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Intended major (as high school student)--do you expect this to change?


Jane in NC
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I am in the middle of writing reports on colleges we have visited, schools that have a common thread of an esoteric program or department (archaeology). As my son wraps up his junior year, this is his intention. Yet I cannot help but wonder if this should be the proper measuring stick for his future applications. How much have you found the interests of your students to change once they landed in college? (I had always wanted to study math but let someone talk me into the "practical" field of accounting. That did not last beyond my freshmen year of college!)

 

Most people who have known my son for years have envisioned him as a biologist (as have I). Yet his desire to be an archaeologist does not surprise the directress of the Montessori school that he attended for years. Archaeology seems to be the path on which he can combine his passion for history as well as science, all while getting his hands very dirty in the out of doors which also suits his personality.

 

Last month he volunteered two full days on a Civil War gun emplacement dig during which he spent hours pushing wheel barrows of dirt and hours with a paint brush carefully excavating a small piece of a wooden platform. He loved it all! During the coming week he will be a volunteer at a field school that is excavating a Civil War barracks. Let's see how he feels about sun, mosquitoes, and grunt work when it is over.

 

Rambling on, here. Back to my question: your student thinks he wants to study (fill in the blank). He has a reasonable expectation of what is involved. Do you think that your student will change his mind? How does this influence the colleges you visit and the ultimate selection that is made?

 

Thanks to all the wise ones.

Jane

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Our ds is intending to major in Materials Science Engineering. As a high school student, he really doesn't know THAT much about it, but, like your son he has spent a fair amount of time doing engineering summer programs. We definitely sought a school that had mechanical or materials engineering. He had three schools on his extremely short list...two offered Materials and one offered a special scholars program for science and tech with Mechanical or Chemical Eng. I know he might wind up majoring is something completely different, and if worst comes to worst, he will have to transfer. But I'd say if his passion is archaeology, I'd go for a school with that. It will be easier to transfer to a bio program, I would think, since that is more widely offered if he decides Archaeology is not for him.

 

Go where the passion lies....

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I second Sharon's comments -- he should go to a school with a strong archaeology program.

 

Ideally he would choose a school that he likes (duh!) and that has some other decent majors so that the archaeology department is not the only attraction. If he decides to switch majors and there are no other availablemajors that he likes, he could end up transferring. But even that isn't the end of the world. (Been there, done that.)

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Another vote for Sharon's thoughts---find a school that will suit his current passion. There is indeed a possibility that those interests could change, and depending upon the schools involved, they may or may not have a strong department in that area. (BTW, I really liked your descriptions of the schools you visited on the other threads you started about your college tours! Your comments on the difference between a school having a program vs. a department gave me food for thought!) If he transfers, he will undoubtedly have had a solid foundation at any of the schools you've visited. But, getting him into the school that "lights his fire" now, so to speak, would seem to me to be the right way to go.

 

Our oldest seems to be the most interested in English, and I could see her possibly becoming an editor, or a movie/book critic, or perhaps even a screenwriter. These are areas which she is truly passionate about. Although she can otherwise be quiet, when you push her buttons on her thoughts about one of the above topics, she won't stop talking. So far I'd say that several of the schools that we've visited have strong departments in those sub-fields of English.

 

It does indeed seem like archeology would combine his passion for both science and history. The son of one of my husband's cousins went to a school in Florida (I forget which school) after he got out of the military and received his degree in archeology, and his desire was to become an underwater archeologist (i.e., looking for sunken ships and treasures). I'll have to check with him to see if he actually got a job in that field, but I thought it was neat that he pursued his dream. I think he got a 4.0 average in school!

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I agree, I think I'd choose a school with the major/program he is passionate about now. He may change but he may not. I knew I wanted to be a doctor at a very early age and it never changed. Dh was interested in architecture and chose a school that had an architecture program. It was an excellent school so if he'd changed his mind he'd have been fine. He didn't and is an architect today.

 

It seems that for your son this is a realistic passion instead of just a passing whim. He likes history and science which he will need, he likes the outdoors, he has done some archeology work so has an idea of what it is really like. That's different than just thinking it sounds cool and choosing a college based on what might be a whim but not realistic.

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Are you worried about him going into archaeology? Is this something you would like to encourage or discourage? If it is something you want to discourage, then nudging him towards a school with a good bio program and a less strong archaeology program could dampen his enthusiasm for the archaeology, especially if it wasn't deeply rooted. If you don't think archaeology is a mistake or a false trail, that it is a reasonable choice for him, then sending him to a school with an exciting archaeology program would encourage his interested in it unless he truly changes his mind. (I've stated all this fairly strongly just to make my point. Probably you feel more passive or ambivelant about it.)

 

If I were happy about both, I think I might try to pick a school with an at least ok bio program, and an exciting arch program that includes physical archaeology. Archaeology is overlapping with biology more an more these days, it seems, and I should think his microbiology would come in handy and maybe make him more desirable on a team. I think many fields are blurring together these days - engineering and medicine, archaeology and biology, chemistry and biology, etc.

 

It seems like he has the patience to be a scientist. He's been being one of one sort or another for awhile now. That narrows things down quite a lot.

 

: )

-Nan

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I wanted to study some area of archeaology/anthropology from the time I was in fourth grade. My mother insisted that I declare as a biology major when I entered school. I changed back to anthro by the end of my first year...... Now, I was in physical anthro, so my coursework consisted of primarily biology classes, anyway, but I still got my cultural/historical fix, too....

 

He might change his focus within the area of archaeology once he gets into school (classical arch, physical anthro, cultural anthro, forensics work, etc.), but if he knows well that's what he wants, I wouldn't force him to declare anything else. He can always change to bio, etc. after he gets there if he changes his mind....

