What field would you tell a teenager to pursue?

[AngryAmish]

I was talking to this kid last week and he was asking about careers. He is real smart (99th percentile) and wondering what to pursue. He was thinking about engineering (mechanical). But he was open to a lot of stuff.

I told him to look into material science. I don't know much about the field except that it seems to be important and cool.

Did I advise the kid well? What field would you tell a kid to pursue?

[name not needed]

1. He can make tons of money selling little baggies of oregano to

middle schoolers. :7

[realisticphish]

2. well

i mean, a career is really a personal thing. i had a lot of people tell me "you'd be a GREAT engineer", etc, and so took a year of engineering, hated it, and am now a happy psych major.

it all depends on personality, and the individual abilites and tastes of the person.

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[ScreamingMeemie]

3. Real Estate Appraising.

Sadly, we're booming because of foreclosures.

[tjdee]

20. Really? Going twenty years from now?

Real estate always seems really dodgy to me, very insecure I've always thought.

Willing to hear otherwise though!

[ScreamingMeemie]

23. Twenty years from now, we may be in another boom of refinance. My

work is always steady, always ethical. All I'm doing is placing value on homes for resale, probate, refinance, etc....

[tjdee]

24. I didn't mean dodgy as in "shady"...

Just sent you a PM.

:)

[Trillo]

4. Something that dovetails with their natural talent, whatever that is.

Everyone is good at something, even kids in school, in spite of an educational system that does its best to obfuscate and muddy that for them.

Follow their heart while they are still young. Satisfaction and happiness is priceless.

[Merope215]

5. Funeral home management

People are always going to be dying...

I myself would say environmental engineering, just because there will never be any shortage of work. But materials science sounds pretty good too. :)

[ClintonTyree]

8. Especially with the "baby boomer" generation..............

aging rapidly. Hey, I'm one of them. There's going to be A LOT of business coming there way in the near future.
Myself, I'm doing the cremation thing.

[xmas74]

27. I have been looking into funeral services.

It is an associates degree which will start the average graduate at about 35,000-more than the average college grad start salary. And many of the employees in the field are older. They are expecting a large-scale retirment in the next 10 years.
There is also a trend toward "death midwives". A death midwife works with the person after a final diagnosis, helps them come to terms, makes sure that they funeral is completely followed through per their wishes (and they usually pick a more "green" funeral) and comforts the family after.
Both are interesting fields.

[Merope215]

42. Wow, I've never heard of that

"Death midwife" sounds like a really interesting occupation, and I bet it would be a big comfort to a dying person and the family. It would probably be pretty tough, though - I don't think I could do it myself.

[xmas74]

43. There was an article

about it a couple of years ago in Mother Earth. Maybe you can find it online. It was very interesting.

[rogerashton]

6. Math and computer science are still

good fields for undergraduates that keep a lot of directions open. A couple of students in my Senior Seminar are math/business or math/econ majors who are aiming for work in the field of actuarial science.

Engineering fields usually share enough at the undergraduate level that a student can take a year or two to choose the specialization -- but it is important to start out in the engineering curriculum as it is a lot easier to shift out than in. Some schools (Drexel is one) offer majors in materials engineering -- and I understand this is an engineering field that doesn't get as many undergrad majors as they would like. Worth looking at.

As for my own field -- economics -- I'd say you have to love it to major in it. But it's a mightly fine minor.

[immoderate]

19. Learn as much math as he can hold.

Most people don't work in the fields that they study. If you want the most flexibility math can take you to med school, law school, economics, other technologies. Language arts is a good complement.

I work with computers. There was no major for this when I went to college (at least at my school.)

[Rhiannon12866]

7. I would suggest politics or government

If he decides that's not the field for him, at least he'll be well informed!:-)

[AngryAmish]

13. I hate to disagree, but

I would never advise anyone to have an undergraduate major in government or poly sci. In my field about half the folks have that background and I am constantly amazed by the innumeracy and ignorance of the scientific method. Outside of education (sorry teachers) the dimmest people I have met with a degree tend to be poly sci types.

