washu.edu/programs/bs-business-administration/majors-minors/business-of-sports.php

Also, for anyone whose kid is applying to WashU, they are really into leadership development these days:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/student-success/life-after-college/2024/04/11/washu-embedding-leadership-ed-student-experience


This 100%
Boys who don't know but have a lot of sports stuff end up doing well applying as a sociology major with a minor in leadership/sports management/sports something.

GL!
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2025 10:04     Subject: Majors for boy who might not crack 700 on SAT math
Anonymous wrote:What is LAC? What is CC?

DC is a bubble. I grew up in NC in a city of 350,000 and my 1410 SAT score was the 2nd highest in the city my graduation year.

That said, your son can absolutely go to college and doesn’t have to know his life plans in full…but I think he needs career counseling to figure it out.

Is his car interest in repairing them? There are high paying jobs like being an airplane mechanic. There are science careers that don’t require being a math superstar where being above average would work - mechanical, civil or environmental engineering. You have to take and do well in a lot of math classes for sure, but being a top 10-20% math student can get you through.

Or being a people person who is organized and can get sh*t done can be all kinds of project management in construction, engineering, shipping, trades, etc. Or the sales option in a variety of industries…consulting, pharmaceuticals, etc etc


LAC = liberal arts college.
CC= community college
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2025 10:04     Subject: Re:Majors for boy who might not crack 700 on SAT math
Anonymous wrote:I think your perspective has been completely warped by DCUM.

Those are GOOD grades and test scores. He doesn't have to decide his major now. Have you started visiting schools? There are HUNDREDS that would offer him merit aid for those scores. Since he's unsure, you could always send him to a reasonably-priced state school (not sure where you are), but there are also many privates with a wide range of majors. I'm not getting a picture of what your kid likes or wants, but he should have many options.


This. OP, you need to stop focusing on the scores that are shared here on DCUM. Majority and I mean majority of kids don't even crack a 1300 in the SATs. Yes, even here in the DMV area. Look at the percentiles. To give you some perspective, my HS senior has friends who are now college freshmen who got accepted to schools like Clemson, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Ohio State, Penn State, South Carolina, LSU, etc. who went test optional because their scores didn't crack 1200. Your kid can confidently submit a 1380 to any of these schools.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2025 10:04     Subject: Majors for boy who might not crack 700 on SAT math
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What are his grades like? Unweighted GPA?
No EC leadership?
Favorite subjects?
Public or private HS?




UW 3.8, 8 IB classes
High level participation in sports with leadership experience
Doesn’t seem to have a favorite subject, how he feels about a class seems to depend more on how well he connects to teacher and other students in the class.
Public school



Are you full pay?
Wake ED?
WashU has an interesting sports leadership program - and both are really test-optional.


Otherwise, yes to SLACs.


Are his best grades in humanities or sciences? It would be helpful if he's aiming for competitive schools to help him frame his story just a bit (e.g., picking sociology as a major given sports etc might make sense, knowing its just a way to read his entire application).

If WashU, this is the minor: https://olin.washu.edu/programs/bs-business-administration/majors-minors/business-of-sports.php

Also, for anyone whose kid is applying to WashU, they are really into leadership development these days:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/student-success/life-after-college/2024/04/11/washu-embedding-leadership-ed-student-experience
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2025 10:03     Subject: Majors for boy who might not crack 700 on SAT math
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What are his grades like? Unweighted GPA?
No EC leadership?
Favorite subjects?
Public or private HS?




UW 3.8, 8 IB classes
High level participation in sports with leadership experience
Doesn’t seem to have a favorite subject, how he feels about a class seems to depend more on how well he connects to teacher and other students in the class.
Public school



Montgomery College has a great auto repair program. He could own is own shop by 30. He needs a good working knowledge of Spanish, though. Did he study Spanish on high school?
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2025 10:01     Subject: Majors for boy who might not crack 700 on SAT math
What is LAC? What is CC?

DC is a bubble. I grew up in NC in a city of 350,000 and my 1410 SAT score was the 2nd highest in the city my graduation year.

That said, your son can absolutely go to college and doesn’t have to know his life plans in full…but I think he needs career counseling to figure it out.

Is his car interest in repairing them? There are high paying jobs like being an airplane mechanic. There are science careers that don’t require being a math superstar where being above average would work - mechanical, civil or environmental engineering. You have to take and do well in a lot of math classes for sure, but being a top 10-20% math student can get you through.

Or being a people person who is organized and can get sh*t done can be all kinds of project management in construction, engineering, shipping, trades, etc. Or the sales option in a variety of industries…consulting, pharmaceuticals, etc etc
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2025 10:01     Subject: Majors for boy who might not crack 700 on SAT math
Sports media/marketing sounds like a great fit
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2025 09:59     Subject: Majors for boy who might not crack 700 on SAT math
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What are his grades like? Unweighted GPA?
No EC leadership?
Favorite subjects?
Public or private HS?




