How do you answer this question?

Question

My 16 year old daughter keeps asking me what she should major in. I keep telling her ot look at what she is interested in and what she has done well in school.

She has about a 2.9 or 3.0 GPA. She got C's in her Science classes and is thinking about a medical major.

She is not interested in business or law or engineering.

I am at a loss as to how to guide her. She has to live with her decision for at least a short while.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

What does she most enjoy doing? There is a career for every hobby.

In the end, though, it seems like it matters little what one majors in, since most people don't end up doing what they like best, anyway.

Answer 2

I say she goes with what she's good at. For example if she's creative, she should be a graphic designer, etc. It depends on the qualities she has and the things she would like to do for a living.

Whatever, it is you should prompt her to decide because you don't want her to waste her time and tuition costs. I did and I REGRET wasting my time and money.

As long as she enrolls in college/university and she takes the general education courses for now, she'll be good for the next months.

Answer 3

She's still pretty young to know what to do with the rest of her life! I don't want to sound rude but I'm not sure if those grades are good enough to do well in college science classes. Does she actually like science? Or is she thinking about a medical major for the money? If she did like science I would think her gpa would be higher. What subjects does she do well in? She'll have her freshman year to figure out what to major in. There's a lot of classes to choose from and she'll find something then that'll interest her. She'll probably have to take core classes anyway. Tell her to keep her options open. Believe me, she'll change her mind a lot! Encourage her to take a variety of subjects and get involved. That'll make her more a more competitive applicant to colleges later on.

Answer 4

Well, she has plenty of time to think about. What she needs to think about now is raising her GPA for college admissions and raising her grades in her science courses if she's genuinely interested in a medical career.

What are her strengths? If she's interested in X (science), but good at Y (you didn't list anything yet!) she needs to find a common ground so she's successful academically AND happy with her choice. Half the battle is just figuring out what to study!

If science isn't her strong suite, then she needs to explore her other options. You didn't mention anything about the arts - does she like writing? reading? working with people? There are lots of respectable majors and careers in the arts: psychology, writing/communications, economics, or education. The career choices are often flexible and varied within the arts.

In the end, she'll be happier studying something of interest to her and something she can be successful pursuing. I think you're doing the right thing by telling her to examine what's she is interested in and what she does well with. You may encourage her to take a variety of classes in high school (while it's free!) to get a feel for different disciplines. That's a great way to discover interests and develop a broader knowledge base for college. She can also enter college in an exploratory program that will be geared specifically to students unsure of their majors. They provide career counseling and help students to make schedules that allow them to explore major possibilities without wasting time/money.

And like KK said earlier, it's not a big deal for a student to change his/her major. By taking general classes or just lower-division (intro) courses, those credits can be used to satisfy general requirements or elective credits that a student needs no matter his/her major. Take it from me - I have been a chem major (1 year), a business major (1 term), an education major (1 term), and an English/French double major (declared English end of soph year, added French my jun year) and I still graduated in 5 years. Changing majors isn't the end of the world and even has some distinct benefits! :)

Lastly, many high schools offer career counseling. She could check in their for ideas, guidance, scholarship information, admissions information and help, and general questions. My high school even offered a skills test to determine which careers we would be good at based on our skills (not our interests). High school counselors deal with situations like these all the time - so she should make use of any services they provide. Otherwise, a college academic advisor (contact the college dept. at a potential university) would also be a good route to go for major and career information.

Good luck!

Answer 5

Just let her explore. The vast majority of college students change their major at least once. My husband has changed is major officially nine times, but about twelve times in his head, just trying to figure out where he wants to go in life, other friends have changed theirs from 0 times, to five.

The first year of college is mostly general classes anyways, especially in the medical fields. If she gets in and struggles in the introductory biology and chemistry classes, then she will know that she needs to change tracks, but it won't be a loss because those classes are required for any major.

Whatever university she goes to will also have advisers to help her choose a career path. And if she's really unsure and wants to know, then share this tidbit that the best professor I have had taught me my freshman year: in the end, it doesn't what your major is in. You can do anything that you want, with any bachelors degree that you may have.

Good luck!

Answer 6

How are her other grades? And if she's getting C's in her science classes, unless she plans to buckle down, she's going to have a really hard class in college, especially with a premed major, which is essentially biology. I made A's in all of my science classes in high school and when I took advanced bio in college, it kicked my butt. I had to study endlessly, seek study partners, and class help in order to ace the class. So take a look at what other courses she does well in (math, history, art, etc.) and then she can use that as a guide as far as what to do.  

Answer 7

Animal Biology is always a good starter.  Really, though, she needs to take a few different courses and see what she likes best and the difficulty level she's willing to work for.