College freshmen face major dilemma

While Kate Brooks, director of liberal arts career services at the University of Texas at Austin thinks surveys can help focus a student’s attention on potential courses of study, she warns about their tendency to apply the results too inflexibly. “Often a student will say, ‘the test says I should be a florist, so that’s what I have to be,’” she says. Brooks favors another exercise to help undecideds identify and translate interests into majors and eventually careers they will succeed in and enjoy.

She sends students to the nearest Barnes & Noble or Borders to browse the magazine racks. They are instructed to buy the three magazines they find most interesting.  “We then discuss what prompted them to buy those magazines. It may be they chose Newsweek because they are interested in current events and politics. Or possibly there was an article in ESPN about nutritional sports bars.  We talk about how pursuing chemistry could lead them to create a better bar or sports drink.  Or maybe it is the marketing aspect that appeals to them — the ads.  The point is to help them understand what things excite them and what careers are connected to those things, and which majors would lead them to those careers,” explains Brooks.

However they get there, encouraging children to think things through before choosing a school or program can help them avoid future frustration, academic let-down or feelings of failure. It is also key to helping them graduate in four years and move into their ‘real’ lives before they out-spend their college savings accounts.

Tips for helping a child choose a major
What can parents do to help their children get through college in a timely fashion?  Here are some suggestions compiled from conversations with academic advisors who work with undecided college students:

• Refrain from pressuring children into making quick choices or pursuing majors associated with high income professions. Not everyone should or can be a doctor or a lawyer.
• Focus attention on pursuing courses of interest, even if the immediate relationship to a major or career is not obvious.  
• Help students understand that piling on majors and minors will harm rather than help them in job interviews. Potential employers will want to know why they did not just get a master's degree.
• Encourage participation in job shadowing — going to work with people to see what their jobs actually entail and asking people they meet how they got into their careers.
• If they do enter school undecided, encourage them to follow a course of study that keeps their options open until they decide. Declaring a major just to have one can rack up the years and money spent as an undergraduate.
• Refrain from giving advice based on the job market of twenty-some years ago. Today’s employers need a different kind of worker and favor different degrees. As soon as doubts about their current major surface, encourage them to reassess. The sooner they change directions, the more likely they will stay on course for a four-year graduation.
• Urge them to take full advantage of campus advisory services to avoid floundering, shifting from one course of study to the next, and prolonging their dissatisfaction and their academic careers.
• Help them understand that a major is not a career. There are multiple paths to most careers, just as there are multiple careers that can be had from a single major.  Encourage them to explore their options.
• Help them prepare academically before arriving at college to avoid spending their high-priced time on remedial or review classes.
• If a child is undecided, consider seeking out a college with the resources to acquaint them with all the options to make a well-founded decision. Not all schools have or emphasize such programs.
• Understand that the student-to-counselor ratio averages 450-to-1 nationally at the high school level.  Do not rely on high school counselors alone to guide children through the exercise of choosing a major.

(Compiled based on conversations with academic advisors Jo Anne Huber and Kate Brooks, The University of Texas at Austin; Michael Leonard, Penn State; Jane Jacobson, Iowa State University; and Dr. Fritz Grupe, MyMajors.com.)

MORE FROM PERSONAL FINANCE

Personal finance Section Front

Panicking? Five investment questions to ask 10 Tips: Buy a scooter, save gas money AmEx rates credit risk by where you live, shop Retirement account losses near $2 trillion Why you shouldn’t bail on stocks Answer Desk:  Why not arrest CEOs? Stock losses take hefty toll on nest eggs Financial crisis: What you should know More fees, less service feared in bank takeovers 10 Tips: Starting a home-based business Personal finance Section Front   Add Personal finance headlines to your news reader: