Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is ok not to know what you want at that age, since most of us wind up doing things 17 year olds can't imagine.

I always remember an episode of "The Wonder Years" when the kid asked his dad, "What do you do at work?" And the dad said something like "I'm the assistant purchasing manager" and the kid said "Did you always want to be an assistant purchasing manager?"

LOVE that show

I had no idea what I wanted to do until I was thrown out of college at 20 and found the proverbial glassware washing technician job.

Every day I set up an experiment for someone else and learned something. I have been learning something every day for over 30 years now.

Back to college, phd, post-doc, researcher, PI...

I agree with much of what has been said.

I don't think your daughter sounds 'scattered,' just not laser-focused yet on what profession she wants. This is age-appropriate!

A lot of schools have a college of arts and sciences (where students apply for majors other than engineering, music, and other specific fields that may have their own 'colleges' within the school), and no problem with students applying with their major undecided.

It'd be worth discussing with her whether she sees herself working in a scientific/mathematical field, a social science field, or a liberal arts field. She may not know what she wants to do, but she may know that she doesn't want to do X or Y. (Of course, she could take more of X or Y in college and discover that she loves it, with a professor who makes her think differently about it. But she may know her general inclination.)