[Rhiannon12866]

14. Good point! My brother has a masters in it

And he's an ignorant Freeper, if there ever was one. I guess that I was just wishing I had learned more about all this stuff when I was younger. The depth of knowledge of the teen-agers who post on DU never ceases to impress or amaze!:-)

[northzax]

30. all depends on where they learned it, I wager

as far as I'm concered, I would never advise anyone to get an undergraduate degree in a science or math, unless they want to be a scientist or a mathmetician. Unless you're getting a trade school degree, the best thing you can learn is how to think critically about a wide range of subjects and do social research. Math and science are all consuming and don't teach that sort of thing. Notice how the math majors don't get a lot of dates outside the math department?

se how absurd that was? Frankly, it doesn't matter what you major in. unless it's a trade, no one cares two years out. I have met brilliant scientists who can't hold a conversation with a paper bag, and dull philosphy majors who couldn't make a decision.

The single best thing to learn in college, if you haven't already, is how to think. Learn how to think, how to learn and how to be critical of everything (not negative critical, but applying abstract thought to it) and it doesn't matter if you have a degree in Chemistry, Econ, Poly-Sci, French or Astrophysics. You're going to Grad School anyway, everyone does, so specialize there, and learn as much as you can at college first.

[rogerashton]

38. Don't think mathematics is distinct from critical thinking!

One side of critical thinking is logic, and mathematics is applied logic.

On the other side, there is no other field that will give you what mathematics does. For all the respect I have for the litterateurs and sociologists I know, there is just something missing in their thinking -- some ability to cut through the murk -- that seems only to come from years spent with math. Of course, trying to explain it is about as easy as explaining sex to a lifelong virgin.

[northzax]

44. And there is an understanding of the human condition

that can only be obtained by reading and learning about people. The murk that you disdain so much is what makes us human, not machines. logic rarely actually applies to the ways that humans behave and interact with each other. If it did, mathmeticians would be our gods. People would pack smoky clubs to watch mathmeticians do calculations on massive chalkboards. There would be statues of mathmeticians in every town square. The captain of the cheerleading squad would date the president of the math club. And pigs would fly.

Look, mathematics is undeniably important. More people need to learn more math, no question. But it's hardly a panacea. I know that every mathmetician wished the world worked in the clean, logical way that Math does, but the world simply doesn't operate. Math can tell us that the light reflected from the moon travels at 186,000m/s, and how it reflects and refracts to alter the percieved colour of objects on earth. And the calculations are, in their way, beautiful. But they tell us nothing about how hjumans experience that. it takes Walt Whitman to tell us:
LOOK down, fair moon, and bathe this scene;
Pour softly down night's nimbus floods, on faces ghastly, swollen,
purple;
On the dead, on their backs, with their arms toss'd wide,
Pour down your unstinted nimbus, sacred moon.

THere is more meaning in those four lines about the human experience than in every single mathemtical calculations about the moon.

We are not robots, our behaviour cannot be explained by Math, at least no math yet discovered. Nothing is ever that black and white. Frankly, from a purely logical point of view, most of the world's problems would not exist. Nor would much of the greatness.

[rogerashton]

64. The subject, recall, was critical thinking.

Insight on the human condition is a different thing from critical reasoning. It is true that critical reasoning needs more than logic, though -- some empirical method, the willingness to question, the self-discipline to question one's own assumptions.

So you feel that the intellectual value of an activity is proportional to its popularity as entertainment? Chris Rock must be one of the great thinkers of all time!

What your post makes clear is that you have something against mathematics. As my late math prof Pasquale Porcelli said, there are many people with learning in literature who take pride in their ignorance of mathematics, but I have never yet met a mathematician who was proud of his ignorance of literature.

[northzax]

69. not at all

I got through Calculus just fine thank you. What I have a problem with is the idea that a humanistic, liberal arts education is somehow inferior to one that is based in hard science. I don't see that my Biochemistry major was in any way superior to my East Asian Government one. And that was that original idea that started this discussion, that poly-sci and government were somehow inferior degrees.