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Are you worried about him going into archaeology? Is this something you would like to encourage or discourage?

 

Actually, I would be absolutely delighted if he chooses to pursue archaeology. It is just that studying this subject as an undergrad severely limits his college choices given that his interest is not really in anthropology (a more popular discipline) than archaeology. This is not to say that an interest in anthro won't develop, particularly as he continues his studies. Further, the three archaeologists with whom we met over the past week have counseled him not to narrow his interests as an undergrad much beyond new world/old world. Grad school is the time for specialization.

 

Technology is entering the field. As Nan pointed out, there is overlap between disciplines. (BU's department has a paleobotanist on staff.) Everything about the subject itself is promising, it is just that there are so few schools which offer a degree in the subject. Maybe I should be grateful for a short list.

 

Jane

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Hi there Jane!

 

I agree with everyone else.

 

I think your question is important. I thought about it for a while in relation to my own college experience as well as ds's.

 

I think students change majors for 1 of 2 reasons:

1- they didn't understand the realities of the field which they chose

2- they are academically unable or unwilling to do the coursework required.

 

I would imagine that neither of those characterize P. It might be that as he takes higher level coursework that he might find a field that appeals to him more or that causes him to want to specialize, but I would suspect that the coursework he took up to that point would be valuable in helping him focus those goals.

 

I would encourage the archeology and choose the school that best fits those goals.

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I think students change majors for 1 of 2 reasons:

1- they didn't understand the realities of the field which they chose

2- they are academically unable or unwilling to do the coursework required.

 

 

 

I agree that the two reasons above are likely explanations for why a student might change his or her major. However, I can think of one other reason. The student might encounter something new in college and find it appealing. I think of subjects like Linguistics or Anthropology or Political Science that a student might not have encountered at the high school level.

 

So, Jane, I think you're wise to consider this topic as regards your son. So long as the schools that he is looking at are fairly strong overall, I think he will be well served by looking for those with strong departments in his area of interest.

 

I could see this being more of a concern for a student with an interest in music or art who is accepted to a conservatory or art school that is not affiliated with a college and subsequently decides on a different path.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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I agree that the two reasons above are likely explanations for why a student might change his or her major. However, I can think of one other reason. The student might encounter something new in college and find it appealing. I think of subjects like Linguistics or Anthropology or Political Science that a student might not have encountered at the high school level.

 

So, Jane, I think you're wise to consider this topic as regards your son. So long as the schools that he is looking at are fairly strong overall, I think he will be well served by looking for those with strong departments in his area of interest.

 

I could see this being more of a concern for a student with an interest in music or art who is accepted to a conservatory or art school that is not affiliated with a college and subsequently decides on a different path.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Kareni,

 

Your post strikes a chord. My niece attended a business college last fall only to discover that she really does not want to study business. The subject is not what she thought it would be. But there was no where else to go at this particular school so she is essentially back at square one. Sigh...

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My niece attended a business college last fall only to discover that she really does not want to study business. The subject is not what she thought it would be. But there was no where else to go at this particular school so she is essentially back at square one. Sigh...

 

Sigh, indeed! I hope that she finds her direction.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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As a former anthropology major (LOL)... the only thing I regret about going into that field is that I didn't take a few more math and science classes in addition to what was required. So now that I'm on a different path, I'm having to make up for some of that.

 

Lots of anthropology and archaeology majors end up doing other things for their careers. It doesn't mean you shouldn't try it out, but that I would also take a little extra "regular" science and math, or history, or whatever adjacent classes might give you extra room to branch out later. Among my grad school friends, fewer than half are still in the field. A few of us picked up jobs of convenience (working for the university! LOL), four went into other science fields (especially medical), and two more are now IT guys...

 

Those of us who had a solid general background had a fairly easy time switching gears, but the one or two who had all their eggs in the anthropology basket didn't. And while I had no problem picking up the aforementioned university job, I could have done a lot better if I hadn't quit math and science after the minimum requirements were met...

 

So from that perspective I think I'd go with a strong archaeology program and hope for the best, but also suggest that he doesn't forget the general stuff - math, science, history - in case he needs it later.

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for your family...

 

But I knew a student who went into archaeology in order to better his possibilities of getting into a certain school (Cambridge) and then did a double major...

 

And would there be any additional scholarship money available for one major vs another?

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My daughter "changed" her major, but really by just narrowing her interests to one major, and changing her "primary" major to her minor. I think even a change of major can work well for a student as long as they've worked the elective courses to their advantage. Students who specialize too soon pay the biggest penalty when they change gears.

 

If I were advising a student (like my second daughter!) who is more unsure of her major, I'd treat the first two years of college as advanced high school. :) That is, I encouraged her to take a math or two, a science or two, a history, an English or two, and probably literature, a social science, and the "intro" course to the major she prefers. And yes, consider carefully the costs of transferring. Public school to public school, in-state? Often okay. Other combos...not so much.

 

Now, when it is time to choose the university--well, then I agree with everyone else that he should choose a great archaeology department, and educate himself on the OTHER areas where his school of choice shines. If you have the opportunity to take a particular literature course from the primo-lit expert on that author (grin), then do that! If there is a former MAA president on the math faculty, then take his Calc section. :) And keep in mind that a change of major into these three other areas are *available* as long as my electives line up...is there any way to do that? (Liberal arts fields line up nicely...so I would expect archaeology and biology wouldn't be very far apart at the end of the sophomore year, as long as his science electives were biology for a biology major, and not a "nonmajor" variety.)

 

Best laid plans, after all. Who woulda thunk my dd would be 20, graduating and getting married this year!?!

 

Lori

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