Kid about to go to college - need advice

a reply to: olddognewtricks

"Bioengineering" is totally biology, if comparing to "engineering" (like cars and machines and stuff).

There's endless professions an educated biologist can get into, from horticulture to medicine to marine biology.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

That's what I was saying.

Husband started out working the incubators that grew the organisms needed to test product. He went from there into quality control. Today, his profession is more biostatistics. He's had no formal statistics training. He learned that from a combination of the math classes he took when he started into electrical engineering and working the mechanics of tabletop roleplaying games for over 15 years. His stats are entirely self-taught, but he is looking at the possibility of picking up a Masters of Biostatistics online.

a reply to: olddognewtricks

Beware. They'll try every trick in the book to keep your kid from graduating in a timely fashion. Make sure he is on a 4 year plan ... not one day more.

In the real world ... chemistry is paying out. Your boy might get an internship that comes with a post-grad degree.

a reply to: olddognewtricks

He needs to research various jobs and find what he's truly interested in. He should make a list of his favorites and than research the average salary of each occupation. He wants to make sure the high cost of a college education reaps a career that pays well and offsets the debt he'll have to pay back.

With the extreme high cost of college tuition today strapping many young people in enormous debt, trade schools are becoming a better option for some. Some degrees are not worth the time and expense if they're not going to provide young people with an occupation that is in demand or doesn't pay above average salaries.

Bio-engineering sounds like a promising career, but he also needs to be aware there's a lot of dead-end degrees out there. A lot of college students are graduating who can't find jobs and are heading to trade schools to further their chances of gaining employment.

originally posted by: olddognewtricks
Here is my question: what should he major in if engineering turns out to be not to be what he does?

Thanks in advance for anyone willing to share hard-won wisdom.

A 'liberal (gasp) arts' school helps an individual find himself, his strengths, his interests... and follow that star.
It seems to me that someone implanted a star into this youth that might not be his own.
Truly, life doesn't even begin till 40!
There is no way that he will know what, if anything, he want's to commit the rest of his life to.
He has interests, perhaps.
Would you Love him the less if he took pottery?
Perhaps your 'future' might not feel as secure.
Is that, perhaps, a factor? (rhetorical)

Somehow, I'm not hearing that he is following his own Bliss.
Perhaps finding that Bliss is equally important in life as a 'satisfactory' income.
One does not need 'wealth' (opposite of Love, Humility and Charity...) to be Happy, but for Happiness, one DOES need Love! *__-

Perhaps he needs to first find his Heart?
Sometimes, it's not about 'what you know';

"Be empty of what you know
Your clever mind just whips up
A dust storm of pride.
Allow yourself to be fooled and
peace clowns its way into your heart.

If your head would shatter in wonder
at what Reality really is,
reason’s tyranny would end and
every hair on your head would
become an oracle" - Rumi

a reply to: namelesss

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

Funny you should say that. One of my younger sons is really getting into pottery!

To be clear, I have been very careful not to hem my kids in to any pre determined paths. I have of course advised and suggested. But I do conscientiously refrain from issuing directives and just expecting a kid to blindly follow.

That said, let's not confuse separate issues. Following your heart is of course the name of the game. But I'm talking about someone who in the course of doing so has hit upon, at least for the time being, a particular course of action.

Even though what he has chosen seems at the moment to be something he has prepared for and seems to be where his interests lie, I know perfectly well people change their minds. Especially younger people. So my question is a limited question for a very specific situation: if a kid who shows promise and interest in more technical and scientific venues decides to go to college for engineering, and then if for whatever reason that kid decides against engineering but is casting about for another technical field, what might that kid consider. It's a complex question, but limited in scope.

Believe me, if one of my kids said that wanted to get into acting, I'd support them in that endeavor. I probably wouldn't be prepared to fork over for years of inflated tuition for it, but I'd put them on a plane and cover as much rent as i could so they could audition. That would be lots cheaper than college!

i think it's not you should decide, it's his life

a reply to: olddognewtricks

I had a buddy who studied polymer-engineering for 2 years, couldn't crack it.
Now he has a very successful life as a programmer.

originally posted by: olddognewtricks
a reply to: KansasGirl

Oh no, he chose the major. (His mom always says the same thing you just said, lol.) He's been talking about something like this for years.

He has been looking into majors for a while and right now this is the direction he thinks he wants to go in.

Ok excellent! I misunderstood.

originally posted by: olddognewtricks
a reply to: namelesss

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

Funny you should say that. One of my younger sons is really getting into pottery!

... and then if for whatever reason that kid decides against engineering but is casting about for another technical field, what might that kid consider. It's a complex question, but limited in scope.

Got it.
I don't see how the illusion of control can reach that far.
Should the vein that he has been mining run dry at some point, it seems to me that the moment, like every other moment, will present the perfect course to take.
The logistics are such that to control those momentary structures of the imaginary 'future' is not really possible.
Good that he learns to be 'in the moment' to seize it.
It's not often plannable.
Dad, when and if the time comes, have Faith in your son and his decisions.
Sorry, it seems I'm no help at all.

Believe me, if one of my kids said that wanted to get into acting, I'd support them in that endeavor. I probably wouldn't be prepared to fork over for years of inflated tuition for it, but I'd put them on a plane and cover as much rent as i could so they could audition. That would be lots cheaper than college!

Hey.. dad... wanna adopt me? *__-

I'm a semi-lurker here on ATS but I felt motivated to respond to this thread. I have three boys that I worry about being successful in this world. Not due to lack of talent or ambition but for reasons many of us come here. Government, politics, economics and sightings of big-foot. I have several friends that went to college, we're told to study hard and they would not have any problems getting jobs. They earned their 4-6-8 year degrees and other than debt have very little to show for it. None of them are working in the fields they got their degree in. Some of them are going back to school to earn different degrees and they are mostly miserable, stuck in the job they had to take in order to start paying off their student debt. Thank you OP, this is something I am concerned about as well for my three kids when they get ready to leave the nest in the next 5-10 years.

I found this article from a blog post that talks about how to get an education without going into debt and alternatives to a brick and mortar education. Worth a read.

jessicacoaches.com...


You might have your son look into cryptography and Internet security. That is supposeldly a fast growing field with all of the data breaches and hacking scandals.

-RG

a reply to: Ruralguy

Thanks for the post! Yeah i know degree doesnt always mean rewarding job. I worked for years for a hired car company. Worked with a lot of smart, no slacking people who had degrees in maths and sciences and there they were sharing a cubicle wall with me.