[Nikia]

46. I majored in biology

Biology is a rather diverse field and you do learn about the scientific aspects of life, which is all around us, from various aspects. It also incorporates other sciences and math too. Learning the scientific method, how to write lab reports and scientific papers, analyze data, and learn to perform lab tests with little instruction are useful skills. These skills can be useful to industry and business although many human resource people don't understand that.
I went to a liberal arts college and over half of my classes were in liberal arts subjects. I took classes in the following departments: Anthropology, Classics, Economics, English, French, Government, History, Music, and Russian. Many of these classes were taken at the intermediate level and I did as well or better than majors in these subjects, which was commented on by several of my profs. Perhaps this was a sign that I should have majored in one of these subjects instead.
Since so many people are going to college now, it is hard to get a good job without an advanced degree if you major in an academic subject. A science major with a Bachelor's is likely to be a tech, not a real scientist. Engineers usually do better since there are fewer of them and usually have a heavier curriculum, which is why I wasn't interested in majoring in it at the time, that often requires or even allows few liberal art classes.

[Seabiscuit]

73. Poly Sci is a good major for future lawyers.

I suppose if you end your education with nothing more than a B.A. in poly sci you may end up as a dimbulb, especially if your career isn't remotely related.

How else can one get a taste for constitutional law, international law and criminal procedure without taking courses like that in an undergraduate poly sci department?

[Mr.Green93]

9. Learn Chinese and Spanish

live well as a translator.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

56. I am a translator, and in order to become one, you have

to know more than a little of your second or third language.

I always tell people that they're not ready to become a translator unless they have 1) lived in a country where their language is spoken, and 2) can read the local equivalent of Time or Newsweek without a dictionary.

Since translators are paid by the word, one's income depends partly on one's speed. If you need to use a dictionary for everything, you won't earn enough to live on.

[Mr.Green93]

68. Thanks for the information.

[B Calm]

10. I would recommend teaching, but the pay sucks...

Mechanical engineering is a nice field, but with factories shutting down here in the USA he might have to move to a third world country in order to find work..

[chicagojoe]

11. If they have something they like, go for it.

From my sons' experience, I can tell you this. He's a very smart kid, but was an average high school, read "adolescent warehouse", student, at best. He had a desire to go into broadcasting/film.
He is now a student at Columbia College in Chicago, earning STRAIGHT A's. He has never seemed so alive. He works as an intern at a TV station here, and I have no doubts about the success he will attain.

[TahitiNut]

66. Amen. Do what you love doing. No pay is worth doing otherwise.

People should follow their passions.

[Droopy]

12. "Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys"

"Don't let 'em pick guitars and drive them ol' trucks. Let 'em be doctors and lawyers and such."

My mama tried, but I turned out to be a cowboy anyway. I drive them ol' trucks.

[leftofthedial]

15. Learn Hindi if he actually plans to be employed

because he WILL have to relocate.

beyond that, study something he cares about.

[Rhiannon12866]

16. Is he good with languages?

We keep hearing that the lack of Arabic speakers is a huge problem, and we know that we're going to need them for a long time to come. He could write his own ticket, U.N., embassy, teaching.:shrug:

[serryjw]

17. Anything that will work in a global economy

he will be working for another 70 years.

[Reverend_Smitty]

18. It's hard to outsource teachers...

in fact there is a shortage of them, only problem is, the pay sucks in many states. Around here they max out somewhere around 60k with good benefits. It's not great, but it's not bad either

[Senior citizen]

21. Left field. n/t

[NV Whino]

22. First, what does he like?

Second, build on that and go into anything "portable." An example is doctors or nurses. Pick and go anywhere and there are jobs. Geriatric medicine/care/law will be/is a biggy, but he may be too young to really take advantage of that.

[Ivan Sputnik]

25. Plumbing

or anything else that can't be outsourced to another country. Yeah, the Internet is a wonderful thing . . .

[noonwitch]

72. Plumbing is a well-paying field

They make more than social workers, that's for damn sure.

[Runcible Spoon]

26. hmmm I hear biomechanical engineering is hot...

big money, chance to do visionary research and make a difference....tell him to take some ETHICS classes along the way, and steer clear of ruthless corporations...

[xmas74]

28. Nursing.

There are not enough nurses as it is right now and the field is rapidly aging. Statistics show that the average nurse is 45, meaning that in 15 or so years there will be a horrendous nursing shortage.
Also, they could then further their education into midwife, practioner, etc. There is always growth if they are interested.

