My wife and I were discussing our daughters career choice and were both again so surprised that she chose to be an accountant. We never saw this coming as we are both health professionals. We are not at all in business mode nor did we ever really discuss things at home related to being a CPA. Granted, we are very proud of her, as she did this all on her own but man what a surprise. Did your children surprise you with their choice of career or did you see early on that they were destined for this role in life? If you answer in the affirmative, what clues did they give you about their choice? Were there personality traits that gave it away?
My next son was always the strategist. He was the one you didn't want to go up against in Monopoly, and he always developed a long-term strategy for any game or situation he was in. He is studying accounting.
My third son is the fun-loving, active son. He never showed much of a sensitive side. However his girlfriend has a brother with down syndrome, and he's since become a very sensitive guy, but still with a fun-loving attitude. He decided to become a special-ed teacher.
My older daughter was a perfectionist, a planner, and a very hard worker. She's studying elementary education.
My younger daughter is still in high school. She's a lot like son #2 in that she always has a strategy. She's been clear for a few years now that she wants to go to law school.
Some surprises, but upon reflection, not too many either.
Son wants to be Marine ground or Army infantry before becoming a physicist.
Youngest daughter wants to be a ballerina, fashion model, interior decorator, and make up application artist. All at once.
The other has no clue. My guess is he will join the Marines as that's the only thing that he has consistently mentioned over the last few years. He doesn't seem sold on it though.
But when my wife and I got together 24 years ago she had just withdrawn from college because her heart was not in it. She was a semester away from a chemical engineering degree. Fast forward 5 years doing odds and ends jobs and owning a jewelry cart in a mall I finally talked her into returning to school and her choice was accounting. Fast forward to present time she is now a partner of one of the four largest accounting firms in the world, LOVES her job, and is making a difference for younger women & men being a mentor for college students.
The CPA is no picnic nor is an accounting degree. Most if not all big four firms require a masters degree simply to get a job. With that said I scratched my head when she decided this route years ago.
but hind sight being 20/20 it was the perfect move for her and not a day goes by I don’t think of how proud I am of her.
And more importantly she is happy and loves what she is doing.
My daughter also wants to live with mommy forever, and she said I can live with them. I told her I'm going to kick her out at 18, and she looked at my wife with a look of horror. She's in K as well.
My daughter is dead set on being a zoologist. She reads through more NatGeo and other animal books (we read to her and she reads some to us) than I would have ever thought a little one her age would do.
My son, on the other hand, wants to be a digger (excavator). He's 2.5.
I recently attended our national sales meeting which was in Nashville. One of our events was working with some Grammy nominated song writers to help "tell a story" through music. What stuck with me the most was in his intro he said that up until kindergarten all we do as parents is praise kids for anything they do with their imagination, which comes almost to a complete halt once they are in school. He stated that by the time kids start kindergarten only 10% of them will continue to think creatively/artistically. I'm not sure how accurate that figure is, but it seems close enough and is eye opening.
School is important, but I stopped being creative at a very young age and I've been paying for it ever since, IMO. I'm going to urge my now 19 month old so do whatever she wants to do and I'm going to try my hardest not to stress out about testing (within reason of course, I still want to raise a good student).
While this is a wise advice, most parents like to feel that they know what is good for their kids. I definitely don't want my children to make the same mistakes I've made in life with regards to my career.
I will say though that while I would love my children to follow in my footsteps in terms of their careers, I also know that I would be worried sick if they did. And my wife is dead set against them following my career path.
But he's only 4, so give him some time to reconsider.
Your ten year old's best friend is retired? How did that happen? Hit the lottery at 8? Or does your daughter have a 70-year old best friend.
not judging, just asking.
My 10 year old son is gifted academically and wants to do something with science and looks up to Albert Einstein. Only thing my wife and I try to push him is to do more sports, as he has no interest in playing them. We just want him to be more active at his age.
My 8 year old son is gifted athletically and has excelled especially in soccer. His coaches want him on travel teams and playing year round but we have resisted so far and just having him play locally in the Fall and Spring leagues. Although he is just 8 years old, he has mentioned getting a college scholarship for playing soccer recently to us. Who knows what will happen the next 10 years or even if he still wants to play the sport but we'll support what he wants to do.
I just love how different all their personalities are.
While I'm not sure what the application process is these days since I applied back in 1998, the first thing she needs to figure out and be sure is whether she wants to devote 5+ years in the military, especially if it's during times of war. I've seen a number of midshipmen (Naval Academy here) and my brother has seen number of cadets (West Point for him), who spent their first two years hating life and then transferring out of the academies before they had to make the long commitment (first month of Junior year).