UW 3.8, 8 IB classes
High level participation in sports with leadership experience
Doesn’t seem to have a favorite subject, how he feels about a class seems to depend more on how well he connects to teacher and other students in the class.
Public school



What makes you wonder if he should even go to college? He seems to be a strong student. UW 3.8, IB classes, a 1380 SAT. If you were striving for an Ivy, I would say it would probably be difficult but otherwise, he would be a strong applicant for the majority of the remaining colleges/universities. I'm honestly bewildered why you don't think he's college material.


It just seems that other kids have more pointed interests or passion in academic subjects or know what they want to do.

We aren’t wealthy either, don’t have lots of connections. Both parents are feds who worked their way up the ladder, and DS has been in kind of a bubble not being able to see what all is out there in terms of careers.

I hope good colleges would help with that, but his dad and I both were first gen students who graduated with debt but no real help getting launched into a career, and I don’t want that for DC. At least we are in a position to pay for DC to attend without accruing debt.


Most kids change their majors. Tell him to go undecided or pick one for now that he is most interested in. There's a high likelihood he'll change his mind, which is okay. He'll figure it out but don't discourage the poor kid from going to college because he doesn't know what major to pursue at age 17 or 18. Good Lord.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2025 09:58     Subject: Majors for boy who might not crack 700 on SAT math
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What are his grades like? Unweighted GPA?
No EC leadership?
Favorite subjects?
Public or private HS?




UW 3.8, 8 IB classes
High level participation in sports with leadership experience
Doesn’t seem to have a favorite subject, how he feels about a class seems to depend more on how well he connects to teacher and other students in the class.
Public school



Are you full pay?
Wake ED?
WashU has an interesting sports leadership program - and both are really test-optional.


Otherwise, yes to SLACs.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2025 09:50     Subject: Re:Majors for boy who might not crack 700 on SAT math
I think your perspective has been completely warped by DCUM.

Those are GOOD grades and test scores. He doesn't have to decide his major now. Have you started visiting schools? There are HUNDREDS that would offer him merit aid for those scores. Since he's unsure, you could always send him to a reasonably-priced state school (not sure where you are), but there are also many privates with a wide range of majors. I'm not getting a picture of what your kid likes or wants, but he should have many options.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2025 09:49     Subject: Majors for boy who might not crack 700 on SAT math
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:He is a senior and struggling a bit with high level math. But also not really that interested in soft subjects. His is a very good kid but his only current true “passions” are cars, his sports, and working out.

Should he even go to college?
Should we just send him anyway to LAC and let him figure it out? Unprepped SAT 1380, too late to prep now obviously.


Stop. He has a 1380 which is in the 92nd percentile and you're wondering if he should even go to college? Is this real? I swear, some of you DCUMers are so delusional.


I was about to say the exact same thing. Thanks for beating me to it, PP.

If this post is real, I sure wouldn't want to be your kid.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2025 09:49     Subject: Majors for boy who might not crack 700 on SAT math
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What are his grades like? Unweighted GPA?
No EC leadership?
Favorite subjects?
Public or private HS?




UW 3.8, 8 IB classes
High level participation in sports with leadership experience
Doesn’t seem to have a favorite subject, how he feels about a class seems to depend more on how well he connects to teacher and other students in the class.
Public school



Tell him to pick a major that is interesting to him right now. There's a high chance he'll change his mind. Most college students do, and that's okay. He can also go undecided; but please don't suggest that he doesn't go to college because at age 17 or 18, he doesn't know what he wants to do.

What makes you wonder if he should even go to college? He seems to be a strong student. UW 3.8, IB classes, a 1380 SAT. If you were striving for an Ivy, I would say it would probably be difficult but otherwise, he would be a strong applicant for the majority of the remaining colleges/universities. I'm honestly bewildered why you don't think he's college material.


It just seems that other kids have more pointed interests or passion in academic subjects or know what they want to do.

We aren’t wealthy either, don’t have lots of connections. Both parents are feds who worked their way up the ladder, and DS has been in kind of a bubble not being able to see what all is out there in terms of careers.

I hope good colleges would help with that, but his dad and I both were first gen students who graduated with debt but no real help getting launched into a career, and I don’t want that for DC. At least we are in a position to pay for DC to attend without accruing debt.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2025 09:44     Subject: Majors for boy who might not crack 700 on SAT math
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What are his grades like? Unweighted GPA?
No EC leadership?
Favorite subjects?
Public or private HS?




UW 3.8, 8 IB classes
High level participation in sports with leadership experience
Doesn’t seem to have a favorite subject, how he feels about a class seems to depend more on how well he connects to teacher and other students in the class.
Public school



What makes you wonder if he should even go to college? He seems to be a strong student. UW 3.8, IB classes, a 1380 SAT. If you were striving for an Ivy, I would say it would probably be difficult but otherwise, he would be a strong applicant for the majority of the remaining colleges/universities. I'm honestly bewildered why you don't think he's college material.


It just seems that other kids have more pointed interests or passion in academic subjects or know what they want to do.

We aren’t wealthy either, don’t have lots of connections. Both parents are feds who worked their way up the ladder, and DS has been in kind of a bubble not being able to see what all is out there in terms of careers.

I hope good colleges would help with that, but his dad and I both were first gen students who graduated with debt but no real help getting launched into a career, and I don’t want that for DC. At least we are in a position to pay for DC to attend without accruing debt.