Across the country, high school seniors are preparing for an uncertain next phase.
Decision Day has passed, and most students heading to college have chosen their fates for next fall. But as they narrow down a choice of study, they weigh their passions and interests in pursuit of a career that also pays the bills.
Emily Donals, 18, graduated from Penfield High School last week. She plans to attend SUNY Fredonia to study childhood education in the fall despite the dim job outlook caused by an economic squeeze on school budgets across the United States.
“It’s a scary thing to go into, but I hope that by the time I’m done with my master’s degree, things will turn over,” said Donals.
Becoming an elementary teacher has been her dream ever since she was young, as she remembers playing “school” with dolls and later began volunteering as a vacation Bible school teacher and, most recently, teaching Spanish to students at Cobbles Elementary.
For her, it all comes down to finding a balance between following her dream and working hard to achieve it.
“I think it’s all about your attitude,” she said. “If you really want to pursue the thing that you love, you have to fight for it.”
Parents and educators say that high school juniors and seniors are surprisingly resistant to the Doomsday message of 8.5 percent unemployment in New York and 8.1 percent nationally when it comes to picking a major that combines their skills and interests.
“I think they’re so wide-eyed and eager that those are tough conversations to have,” said Bea Lynch, a school counselor at Penfield High. “We’re having a lot more conversations with students about debt, job outlook and the cost of college.”
Lynch said that who have a specific career choice are planning their course with their checkbooks in mind. That means weighing their future school loans with the their possible earning potential.
Oftentimes, this means going to a SUNY school to minimize debt at the undergraduate level before graduate school. This is especially true for students entering the medical field and other fields that require postgraduate study — and spending.
“I still see kids going to liberal arts schools with undecided majors,” said Lynch. “I think that they just want to do what’s interesting to them at this point.”
In many cases, she said, the decision for comes down to economics.
Across the country, high school seniors are preparing for an uncertain next phase.
Decision Day has passed, and most students heading to college have chosen their fates for next fall. But as they narrow down a choice of study, they weigh their passions and interests in pursuit of a career that also pays the bills.
Emily Donals, 18, graduated from Penfield High School last week. She plans to attend SUNY Fredonia to study childhood education in the fall despite the dim job outlook caused by an economic squeeze on school budgets across the United States.
“It’s a scary thing to go into, but I hope that by the time I’m done with my master’s degree, things will turn over,” said Donals.
Becoming an elementary teacher has been her dream ever since she was young, as she remembers playing “school” with dolls and later began volunteering as a vacation Bible school teacher and, most recently, teaching Spanish to students at Cobbles Elementary.
For her, it all comes down to finding a balance between following her dream and working hard to achieve it.
“I think it’s all about your attitude,” she said. “If you really want to pursue the thing that you love, you have to fight for it.”
Parents and educators say that high school juniors and seniors are surprisingly resistant to the Doomsday message of 8.5 percent unemployment in New York and 8.1 percent nationally when it comes to picking a major that combines their skills and interests.
“I think they’re so wide-eyed and eager that those are tough conversations to have,” said Bea Lynch, a school counselor at Penfield High. “We’re having a lot more conversations with students about debt, job outlook and the cost of college.”
Lynch said that who have a specific career choice are planning their course with their checkbooks in mind. That means weighing their future school loans with the their possible earning potential.
Oftentimes, this means going to a SUNY school to minimize debt at the undergraduate level before graduate school. This is especially true for students entering the medical field and other fields that require postgraduate study — and spending.
“I still see kids going to liberal arts schools with undecided majors,” said Lynch. “I think that they just want to do what’s interesting to them at this point.”
In many cases, she said, the decision for comes down to economics.
At private universities like Cornell and at SUNY colleges, students have to declare a major at about the junior year mark. But no matter what the price tag, major trends are mostly universal.
Private colleges like Cornell can cost almost $60,000, while a SUNY school like Geneseo can cost one-third that amount. Top majors last year across the board included a significant sprinkling of liberal arts, with subjects like English and psychology securing their places in top-ten lists.
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“Despite all the media focus on certain fields being better than other fields, students still choose something they enjoy and that they are competent and good at,” said Stacy Wiley is the director of career development at Geneseo.
Katie Barry says majoring in something broad, like English, is actually a good thing. She’s the editor of NextStepU’s five-times-yearly publication, which helps high school students across the nation with college planning, from choosing majors to paying the bills.
When it comes to majoring in English, for example, “the core values are how to communicate,” she said, adding that that’s something businesses want in a candidate.
Wiley agrees. She said people who hire Geneseo students want the qualities a liberal arts education can provide: problem solving, critical thinking and effective communication. And, Wiley said, a liberal arts education has the added benefit of a tolerance and appreciation for diversity.
She said students in majors like English are exposed to diverse opinions, thoughts, and different ways of life in their peer interactions as well as their course work — important exposure as the world gets smaller.
As a counselor, this issue hits home for Lynch, who’s son Eric heads off to college for the first time to study environmental science and engineering at SUNY-ESF, a school she says is becoming more competitive as more families lean toward more affordable options made available by public schools.
But whether it’s private school or pursuing a non-traditional career path outside of college, each graduate will choose a different path, Lynch said.
“We make sure we are touching base with every student to understand what they’re plan is, and what makes sense.”
—Includes reporting by Rachel Repard
