How much did you try to steer your kid’s when choosing a major?

[swagsurfer02]

My daughter is currently in a CAD program and is the only female left after a couple semesters.

She chose it because she enjoyed the portion on CAD while in an engineering type class while in high school, plus her tuition is paid for while in the program. I’ve been dropping hints about moving on to civil engineering or architecture once she gets done next year.

Earlier this week she said she’s strongly considering mechanical engineering. However, I’m wondering if I possibly pushed her into thinking that. Obviously we all want our kids to be successful but I don’t want her to resent whatever she chooses.

How much of an impact did you have on your kid’s choice in what they majored in?

 

[yescyam]

Not at all. Except we did try (successfully) to steer them away from majoring in education.

 

[NDallasRuss]

Not a lot. We've just told her to major in something where she can get a job that will allow her to support herself. Beyond that: whatever makes her happy.

 

[FormerlyCyberCy]

My daughter is currently in a CAD program and is the only female left after a couple semesters.

She chose it because she enjoyed the portion on CAD while in an engineering type class while in high school, plus her tuition is paid for while in the program. I’ve been dropping hints about moving on to civil engineering or architecture once she gets done next year.

Earlier this week she said she’s strongly considering mechanical engineering. However, I’m wondering if I possibly pushed her into thinking that. Obviously we all want our kids to be successful but I don’t want her to resent whatever she chooses.

How much of an impact did you have on your kid’s choice in what they majored in?

Set her up to talk to someone in each field. Both Mechanical and Electrical Engineering are tough, but really versatile with lots of high paying options. Especially for a woman. Architecture and Civil doesn't pay well until you’re a partner in your 40s.

 

[DFSNOLE]

Very little.

Our daughter wanted me to build her a daycare facility but I told her that I wanted her to get a degree first so she had a fall back plan. She majored in education because it was a related field. While doing her student teaching, she was placed in a special needs class and that changed her world. She switched her major to special education and then got her masters in that and behavioral analysis. She's now a BCBA and a six figure earning regional director of a company that works with kids who have behavioral issues. There is no more mention of a daycare.

Our son's football career ended in his senior year of high school when he had three shoulder surgeries. He was getting letters before getting hurt so he figured football was in his future. He coached the O-line of the JV team while he was out and really enjoyed it. That's when he decided to go into coaching. He too went for his education degree to get into the school system. During a summer break, he went to work with a friend in a retail store. He found out he was a natural salesman and changed his major to business. He ended up in the bedding industry and now works out of the corporate office of Serta-Simmons Bedding in Atlanta. He does well doing something I never foresaw him doing.

 

[THE_DEVIL]

None. THE_LITTLE_BASTARD DEVIL thinks he smarter than everyone.( I have no idea where he gets it from)

 

[ping72]

Is the CAD program at the university? Which school is she going to? Engineering is one of the handful of majors where your school actually kind of matters.

Some engineering programs have you apply directly into an engineering focus and others being everyone into a general curriculum for a year or two and then battle out the focus in essentially a pecking order. Civil will be much easier to get into than mechanical.

 

[JRHawk2003]

Didn't at all, it's probably why they all graduated with honors. Lol

 

[swagsurfer02]

Is the CAD program at the university? Which school is she going to? Engineering is one of the handful of majors where your school actually kind of matters.

Some engineering programs have you apply directly into an engineering focus and others being everyone into a general curriculum for a year or two and then battle out the focus in essentially a pecking order. Civil will be much easier to get into than mechanical.

She’s at a community college currently. Since I moved I’m looking at universities out west to be closer to me.

 

[LBoogie28]

My daughter is currently in a CAD program and is the only female left after a couple semesters.

She chose it because she enjoyed the portion on CAD while in an engineering type class while in high school, plus her tuition is paid for while in the program. I’ve been dropping hints about moving on to civil engineering or architecture once she gets done next year.

Earlier this week she said she’s strongly considering mechanical engineering. However, I’m wondering if I possibly pushed her into thinking that. Obviously we all want our kids to be successful but I don’t want her to resent whatever she chooses.

How much of an impact did you have on your kid’s choice in what they majored in?

She will figure out very quickly if she truly wants a degree in mechanical engineering (vs being suggested into the major). Out if ~130 hours of classes, a CAD class will comprise of about 4 (course+lab). Most likely will be used as a tool to complete a capstone project, but the takeaway is that it’s a small piece. How much you use it as a professional really depends on your career path, field, etc.

If she loves math, physics, problem solving, and isn’t afraid of putting in more effort than most of her friends in other majors…mechanical engineering is a great choice.

Edit: CAD is a pretty generic descriptor for modeling software. Is she working 2-D floor plans for MEP type projects? 3-D for architectural purposes? Or something beefier like Catia, solidworks, NX, or Creo?