[Corgigal]

53. I told my 16 year old son nursing also

and from there he can go into some specific fields inside nursing. I think this kid would be good as an ER nurse.

[xmas74]

57. There is a lot of growth potential.

Especially in trauma or geriatric.

[RadicalMom]

62. I was just talking to my 13 year old daughter about this a few hours.

She has been thinking of going into veterinary nursing or regular nursing. I looked up the local schools in reasonable distance, and all of them were very vague about whether you could even get into the program after taking all the prerequisites. Only then could you go into the lottery that decides who gets to go (not by grades) or get on a waiting list. Maybe that will change in the next four years, and with all the clammoring for nurses here in Southern California, perhaps they can add more classes. It's hard to even wholeheartedly encourage her in that, because of the lack of respect for nurses(just look at Schwarzenegger's recent antics), the way doctors tend to treat them, the nasty hours, etc. I've known a couple of people who left the field after just a few years because of the reasons I've mentioned. She could get right into Vet nursing, without the waiting list, etc. They don't make as much at all, and I expect jobs are harder to find, but she'd be really good at it, and human nursing, too. And she'd be with animals (we have nine of them. Being a veterinarian would be a possibility, but that's awfully expensive, and very hard to get into a program. Other than that, she's terrific with computers, and designs all her friends web pages, and is a born designer(coming from a two artist-parents family). I'm not sure how to help her figure it out.

[xmas74]

63. She could go into nursing

( I know about the lottery system-I tried a few years ago here in MO and was waitlisted). If the hours didn't suit her very well she could further her education and become a practitioner, midwife, etc.
Many clinics are hiring pratitioners as a way to relieve the overload of cases. I had a midwife present at the birth of my daughter (she was a certified nurse-midwife and I did have her in a hospital) and I wholeheartedly recommend the experience to everyone. Practitioners and midwives seem to take more time to talk to the patient instead of rushing them in and out.
The job opportunities are out there in these areas. She could complete the bachelors and work every other weekend while going for the advanced degrees. Some places are even paying for nurses to further themselves in school, since many rural areas have a physician shortage.

[HEyHEY]

29. Any trade

That will also make it easy for him to move to Canada.

[northzax]

31. material science? you mean plastics?

Tell him to go to a good college, study, meet people, relax and enjoy life for four years. the "field" will come.

[Kazak]

32. Environmental Science

I'm thinking about going back and studying a little bit of that myself...

[Stealther]

33. Whatever his heart calls him to do.

I'd actually recommend exploring a lot of different things, see what really 'sings' to him.

And also to keep in mind that you can ALWAYS change your mind later.

[Nikia]

34. Chemical engineering

It is a rather large engineering field and his skills would be useful in a variety of industries. If I had to do it again, that's what I would have pursused.

[bmbmd]

35. Just one word-

plastics.

[Seabiscuit]

74. Did you hear that, Benjamin? Plastics!

[Rabrrrrrr]

36. To follow only a field for which they have passion

anything else leads either to misery, or at least to a life that has little meaning or enjoyment to them.

Whatever they want to do, their deepest, most passionate dream thing, that's the only thing they should pursue.

[fortyfeetunder]

37. Engineering is flexible

We have these technological challenges that will require more engineers working on these projects:
Structural materials applications
Communications --computer reliability and security
Space exploration (long term space inhabitants)
Medicine
Environmental Engineering


Other advantages to majoring in engineering:

1) Curriculum provides all the math and science you need to branch into almost any industry.
2) Major in enginering and chances are with good grades, you have slightly higher likelihood of being accepted to med school, dental school, business school or law school.
3) Fewer Murkans are majoring in engineering in the USA so entry in a school will be easier

And as a footnote, did anyone know last week was Engineer's Week?
(www.eweek.org) There is information on engineering careers. I think a week is not enough....

[rogerashton]

41. Much as I would like to,

I can't quite agree with this:

1) Curriculum provides all the math and science you need to branch into almost any industry.

In a quantitative sense, yes. But, having taught a lot of engineering majors, I don't think they really learn mathematics well enough to apply it outside the engineering fields themselves. It's the way it is taught -- cookbook style. You need to learn math so you can use it the way my Grandmother cooked -- a dash here, a splash there, and don't bother looking at the book (except in emergencies) -- intuitively!