As far as physical fitness goes, there is actually a fitness program that the Naval Academy provides you that you can follow. Basically it involves being able to run 1.5 miles, doing pushups, and situps (more like crunches)...and being able to sit and touch your toes since the Naval Academy does their fitness test by Navy standards.
Lastly, you want to start yelling at your daughter for absolutely no rhyme or reason and make her do a lot of time wasting stupid shit so she can prepare for plebe summer and year...;) That's a joke, of course.
Maryland Giant's daughter is about to finish her first year (plebe year), so I'm sure he can provide more recent experience with application process and plebe year.
A sizeable number of new midshipmen are those, who could not get into the academy on their first try and were instead offered spots in the preparatory school for a year. The rest have a pretty decent high school academic, sports, and extracurricular records as well as outside of school extracurricular records.
This is a good place to start for USNA - ( New Window )
Here's the most important part though...whether she is selected for Summer Seminar or not, the application for Summer Seminar also serves as the beginning of her application for USNA and the website will set forth everything she needs to do going forward to apply.
As an aside, tell her not to be disappointed if she does not get selected for Summer Seminar as the process is very geographically and demographically driven and is a recruiting tool for USNA.
So, below is the link for Summer Seminar and I am also including the web address for a forum where all issues related to the application process at USNA are discussed.
Finally, as for athletics, the USNA has an athletic culture in general, and all candidates are required to meet certain levels of physical fitness, and Plebe Summer can be a physical grind. So, while being athletic and demonstrating leadership in sports is very attractive to the Academy, make no mistake, there is NO requirement that you be a high school athlete. What they are really looking for is bright kids with leadership potential.
Good Luck!
USNA FORUM LINK:
https://www.serviceacademyforums.com/index.php?forums/naval-academy-usna.6/
USNA Summer Seminar Link---Application Deadline March 31st - ( New Window )
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it wouldn't surprise me if she inclined toward a religious vocation though. Her best friend is a retired minister and chaplain and she prioritizes others to a considerable degree.
Your ten year old's best friend is retired? How did that happen? Hit the lottery at 8? Or does your daughter have a 70-year old best friend.
not judging, just asking.
Friend from church, he's 94. She was very close with his wife before she passed away.
Congratulations, sounds like she's doing awesome.
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Kids will surely be outraged as if their unalienable rights were violated:
"How do you know what's best for me!!??"
We don't know what's the best, of course. But good parents do have a strong sense of what's the worse for their kids, and if kids are allowed to choose on their own, too often they end up choosing exactly the worst possible option/path.
They look at me like I have two heads but I believe this is a good guiding principle and provides moral and ethical authority for saying "No."
Well said!
I want to emphasize that getting into Summer Seminar is very difficult and not for the reasons you might think. As you point out, her geography is not helpful. However, her gender is. Beyond that, it can feel arbitrary. I actually think when filling out the Summer STEM application it can be a disadvantage to articulate TOO much knowledge about USNA or TOO much enthusiasm, because they may view that kid as a certain applicant. And, since this is a recruiting tool, they may tend to offer it to kids that appear to be on the fence.
Crazy from an application standpoint, but the important thing for you is that her name is now in the system, her application to USNA is started, and she is now in a position to start getting organized and move forward.
Please feel free to ask any questions about the application process. It is tedious, lengthy, and generates a lot of attrition. If she follows it to the conclusion, her odds of getting in are greater than you may otherwise think.
GOOD LUCK!
While I understand that you said your daughter is interested in either Annapolis or West Point, I would also recommend her look into the other service academies as well. Air Force Academy, Coast Guard Academy, and Merchant Marine Academy (section125 is a grad) are also great institutions. Now, if she has a specific service she wants to join, then I understand, but if it's more about an opportunity to attend one of the service academies, I would cast a wide net.
My first point stands though. I hope that your daughter (as well as you and your wife) has really thought about what a life in the military means and whether she really wants to devote nine-plus years to being in a rigid and often male-dominated institution. My intention is definitely not to scare you or your daughter, but many join the military (either enlist or through the academies) without fully considering all of the pros and cons. I've known many, who suffered through the academies and eventually departed (a class normally lost 5-10% between start of Plebe Summer and start of Junior year during my time). I've also known many officers, who suffered through their military obligations post-commissioning and either just count down the time until their end of active service so they could then go into the civilian world and use their credentials (nothing wrong with that per se) often performing poorly as officers and doing injustice to their enlisted subordinates while perpetuating the less than favorable stereotype of service academy grads.