 

[stout1]

We helped our kids take their interests and talents and find the majors that worked for them. We also helped them understand the decisions they were making.

The oldest is a music education major with a minor in composition/arranging

The middle kid is a civil engineering major who will likely specialize in Building Construction Engineering

The youngest is still finding his major but it will likely be in the Ag and Life Sciences

 

[swagsurfer02]

She will figure out very quickly if she truly wants a degree in mechanical engineering (vs being suggested into the major). Out if ~130 hours of classes, a CAD class will comprise of about 4 (course+lab). Most likely will be used as a tool to complete a capstone project, but the takeaway is that it’s a small piece. How much you use it as a professional really depends on your career path, field, etc.

If she loves math, physics, problem solving, and isn’t afraid of putting in more effort than most of her friends in other majors…mechanical engineering is a great choice.

Edit: CAD is a pretty generic descriptor for modeling software. Is she working 2-D floor plans for MEP type projects? 3-D for architectural purposes? Or something beefier like Catia, solidworks, NX, or Creo?

I have zero clue what she is doing. She’s a pretty good student just didn’t know what she wanted to do. Strong background in math, physics and absolutely loves solving problems.

I suggested she go into Industrial Hygiene like me but she doesn’t seem interested.

 

[MeetTheFerentzes]

My wife told all our boys to be engineering majors of some kind, because 1) you can pretty much go into any kind of meaningful career if you start with a Bachelors of Science in Engineering, and 2) credits toward an engineering degree transfer very well to other degree programs if you change your mind/can't hack it; the opposite is not so true.

Fortunately, they were all cut-out for it. Not sure that's the best advice in general if the kid has no interest or inclination in engineering (or any particular major you recommend), but it worked for us. I would hope that you know your daughter well enough to know if you are at least trying to steer her towards a path where she will likely have success.

 

[LBoogie28]

I have zero clue what she is doing. She’s a pretty good student just didn’t know what she wanted to do. Strong background in math, physics and absolutely loves solving problems.

I suggested she go into Industrial Hygiene like me but she doesn’t seem interested.

Sounds like her aptitude and previous/current course work steered your suggestion into engineering, rather than your suggestion steering her into engineering. Just don’t let her do industrial engineering. I kid…sorta.

 

[bhawk24bob]

None, one took advantage of it and the other isn't. The one that is taking advantage of it is in for a healthy dose of reality, because he is starting to see that I'm not joking when I ask him what bar he's going to be tending with his degree.

 

[desihawk]

My wife told all our boys to be engineering majors of some kind, because 1) you can pretty much go into any kind of meaningful career if you start with a Bachelors of Science in Engineering, and 2) credits toward an engineering degree transfer very well to other degree programs if you change your mind/can't hack it; the opposite is not so true.

Fortunately, they were all cut-out for it. Not sure that's the best advice in general if the kid has no interest or inclination in engineering (or any particular major you recommend), but it worked for us. I would hope that you know your daughter well enough to know if you are at least trying to steer her towards a path where she will likely have success.

don’t mean to redirect thread but i have a one-off question about the bolded part. so if one gets into engineering can one really switch to a drastically different field a couple years in and have the credits count. say political science (or a major that feeds into law school) or biology (or a major that feeds into med school)? i was under the impression that engineering credits would kind of be limited towards tech majors.

 

[MeetTheFerentzes]

None, one took advantage of it and the other isn't. The one that is taking advantage of it is in for a healthy dose of reality, because he is starting to see that I'm not joking when I ask him what bar he's going to be tending with his degree.

Psychology?

 

[MeetTheFerentzes]

don’t mean to redirect thread but i have a one-off question about the bolded part. so if one gets into engineering can one really switch to a drastically different field a couple years in and have the credits count. say political science (or a major that feeds into law school) or biology (or a major that feeds into med school)? i was under the impression that engineering credits would kind of be limited towards tech majors.

The opposite is definitely true. Engineering majors rarely have any wasted semester hours if they change to a liberal arts major. However, my niece, who started out in liberal arts and then changed to engineering after 2 years, had a Tommy Boy-like college tenure before finally graduating.

BTW - There are all kinds of students with engineering undergrad degrees in law and medical school; that was my original point.

 

[win1forthe]

None. Our son majored in business and I like to say that he majored in business because I know absolutely nothing about business. He is very independent and thankfully is six months into a job that he really likes and is moving out on his own next weekend.

 

[bhawk24bob]

Psychology?

