It's no secret that choosing the right college major will be an important decision students make during their academic lives. And with tough economic times and enormous amounts of debt to deal with, students have never been more worried about which major to choose, and it seems like college-related pressure has never been greater. Though economic realities can be discouraging, student decisions regarding which major to choose usually should not be affected by economic conditions. What students will need to consider is what they are interested in, what field of study they would succeed in, and their debt situation. They should also remember that there will many careers available to them regardless of their major.
STEM Majors and Professional Degrees
Many parents, counselors, and even professors insist that STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) majors are the only ones that will lead to a specific career. This has led parents worried about their children's future to strongly encourage them to pursue engineering degrees or professional degrees, which generally lead to the highest salaries. Indeed, students anxious about being able to find a job after graduation or regretting their college major decisions may be best off starting out in a STEM field or pursing a course of study eventually leading to a professional degree.
And though it's true that STEM majors are certainly right for students who are genuinely interested in and devote themselves to their fields of study, many students who choose STEM college majors just for a higher salary are likely to be disappointed. A STEM major is a significant commitment. Computer science majors, for example, are likely to spend six years in college before they graduate becau...
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...their all. But students should know that those who choose majors in non-STEM fields have access to careers too numerous to list here, and because they tend to be in less debt and have many options, they're less likely to be committed to jobs or careers that they are unhappy with. This can have a tremendous impact on their quality of life. There are plenty of HR representatives, managers, public relations and marketing staff members, real estate agents and other professionals who are qualified for their jobs through experience rather than education. Most managers also say they value experience over all other factors. Students should spend the first half of their education taking courses about a wide variety of different topics, then choose a major based on the classes they're interested in to maximize their academic performance and enter the workforce with confidence.
STEM is an acronym standing for science, technology, engineering, and math. Stem stands for science, technology, engineering, and math because those are the four things that are essential for success. Also, because these are the four-most field involved in real world activities and jobs. Stem can also be used to stimulate ones imagination, but Stem can also be fun. When doing stem you can do many fun things that not only stimulate your imagination, but also allow you to experience fun such as building balsa wood bridges, making mousetrap cars, constructing water bottle rockets, or doing fun clubs like sea perch, NESBE, VEX, and/or
A challenge that all seniors face at the end of their high school career is the decision that will shape the rest of their future. Will it be Harvard, Ivy Tech, or a job at the nearest fast food joint? Of course, there is nothing wrong with not going to college, but for the people of society who plan to marry and have at least three children, it is almost essential. After making this decision, the seniors who choose to attend college must then decide which one. Campus size, housing, nearby activities, and available degrees and study programs are all important traits to consider when searching for the perfect college.
Today’s college students have the opportunity and freedom to choose their major and their career path. Many factors influence the decision of a college student’s career paths including background, general interests, personal strengths, time commitment, and job outlook. Although many important decisions are made in college, one of the most important is the choice of major and career track. Out of hundreds of majors the science and engineering fields are under-represented by women. Although the numbers of women in science technology, engineering, and mathematics, STEM, majors has been increasing in the past years, women still are in the minority in the STEM fields. In her study, Lona Whitmarsh concluded, “that career opportunities for women have widened,” but “not enough change has occurred to show significant differences between the overall population” (49). It is good that more women are entering these fields, but there are still not enough young women aspiring to fill the gaps. Further statistics show that female representation in engineering continues to be low, “in 2008 only 19 percent of bachelor’s degrees, 22.9 percent of masters, and 14.8 percent of PhDs in engineering were awarded to women” (Bystydzienski 2). Although there has been a general increase of women entering the fields of science and mathematics, overall the numbers are still low, showing that women struggle in pursuing a degree within these fields, and that many factors can lead to a female not choosing to begin or complete college in a STEM major. Women are in the minority of STEM fields.
The acronym STEM simply refers to science, technology, engineering and math. The acronym does not mean that STEM defines any specific type of job only in the sense jobs are related to science, technology, engineering, and math. Because of the nature of these jobs refers to STEM industries, these types of jobs in education and social sciences are not included. The main jobs included are within the fields of computers and math. Almost the same number of boys and girls are graduating from high school and even more girls are graduating from college, yet women are still underrepresented in STEM industries. Though women comprise more than half of the workforce in the U.S economy, they hold less than twenty five percent of jobs in STEM industries.
