Reprint from the Linda Christas Counselor Comments Blog:
http://lindachristascf.blogspot.com/
To: Latracy Renner
From: Darnel Jackson, Linda Christas Counselor
I have chosen for my input to this process something that students, and
most families generally, forget about when selecting a college and a major
for the outgoing high school senior.
The first thing I normally say to a student after he has expressed his
desire to go to College X and major in Y is that the purpose of the first
two years of college is usually to present to the young person a series of
core courses to expand his or her awareness of what is out there, things
that on his own he may never have considered.
In other words, I like to attempt to counsel a student to major in
"undecided" at least as a freshman in college.
A huge percentage of our population in America dislikes what they do for a
living because they chose too early, and then got stuck. Further, another
huge percentage of students leave college in frustration after finding out
the hard way that their chosen major has nothing to do with them as human
beings.
It is the rare seventeen-year-old who knows what he or she wants to do for
a lifetime. College gives the young person a time to develop, to know
herself, and, therefore, to make better choices in line with her true
heart and spirit.
That aside, let's say that architecture is going to be the major, and that
none of my conversation regarding waiting to declare has any effect. At
that point, we need to decide what kind of architecture we are speaking
about.
Are we talking about buildings, bridges, landscaping, etc?
Once we have that settled to some degree, let's say the student wants to
build buildings, we then need to look at programs that fit in with the
image that student has of the architectural profession.
For example, I see at least two different types of building architectural
orientations out there.
The first kind is what one might experience at a school like UC Berkeley.
They have a reputation for being one of the best in terms of design
architecture. That is, if one wants to learn how to design a building of
any size to make it look dramatic or im****tant, Berkeley should be high on
the student's list.
On the other hand, my view is that an architectural graduate from Berkeley
tends to be more of a designer than a builder. I would want any building
designed by a Berkeley architect to undergo a thorough examination by an
engineer to make sure the thing will stand up. (Please understand that
this is a generalization.)
If, alternatively, the student is thinking he wants to open a one person
architectural office once he becomes licensed, it is im****tant that
perhaps a less artistic and more practical architectural experience be
sought, including the math and science of the engineer, so that extensive
in-house engineering reviews of plans can be done in-house once the design
is finished. This type of architect knows what the physical stresses on a
structure are. Some in the industry call that "getting the numbers right."
For that kind of architecture, the school at Saint Luis Obispo would
probably be worth investigating. Again, this is a generalization for the
sake of discussion.
The same kind of discussion needs to be indulged in no matter what major
we are talking about.
If a student wants to compose music, she wants to ask herself, what kind
of music? Mills College, for example, has a strong contem****ary music
composition program. On the other hand, if the student desires to compose
what I will call old world classical music, then perhaps St. Olaf would be
a better choice.
In terms of theater, there are many schools that offer theater history
without much in the way of getting up on the stage and performing.
If performing on Broadway were the goal, I would recommend a school like
Dennison, because a Dennison graduate is a one person Broadway play. By
that I mean, a Dennison graduate learns everything from designing scenery
to method acting to directing a play and advertising a production. Again,
this all depends on what the dream of the particular high school senior
is. In some other scenarios, UCLA may be more appropriate, or Yale.
When I was counseling in the public system, I really never had much of an
op****tunity to speak with kids about these kinds of things. It seemed that
I was always breaking up fights or running ragged for a new governmental
initiative to combat ***ual diseases, drugs and alcohol.
These things are im****tant, but that kind of work is not what I wanted to
do with MY life.
Now with Linda Christas, I have the chance to counsel, to make an impact
that often saves great kids years of heartache. That was MY dream.
There were only two counselors for the thousand student public high school
in which I counseled, an impossible number in terms of serving the way I
wanted to serve.
When I was a public high school counselor, I overheard the other
counselor, who was even more rushed than me, advise one set of parents not
to go to any outside counselor for help.
It was true that, as public high school counselors, we had the kind of
counseling mentioned above in our duty statements, but we weren't doing
any of it. I was amazed at the conviction of my colleague, and I knew
then, as I know now, how wrong that advice is.
Getting a counselor who has the time, energy and knowledge to work with a
student who is NOT a problem on campus, the good kid, the respectful kid,
will save the student and her family on average thousands of dollars. At
many colleges, it is now taking an average of six years to finish a
bachelor’s degree because students and families are not considering the
factors I've discussed in this short essay. In many of these cases, that
means another $20,000 in student debt. My advice: Hire a private counselor
for your high school senior. It will guide your family and your student
through the system's inevitable fog.
As our Dean often says, why take a chance and wonder what might have been
for your children.
Darnel Jackson, Linda Christas Counselor
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