College Prep

My oldest is taking dual credit college courses next year at school which means we had to fill out a tentative major to jump into once he graduates. Thankfully he picked math, a catch-all should he find something he likes later without wasting his time and money.

He asked about the types of degrees - Associates, Bachelors, and Masters - because technically he could graduate high school with an Associates if he took summer courses and all that. He asked if I had a Masters and told him that Art degrees and Science degrees are wildly different things. Math is objective, art is subjective. When doing juried shows my stuff never got picked. I applied twice for a Masters and didn’t make it in. Applied last year to UT just to get some standard compsci stuff going for work (at UT) but didn’t make it in for that either.

I explained that my degree kind of stops at a Bachelors unless you are extremely good at art. I am only good enough to do graphic design, not MFA material. I explained that if he wanted to get his Masters in math the acceptance rate is closer to 15% rather than 5% and that his professors would likely encourage him to apply for a Masters program if they thought he was good enough.

For now he needs to just keep up his grades at school and learn to drive, but I’m glad he is picking a major that gives him more opportunities.