If you're in high school the most common question you ask yourself is “will i go to college? and is it really worth it ?” My answer is yes, this is why,college usually pays of in the long run, What I mean is that in average a person that goes to college gets a better pay. If you are planning on graduating with a degree that involves STEM ( science technology engineering and mathematics) there will be 4 jobs available for those graduates while on the other hand a high school graduate will have 4 persons competing for the same job including themselves. In most cases people who do/did go to college also are healthier and have a greater self
I currently attend Tennessee State University as a freshman. I plan on majoring in Dental Hygiene. I am the first to graduate and attend college in my family so of course everybody has high expectations from me. My mom and dad sacrificed a lot for me to attend school and get a good education and they taught me that without education you really can’t do much with your life. I want to have a good career and a good degree so I can be successful in life. I want to make my parents happy and very proud of the young lady they have raised. My father’s dream has always been for me to major in Dental Hygiene because of how successful I can be. And my dream has always been to make my dad (my inspiration and my role model) happy. When I started off trying to decide my major I had a very hard time because I honestly didn’t know what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to choose a major that I couldn’t really do much with or find a good job with. I asked my dad for help and he told me that this major would fit me perfectly and we looked up more information about it and we looked up the salary for it too and that’s when I knew I had found my major.
You go three years of high school preparing for college and at the same time having fun. Until you are in your senior year of high school that’s when you realize and start asking your self what college do I want to go to? Or what college career I want to pursue? That’s when you notice you have but so little time to answer these questions. Me I’m in my last year of high school and I though I already knew what career I wanted to pursue, but its now that I notice that not even I know what I’m going to do with my life? All I’m sure of its that I’m going to graduate out of high school with a diploma and that I’m going to college. But what happens after that? What major did I study? Or where did I go to accomplish my goal?
A rating-scale survey given in February and repeated in April to the same freshmen students provided insight into how freshmen viewed STEM subjects and whether they felt capable of success. It asked questions such as “Do you feel supported by the school in STEM careers?” Results from the survey indicated that interventions such as time spent in Advisory working on academic and career plans ha...
College is a place for people to learn a career, but students need to be wary of which one they chose. These past few years and days I have noticed if you have a high school diploma or GED there is a very vague chance of getting a good productive job let alone a career. So some teachers and many other people that are in students lives pressure them to go to college. Those students become unhappy and the job they or their family chose for them may not be one in demand. Many of those graduates search for a job in the workforce, which many times turns out to do no good. Students in specific educational programs like applied associate of science programs
Before you start to think about a major, you might ask yourself why you should choose a major in the first place. There are several answers to this question. The first one is very simple: choosing a major is required by the university. Every college will request you to select an area of concentration, usually called a major. Each major has a set of requirements: number of courses, electives, and comprehensive examination. The general goal is to require the exploration and understanding of a body of material and of the techniques needed for mastery of that material. This is the university’s view on the requirement of a major.
Further education gives students an opportunity to develop skills, talents, and discover new interests. It teaches students how to examine, evaluate, and compare arguments with different people. Many young students are undecided about their career path when they think about college. Some people are not ready to decide their majors because they have not received enough information about the different subjects. Fortunately, colleges offer students the opportunity of exploring a variety ...
Choosing a major can be a very stressful situation, so why not sit down and take some time to do it? Be creative, don’t rush, give yourself plenty of time and really think about what interests you in life. My major is something that I want to enjoy, something that I will be doing for the rest of my life. Why would I want to be miserable at something I do in life? Two short essays: “College?
college students in today 's 21st-century struggle with choosing a college major and deciding on a
College is a place where you open up your mind and see the different options that are set for you , ranging from sports, engineering, literature and many other subjects. Many high school graduates think that college is only a place you go to obtain a higher wage, while that is somewhat true, students should pursue a career which they enjoy, rather than a job that just pays a large amount. As Danielle Allen writes “But we don’t want to craft an environment where people fail to come to their own understanding of what they should try to do because as a nation, we are justifiably trying to increase the efficiency with which we match human capital to the labor market.”(2) Teens nowadays are pressured by parents and media to obtain the most valued jobs such as those in the medical and engineering field, but completely ignore the fact that they might not enjoy the job itself. While not completely ignoring the income in a profession, scholars need to learn that studying something they 're passionate about will become better for them in the long run because it 's something they will be working on for a long
“But most people have multifaceted interests and abilities and could probably be successful and happy in several fields,” notes McCoy. Reasoning with options, interests, and abilities provides a wide range of career paths and prevents one from becoming limited to a simple passion or love desired career path. When one is reasonable with abilities and interests in different career options, it is easier to find a career especially in the economy of the United States today. Susanne Peckham states, “During the past couple of years, college graduates have faced a very challenging job market.”(Peckham.2011) This elaborates on McCoys questioning of the commencement speakers advice to students to ‘Do What You Love’ during such a “tough labor market” (McCoy.2013). Reasoning with one's interests and options leads to a well thought out career path that provides what one needs to make an