Our daughter is having difficulty deciding on a major. She is trying to decide between Operation Research and Management. She keeps hearing people say that unless you have a specific occupation in mind (i.e. civil engineering, etc) take the easiest major you can in order to get as high of a class ranking as possible since that decides who gets what jobs, graduate school slots, etc upon graduation. I am not saying that Management is a "sluff" major, just that she feels she can do better academically in Management than in OR, and she is concerned about the class rank feedback whe keeps getting. She is also trying to consider what would be better in the civilian world some day. We are non-Academy and non-military parents so we have little advise for her, and she is probably tired of hearing from us that "you can't go wrong with either one".
Anyway, any thoughts anyone has would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Deciding on a major is a difficult thing. My first advice is to look at the job you want to do in the air force. There are some jobs that REQUIRE a particular major. Doesn't sound like that is your daughter's problem. But certain engineering jobs require engineering degrees. Next; while a pilot can have ANY degree; even history; without it affecting whether they get a pilot slot or not, some aspire to be test pilots, astronaut program, etc... some day. Those DO require specific degrees.
Outside of that; I recommend cadets look at what they "Want to be when they grow up". Many forget that they won't be in the military forever. Will the degree they get, help them with their eventual "Career"?
Next: Are they determined on going to grad school. Meaning; if you are going to get a Master's or Doctorate; then what you got your undergraduate in, may or may not be as important. You just have to determine if you grad school degree has pre-req degrees. I.e. Chances are slim of getting accepted into MIT for grad school if your undergraduate degree is in history. Also; some grad school program are difficult without some sort of background.
As for class rank, grad school slots, and jobs, there is some truth to that, but not totally. For instance, MANY academy grads go to AFIT for grad school. It's the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright Patterson. But they are an engineering grad school. The history major isn't going there. Also; some majors like the Behavioral Science majors have a difficult time finding a grad school. My first degree was in Psychology. (Behavioral Science). Most with that degree get jobs with their B.S. degree such as social workers, counselors, psychologists, etc... or you go and get a PhD and work in the Clinical areas. There are very few "Master's" programs. My son majored in Behavioral Science; ranked in the top-10 academically at the academy; and had a tough time applying to grad schools. Many said if he changed to Poly-Sci or government studies he's be a shoe in. But, they don't have any master's slots for what he studied. Fortunately for him, he got one of the coveted PhD grad school slots which does have Behavioral Science. Point is: Class rank isn't everything either. Plus; there are many sponsored grad school opportunities in the different departments.
Your daughter needs to take the major that SHE wants to study. The degree that she would like to work in. Maybe not at the academy. Maybe 20 years from now. Or at least a degree in the direction of what she wants to do in grad school. With the exception of being a teacher some day; I don't see the advantage of taking the easiest degree to set you up for an easier attempt at getting a grad school slot. Most grad school slots are a somewhat related to your undergrad. Some exceptions are like Law School. You could have a business undergrad.
