Anonymous
05/11/2026 15:49
Subject: DD wants to study Paleontology or Neurology
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OP, why is she against fieldwork? Agree she'd need to do some of it in undergrad/grad school at least if she goes the paleontology route.
Op here. She has expressed that in her reading and speaking to her current teachers on fieldwork, she’s learned about the experiences with rape and sexual assault that female Paleontologists have dealt with when working in the field and does not feel comfortable with the settings or how commonly this has occurred.
For the museum aspect, she had a reason that I do not recall.
I'm the PP that asked why she's against fieldwork - I'm a female research scientist who does a lot of fieldwork and, while these things happen, they are relatively rare (and certainly not confined to the field). Agreed she's overthinking this and just needs to set herself up with a good grounding in math and sciences while she gains some experience with different disciplines and career paths - she has plenty of time to specialize towards the end of undergrad. Good luck to her!
Anonymous
05/11/2026 15:00
Subject: DD wants to study Paleontology or Neurology
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OP, why is she against fieldwork? Agree she'd need to do some of it in undergrad/grad school at least if she goes the paleontology route.
Op here. She has expressed that in her reading and speaking to her current teachers on fieldwork, she’s learned about the experiences with rape and sexual assault that female Paleontologists have dealt with when working in the field and does not feel comfortable with the settings or how commonly this has occurred.
For the museum aspect, she had a reason that I do not recall.
Wait wut
That was my reaction. My kid is interested in archeology and I have to say i never would have thought to worry about that !!
Anonymous
05/11/2026 14:49
Subject: DD wants to study Paleontology or Neurology
VT has active paleontology research going on.
https://www.paleo.geos.vt.edu/
They also have a lot in neuroscience. As another thread noted, neuroscience is popular these days.
https://www.paleo.geos.vt.edu/
They also have a lot in neuroscience. As another thread noted, neuroscience is popular these days.
Anonymous
05/11/2026 13:07
Subject: DD wants to study Paleontology or Neurology
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OP, why is she against fieldwork? Agree she'd need to do some of it in undergrad/grad school at least if she goes the paleontology route.
Op here. She has expressed that in her reading and speaking to her current teachers on fieldwork, she’s learned about the experiences with rape and sexual assault that female Paleontologists have dealt with when working in the field and does not feel comfortable with the settings or how commonly this has occurred.
For the museum aspect, she had a reason that I do not recall.
Woah. It sounds like she has a tendency to develop fixations on things that aren't actually significant risks. I do not deny that fieldwork for women, whether it's engineering, forestry management (like my friend), or any other activity, comes with greater risk of assault than for males. But from there to say this occurs frequently is batshit crazy, OP.
It sounds like she's still searching, which is fine. The PSAT score is not good, though.
Anonymous
05/11/2026 13:02
Subject: DD wants to study Paleontology or Neurology
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OP, why is she against fieldwork? Agree she'd need to do some of it in undergrad/grad school at least if she goes the paleontology route.
Op here. She has expressed that in her reading and speaking to her current teachers on fieldwork, she’s learned about the experiences with rape and sexual assault that female Paleontologists have dealt with when working in the field and does not feel comfortable with the settings or how commonly this has occurred.
For the museum aspect, she had a reason that I do not recall.
Wait wut
Anonymous
05/11/2026 13:01
Subject: DD wants to study Paleontology or Neurology
We NEED more neurologists.
We don't really need more paleontologists.
Can paleontology be a hobby, side gig, retirement interest?
We don't really need more paleontologists.
Can paleontology be a hobby, side gig, retirement interest?
Anonymous
05/11/2026 12:51
Subject: DD wants to study Paleontology or Neurology
Anonymous wrote:OP, why is she against fieldwork? Agree she'd need to do some of it in undergrad/grad school at least if she goes the paleontology route.
Op here. She has expressed that in her reading and speaking to her current teachers on fieldwork, she’s learned about the experiences with rape and sexual assault that female Paleontologists have dealt with when working in the field and does not feel comfortable with the settings or how commonly this has occurred.
For the museum aspect, she had a reason that I do not recall.
Anonymous
05/11/2026 12:49
Subject: DD wants to study Paleontology or Neurology
She's going to have to do better with GPA and test scores, OP. 50th percentile is not great for an aspiring scientist in fields that require PhDs.
Anonymous
05/11/2026 12:28
Subject: DD wants to study Paleontology or Neurology
Anonymous wrote:OP, why is she against fieldwork? Agree she'd need to do some of it in undergrad/grad school at least if she goes the paleontology route.
She surely doesn’t understand what fieldwork actually is. Which is fine, she is 15. I would probably not put much stock at all into a kid saying “I want to be a paleontologist when I grow up.” It sounds like she is gravitating towards life sciences which is great - just keep encouraging her to study hard. Every college has a biology department.
Anonymous
05/11/2026 12:03
Subject: DD wants to study Paleontology or Neurology
OP, why is she against fieldwork? Agree she'd need to do some of it in undergrad/grad school at least if she goes the paleontology route.
Anonymous
05/11/2026 12:02
Subject: DD wants to study Paleontology or Neurology
Anonymous wrote:Radiology has been taken over by AI
Does that perhaps mean there's more need for pa's, bypassing the need for md's?
Anonymous
05/11/2026 10:42
Subject: DD wants to study Paleontology or Neurology
Radiology has been taken over by AI
Anonymous
05/11/2026 10:39
Subject: DD wants to study Paleontology or Neurology
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:There are areas of paleontology that do not require fieldwork or museum work. Many academic paleontologists (university professors) do modeling work, lab work (on existing collections), statistical analyses, etc. But I agree with PP 08:20 that she should target a broad science degree and perhaps focus on biology (common to both of her interests) at first but take a broad range of math/science to understand better where her intellectual and career interests lie. She wouldn't really be committing to either path until graduate school, regardless.
I seriously doubt you can become an “academic paleontologist” without doing fieldwork regularly.
I would just assume the kid has no actual idea about careers but not worry about it too much. She’ll find something that interests her and as she gets older she’ll get clued into actual expectations for the field.
You can, but it's soooooo niche that she just needs to study basic science as an undergraduate anyway. And honestly if my kid had interests like this, I'd encourage them to explore medical careers as well - radiologists do a lot of problem solving based on imaging rather than direct patient care, and they get paid several multiples of what academic paleontologists make.
They would have had to do fieldwork at some point.
Anonymous
05/11/2026 09:10
Subject: DD wants to study Paleontology or Neurology
I would absolutely do a summer program to explore
Anonymous
05/11/2026 08:46
Subject: DD wants to study Paleontology or Neurology
With respect to college recommendations, see what your daughter thinks of schools like St. Lawrence, Wooster and Denison.