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Pre-med used to be like pre-law (no personal experience here, just recounting what they used to say about this to all undergraduates in the 1970s and 80s). You'd think they'd advise the aspiring med student to major in bio or physiology or perhaps biochemistry, but no. They used to tell you to major in anything at all that you can do well in. Philosophy, history, English--whatever; it didn't matter because you'd be learning all the science you needed when you were actually in medical school.
So evidently that's not true these days.
Seriously, today you hear about little ones needing the right kind of preschool in order to be ready for "the rigors of kindergarten". I kid you not, I actually read those very words in an article somewhere, not so long ago.
We didn't have rigorous kindergartens back in 1963. We had blocks and toys, songs led by the teacher as she strummed the autoharp, and naps. I'm pretty sure there was no reading yet, other than the teacher reading to us. Back then I think the point was that we got to know the kids we'd be going through the next six or eight grades with.
Pre-Med you can major in whatever you want and it is a good idea to major in whatever you are strongest in because the first round of med school applications is computer scored and it's all about your GPA and MCAT score, if you don't get past that round, doesn't matter what else you did or where you went to school. There are some required courses you do have to take, bio, chem, O-Chem, calc, stats, sociology, psychology and a couple others though.
About the only place where the "right" pre-school matters is on the East Coast and mostly in NYC .
I think this is the majority by far. If you know what you want to do and have the aptitude for it and it happens to lead to a lucrative profession you're fortunate.
In the case of a major like engineering, that's already closed to you on the first day of your freshman year if you were a math feeb (like me) in public school. I hadn't had second year algebra or trig, let alone HS calculus, so I definitely couldn't have handled the rigorous calculus track for STEM-bound college freshmen. It was too bad; there were many aspects about engineering and natural science that I found very intriguing, but with my math skill at the time, I wasn't going to get any closer to any of that than reading National Geographic or Time-Life books (this was back when they published good stuff). Belatedly, around the age of 28 or so, I finally began to get abstract math in a way that I never had before. I was grateful for it, but I don't think it would have done me any good to have waited until I was 28 to start my college career.
Obviously, I majored in something else, but it worked out in the end.
For many students, what majors you don't choose has already been set in stone long before you graduate from HS.
Those Who Squirm - It is never too late to start over! If you think you have a potential passion and skill for Engineering, please go back and pursue it now with the wisdom and knowledge that additional years have given you. You might end up changing the world with a single fantastic idea or achievement!
The rest of what you stated, I wholeheartedly agree with. I suspect young people go to college without a real plan for one simple reason, they are pressured to do so.
The US culture in particular is currently really screwed up. It seems to have been artificially constructed in only about 2 or 3 generations via the paper and electronic media (TV, Radio and paper-based news). We think that we are supposed to have conflict with our own children (and they with us) in their teens. We think they are supposed to be kicked out of the house to be on their own after high school. We think that the Public School system prepares them for making educational and financial choices. We think our young adults should go deep into debt for 2, 4, 5 or longer term college degree programs. Those who wake up and look around can see all that for what it really is: untrue.
When people turn off their TVs, Radios, Xboxes, and Playstations, and wake up and see how there are lots of other choices available for how to live, then a better culture will evolve from the current mess. When parents have nothing but honest conversations with their children and each other the children are better off. Educational & career goals can and should explained and researched as soon as passions and aptitudes are revealed. None of this is difficult to understand or think about, and it is the mass hypnosis of our generation that is the only thing standing in the way. In a sense, we are standing in our own way.
Those Who Squirm - It is never too late to start over! If you think you have a potential passion and skill for Engineering, please go back and pursue it now with the wisdom and knowledge that additional years have given you. You might end up changing the world with a single fantastic idea or achievement!
Oh, I'm happy with the way things turned out; I've spent most of my career in programming and IT, made decent money, and mostly enjoyed the work. Although, I noticed over the last decade or two, this type of work has become more and more segmented and fragmented. I don't mean just having different developers do the actual building of different modules or layers, but having whole platoons of people do just one thing like tier support or configuration work. There's definitely been a buy-not-build trend for most organizations other than the software companies themselves. And this makes obvious business sense; when I started, business usually wrote software in-house, and early packaged solutions usually didn't work that great. but today that's not true.
In middle class and above, families; it is a right of passage. The normal thing to do.
Also, in families who aspire to be middle class. My family was this way. We did a lot better than cousins who went directly into work or trade school
Going to college is as normal as being promoted from 3rd grade into 4th.
Not going to college limits you.
There are so many private, smaller LACs that will financially help first generation college attendees. They may not be Ivy League schools, bit many are reputable.
A lot of college students wrongly believe that in spite of the fact that they don't know what to do, graduating with an average degree will still give them enough options to get an entry-level job once they figure out what they want to do.
Pre-Med you can major in whatever you want and it is a good idea to major in whatever you are strongest in because the first round of med school applications is computer scored and it's all about your GPA and MCAT score, ....
This is partially correct. Med schools also consider what is called BCPM (biology, chemistry, physics, math) as a separate GPA, and typically weight the BCPM significantly more than overall GPA. If someone has a 3.8 overall GPA but a 3.0 BCPM, that is a huge red flag.
In fact, there were some recent guidelines released as to what a course must contain to be considered BCPM as students were taking non-majors level science courses to pad their BCPM.
A lot of college students wrongly believe that in spite of the fact that they don't know what to do, graduating with an average degree will still give them enough options to get an entry-level job once they figure out what they want to do.
Actually, It's true. A BA/BA from anywhere will get the grad many jobs. Fairly well paying ones at that.
In my home state of NY, there are many state jobs that pay 50K or more and only require a bachelors degree. They range from accounting to mental health.
And you could have a degree in drama or phys ed.
They just want the bachelors.
There are pay increases each year. There is also a tuition reimbursement for a masters degree in many fields.
Really, you need a BA to do anything. Quit fighting it, folks.
If people had to wait until they knew what career they wanted, they'd probably never go to school. In fact, I know several who have been living at home working minimum wage jobs for years because they think they need to figure out a career before they go. But it's a catch 22 - you can't get the right kind of work experience to figure out what you want to do without any degree. College is a fairly safe 4 years to experiment and learn about different subjects, plus most schools give you 2 full years to declare a major.
I think it makes sense to get an undergraduate degree right away and then figure out what you want to do later - however, I also think that degree should be in something likely to lead to some kind of job. That way, if they discover that's not the career for them, at least they have a ticket to enter the workforce, hopefully in a somewhat related field, and make enough money to eventually do something different.
What this poster said.
Many people find out what they love by attending college. I did.
I liked a lot of things. I was raised to attend college. However, at 17, I really wansn't sure what I loved.
Many people change majors, also. It's all part of the learning experience.
Here's something to consider. All this talk about going to college and making decent money which in many cases earning at or close to 100k. Well check this out. A person can test for certain licenses without a high school diploma and their income is unlimited.
Be it insurance, real estate, or securities if a person learns to sell they can write their own ticket. Not to mention not paying off loans for years. Then again plumbers make a good income.
I graduated high school in 2011, and I don't remember anyone NOT applying to colleges or saying they were going into college. My school district kind of forced it down our throats as well as the pretty affluent area in which I grew up in. Not going to college is just not an option for some people and families. I don't think it's right for everybody personally, especially someone so lost on the whole career aspect. I KNEW what general area of study I wanted to go into as a senior in high school, so I guess I was lucky.
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