Did your parents pick your major?
‘I didn’t know what I wanted to be so I just listened to my parents’
It’s difficult to understand who you are and what you want to become at the early age of 18. You spend most of your life exploring your passions through hobbies, but until you get to college you don’t really get a say in what classes you take and what you learn.
And even after joining the collegiate many there could be pressure from your parents to decide what the best course of action is. It makes sense too. They raised you and helped keep you on a path to becoming an independent adult.
But sometimes the influence can be a little overwhelming and hard to ignore. So we asked some students if they are being pressured in any way to pursue the degrees they are pursuing.
Jackie Wu Ching, Pre med
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“I do feel pressure. But it’s not that big of a deal”
Jenny Ng, 19, Bioinformatics
“No, they didn’t really push me. They understood how hard it is to be a student”
Christie Lee, 17, Math
“No, my mom wanted nursing but I chose math”
Stephanie Moy, Biology
“Definitely.”
John, 19, Physical Therapy
“No, I chose what I wanted to do based on what I like.”
Eugene, 18, Accounting
“No pressure, parents just steer me. Usually, I just go for what I would like. “
Munirul Islam, 19, Biochemestry
“I didn’t know what I wanted to be so I just listened to my parents.”
Justin, 18, undeclared
“They did pressure me, and I told my mom I’m not gonna do that since I’d just drop out. “
Yes, parents are just trying to look out for us and make sure we don’t do anything stupid and sometimes that helps. But that doesn’t mean they should be allowed to tell us what our future should be. They raised us so that we could make that decision.