[fortyfeetunder]

47. How about it provides the basics?

I might not agree, having majored in engineering for BS and MS. The math gives you the foundation to take you wherever one wants to go.

One criticism I did have for math classes was there were few practical applications taught in the curriculum. And the professors I had didn't know well enough to teach it from that perspective. However, when I did take differential equations, the book's curriculum was all practical applications from engineering to biology. Best math course I had.

[CubsFan1982]

39. Teaching.

We need more good ones. :D

[CornField]

40. Genetics and/or forensics (nt)

[Sgent]

45. Unless he has a love of engineering

I would probably recommend a either biology or general engineering. Although the degree itself are not particularly useful, it opens the door to just about any graduate program if that's the way he's going. A minor in philosophy will round this out very well.

[oustemnow]

48. Plastics.

Too obscure?

[Shadowen]

49. To paraphrase Marilyn Manson...

...I wouldn't tell them anything. I'd listen to what they liked to do and were good at, then I'd advise them.

[jmowreader]

50. If I was going to do it all over again...

I'd do a double-major--polymer chemistry and mechanical engineering.

Then I'd head for grad school and get a Ph.D. in one of the two--probably mechanical engineering.

With this training under your belt, you can do anything from automotive suspensions to artificial hips.

[huellewig]

51. I think it is to early to tell.

At least in Oregon you have to two years of general ed. I did the AAOT and that allowed me to find my field.

http://www.pcc.edu/pcc/pro/transfer/or_trans_degree.htm

My original major changed after exposure to a broad range of subjects.

[porphyrian]

52. Suicide.

If that doesn't work, suggest something they think they could do for a long time with no respect, credit, or decent pay while trying to decide what they really want to do.

[Floogeldy]

54. Mrs. Fields Cookies

[Lydia Leftcoast]

55. The advice I used to give to all my students was:

"Do something that you like and are good at. Anything else will make you miserable, and money won't make up for it."

When I was in graduate school, my grandmother used to tell me that I could have made more money as a lawyer or "real doctor." Well and good, but I would have been miserable in either profession.

Some of the luckiest people in the world are people who can make a living, no matter how modest, as musicians, dancers, or actors. They get to do what they were born to do as a way of life, not as a hobby. (I've heard people in the arts say this.)

For someone else, the ideal career might be engineering or farming or nursing.

There are no more guaranteed careers. People may as well do what they like.

[Spider Jerusalem]

58. Electrical engineering or computer science.

If he already wants to be an engineer, I don't really think that going into one of the more extroverted fields that others have suggested (politics, business, and so on) would really be a good fit.

And CS is a field that will offer gainful emplyment for the foreseeable future, especially in R&D.

[JI7]

59. what things interest HIM ?

if he is smart then he would likely do well in whatever area he decides to go into.

was he thinking engineering because it interests him ?

he doesn't have to limit himself. take a few classes in various subjects and he might find he wants to study further in a certain area.

[fujiyama]

60. I agree

I majored in electrical engineering and while I didn't mind it I can't really say I was all that passionate about it. Looking back I might have done something else...and I may depending on whether this works out.

[Tikki]

61. Geology or Meteorology...n/t

[Padraig18]

65. Accounting, engineering, medicine, etc. .

Those are all fields with good employment potential for years to come.

[Coyote_Bandit]

67. I Would Tell Him

that the value of formal education is highly overrated. Find something that he enjoys and likes doing - a skill, a trade, a profession. And invest his time learning to be the best at what he loves. If he does that he will be just fine.

[MissMillie]

70. Pharmacology

In fact, that was the advice I just gave my son.

My brother works as a human resource manager for a chain of grocery stores that have pharmacies in them. He tells me that if he had it to do all over again, he'd be a pharmacist. Good pay, choice of hours (often a 4-day work week)...

[Orsino]

71. Large green meadows in British Columbia...

...where they probably won't try to draft him.

Seriously, we're going to need water purification and solar, wind and geothermal power. Our fancy tech, and the civilization on which it depends, will be worthless if we don't learn to run it without petroleum.

[KurtNYC]

75. Mathematical modeling

Used heavily in pharmaceutical trials, marketing and government. Few people can do it well. Pays $$$$.