That seems useful to an extent, so no......anthropology. Since I am not funding this, I'm trying to influence it the only way I can......by explaining that he can read about anthropology all he wants for the rest of his life while his stuff gets moved to storage and he still has 2 years to correct course

 

[Lindemann]

We steered our son towards a vocation. Smart kid but he had no idea what he wanted to study. He ended up going to CC and getting an associates in electrical technologies. So, I guess we steered him away from a 4 year degree.

Had he figured something else out during the 2 years he was there then he could transfer credits to a 4 year school and pursue his major. He's an electrician apprentice now and will take the journeyman's test next year. He likes it. He also got to play baseball for a couple years while he was there.

 

[CaboKP]

My son isn't old enough yet, so I'll throw out there I've seen an incredible increase for women in mechanical engineering. In my previous role, I would hire 4 co-ops (summer+semester) per year. I would have 50% or so be women, I did recruit from across the whole country. 100% of the women were recommended for rehire, about 80% of men were.
She can go this route and not be the only woman out of 100 men. So, there is a bit more comfort if she doesn't want to be the only woman at her company after graduating.
My company doesn't hire a ton of MEs, but the pay scale for a ME with 2-3 years experience jumped sharply this year. That indicates the industry needs more.

 

[onlyTheObvious]

None. Money doesn’t equal happiness.

Material possessions isn’t something I value a lot.

Be happy, you get one shot at life.

 

[Hawk_4shur]

My youngest graduate 15 years ago - it's hard to remember.

I got a business degree at Iowa with a major in accounting. All 3 boys went to Iowa and got business degrees. My oldest two in accounting and my youngest one in management.

I know I didn't compel them to do that, but I might have encouraged it. IDK.

My oldest now works in marketing
My second son s a cyber-security auditor
My youngest is a data analyst for a hospital.

 

[Lindemann]

FWIW:

I worked for a company that hired a LOT of engineers. Most were chemical engineers. Electrical engineers were also heavily recruited. There were a few ME's. They were all well paid right out of school.

 

[tigerguy_]

None. Told our kids that chose to go to college to study whatever they were interested in taking that semester and then their degree/career would work itself out. But study something they were not bored with, life is too short.

One double majored in classical literature and Arabic. The other psychology and visual arts.

Both have great jobs that they enjoy and are both very well compensated.

 

[Hwkfn1]

We have encouraged our son to pursue his passions. He loves animals and is going to ISU (Yuck!) for biology/pre-vet. Assuming he makes it, he will be a great vet. He is great with animals and with people. I did tell him he had to root for Iowa when they play ISU or I wasn't paying for college (just joking with him).

 

[hawkeyetraveler]

Oldest no pic daughter was STEM all the way - so we discussed the type of engineering problems she liked to solve and which majors would be a good fit based on that. She started in chemical engineering at Illinois then shifted into data science (statistics plus comp sci). She will be a senior and is currently doing a data science internship at P&G (so if your kids are eating tide pods I assume it is my daughter’s fault). She seems very happy and I think focusing on the topics/problems she liked was a better approach for her than describing careers/majors.

Youngest no pic daughter made the right choice to go to Iowa next fall and is starting in marketing which was the result of her having an entrepreneurial bent. I bet money she finishes in something else in business, but this is a great starting point for her.

At no time did I push a major on either kid, rather made sure they understood the types of work they could be doing. I also very subtly pointed out their lifestyle, like all of us on HROT, requires an above average income and they self selected fields where that is possible without any prompting or encouraging.

 

[DogBoyRy]

FWIW:

I worked for a company that hired a LOT of engineers. Most were chemical engineers. Electrical engineers were also heavily recruited. There were a few ME's. They were all well paid right out of school.

This
Chemical is the future.
Electrical close second.

 

[Tom Paris]

My daughter is currently in a CAD program and is the only female left after a couple semesters.

She chose it because she enjoyed the portion on CAD while in an engineering type class while in high school, plus her tuition is paid for while in the program. I’ve been dropping hints about moving on to civil engineering or architecture once she gets done next year.

Earlier this week she said she’s strongly considering mechanical engineering. However, I’m wondering if I possibly pushed her into thinking that. Obviously we all want our kids to be successful but I don’t want her to resent whatever she chooses.

How much of an impact did you have on your kid’s choice in what they majored in?

None other than “Do not go into teaching.” One works as a activities planner for a college and the younger one will probably work in the front office of a professional sports team.

 

[swagsurfer02]

None other than “Do not go into teaching.” One works as a activities planner for a college and the younger one will probably work in the front office of a professional sports team.

Why not education?

 

[JRHawk2003]

Why not education?

One of mine is in education and I wish he would switch.

So he can go on and be accused of being a groomer by some Reynolds/Trump protege? F that.

 

[swagsurfer02]

One of mine is in education and I wish he would switch.

So he can go on and be accused of being a groomer by some Reynolds/Trump protege? F that.

I don’t believe all teachers are called groomers. I think there are some who absolutely push agendas that Reynolds and lots of parents disagree with. This is coming from someone who has a spouse and sibling that teaches.

 

[soybean]

I never pushed Bean Jr. one way or another, So when he begin to flip flop on a major I was concerned. He dropped out of Iowa and finshed up his two degrees at Upper Iowa. Then, after 9/11, the Army after caught his eye and he ended up an officer as an Engineer. He did 3 tours in Iraq in his 6 year Army career. When he got out he started working for the state inspecting small road, bridge, culvert construction. Along the way he started buying stock cows and grew his herd bigger than mine. He now splits his time between bridges and cows.

Jr's. second wife told us she had barely made it through High School a couple years earlier. We first met her when she was just 20 almost 21. She was a sweet kid with a quick mind but had no direction. One day we were drinking some beer after the first cutting in the garage and I gently asked her what she was thinking about becoming - she stunned me when she said "I've already become what I want to be...I'm a wife, his business partner, and next November I'm having his baby. I'm happy, he's happy, and I hope you will be happy for us too, Bean." Now, ten years down the road she is my business partner too and I think of her as the daughter we never had. She was the one that convinced me to cut ties with the orchard biz and turn that cash into neglected pasture ground in southern Iowa/ northern Missouri which the two of us improved together. She has given us two wonderful grand-kids. Mrs. Bean reminds me quite often that its not how you start out, but how you finish instead.

Just love & encourage your kids no matter what - they'll figure it out by themselves

 

[BelemNole]

Zero
My dad changed my major when I got to school my freshman year to civil engineering.
I had no interest in it.
I did poorly.
Many years later I got a degree in the field I had applied to originally.
My kids have had strong opinions on what they wanted to study and I haven’t challenged it. I’m not sure that my daughter will end up in that field, but it’s her journey.

 

[SB_SB]

My daughter is currently in a CAD program and is the only female left after a couple semesters.

She chose it because she enjoyed the portion on CAD while in an engineering type class while in high school, plus her tuition is paid for while in the program. I’ve been dropping hints about moving on to civil engineering or architecture once she gets done next year.

Earlier this week she said she’s strongly considering mechanical engineering. However, I’m wondering if I possibly pushed her into thinking that. Obviously we all want our kids to be successful but I don’t want her to resent whatever she chooses.

How much of an impact did you have on your kid’s choice in what they majored in?

It's not really about pushing, it's about providing the information needed to make a decision. Most kids (and parents) don't even know which majors are available these days. Go to the universities and talk with the different departments to find out what's available. Don't just get the department generic information sheets, talk to the head of the departments. With my son, it allowed the department head to ask questions, and ultimately suggest a degree that wasn't a standard degree. Then make sure you have a plan A, plan B, and plan C.

The other thing to look at is the "+1" degrees. That's where you can get a masters degree in 5 years instead of 6. The downside of some of those is that they don't have all the requirements for a PHD. So if your kid wants to get a PHD, they may have to take other classes.

 

[JRHawk2003]

I don’t believe all teachers are called groomers. I think there are some who absolutely push agendas that Reynolds and lots of parents disagree with. This is coming from someone who has a spouse and sibling that teaches.

I had 4 kids go through schools here. Never really gave any consideration of "agendas" by teachers. I know what I don't know. Iowa is full of Karen's who think they know things. In their fat yoga pants no less. They are the ones with an agenda. A shitty one. I advised my kid to not teach in Iowa at least.

 

[swagsurfer02]

I had 4 kids go through schools here. Never really gave any consideration of "agendas" by teachers. I know what I don't know. Iowa is full of Karen's who think they know things. In their fat yoga pants no less. They are the ones with an agenda. A shitty one. I advised my kid to not teach in Iowa at least.

I think you’re silly if you don’t believe nearly everyone has an agenda. Also, I’ve noticed that calling someone you don’t agree with a “Karen” is used everywhere. It’s almost used so much it has no real meaning anymore.

 

[93hawkeye]

Children 1&2 (no pics): not at all
Child 3 (no pics): somewhat. He started as an Electrical Engineering Major, did very well, but wondered about switching to Secondary Ed (Mathematics). Discouraged the switch for multiple reasons. He listened to me, graduated with honors, and is enjoying his EE career. Happy ending.

 

[Mitch122]

Set her up to talk to someone in each field. Both Mechanical and Electrical Engineering are tough, but really versatile with lots of high paying options. Especially for a woman. Architecture and Civil doesn't pay well until you’re a partner in your 40s.

Define “pay well”. I’m a civil engineer in Iowa making 120k at age 31. It’s well enough for me. Been with the same company since college too, never tried shop around for a higher salary, so probably could be making a little more.