Youth activites

[Cruiser Cam]

Does anyone know what the best major in college for a student who wants to be a counselor aboard a disney ship after they graduate? I'm a sophomore in high school and it my goal to work for DCL

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Does anyone know what the best major in college for a student who wants to be a counselor aboard a disney ship after they graduate? I'm a sophomore in high school and it my goal to work for DCL

Child care?

 

[Cruiser Cam]

Child care?

do most colleges have a child care major?

 

[commdoc]

No. You could try early childhood education.

 

[Angie789]

Do you have to have a degree to be a counselor on a Disney ship? If not, consider taking a while to do the counselor thing, and then go to school.

 

[KerriL]

You do not need a a degree in early childhood education. My daughter was a Youth Activities Counselor, now she's a Youth Activities Coordinator on HAL. She has a communications degree. Many of the counselors she works with have degrees in biology, communications, history, art, etc. She did, however, work many years as a summer camp counselor. Childcare experience holds more weight than the the type of degree.

 

[CMontheseas]

No, you don't actually require any kind of a degree, contrary to what migt be said online. You would be surprised that some of our upper Youth Activities management barely did any schooling in child care. One woman who is a manager is little more than a previous character performer. Others have barely graduated college.

 

[danfromca]

Does anyone know what the best major in college for a student who wants to be a counselor aboard a disney ship after they graduate? I'm a sophomore in high school and it my goal to work for DCL

I second the comment about working for a summer camp. If you can, try to attend as a counselor in training at a resident camp. YMCA has affordable programs, and many camps have camperships as well if money is an issue.

Then, whatever degree you end up getting, spend your summers at camp. Be sure to work as a counselor before taking a specialist position if offered. Resident camps will provide better experience than day camps.

Even if you don't get a spot with DCL or another cruise line, working at a summer camp is great life experience.

 

[roxy84]

I would really recommend working as a camp counselor (overnight). It has many experiences that would transfer working onboard a ship (woking with kids in a similar age bracket as on the ship, living and working with other staff - some who may be international, working long/irregular hours, working outdoors in heat, being away from home/family).

DCL does not require (at this time) a college degree - just 2 years experience working with kids. Some other cruise lines do.

So if you do decide to go to college it does not matter what degree you get for DCL. If you are looking for something that would complement the job - Child and Youth, Education, travel/tourism, recreation and leisure studies, or even theatre would help.

 

[danfromca]

I would really recommend working as a camp counselor (overnight). It has many experiences that would transfer working onboard a ship (woking with kids in a similar age bracket as on the ship, living and working with other staff - some who may be international, working long/irregular hours, working outdoors in heat, being away from home/family).

DCL does not require (at this time) a college degree - just 2 years experience working with kids. Some other cruise lines do.

So if you do decide to go to college it does not matter what degree you get for DCL. If you are looking for something that would complement the job - Child and Youth, Education, travel/tourism, recreation and leisure studies, or even theatre would help.

Oh - you bring up another good point....

If you do follow this advice to spend time as a camp counselor, try to get them to let you work with different age groups. Having experience with multiple age groups will make you a much more attractive candidate, because they'll know they can move you around to meet the need.

 

[DahliaRW]

So I understand now that working on the ship is your dream. And working on the ship for a while would be quite an adventure. That being said, you may want to think long term too. At some point you might get tired of living in a closet and working 7 days a week. So if you do plan to go to college before working at DCL, think of a major that would help you get a job should you ever get tired of working at DCL. If you really like working with children, you could look into early childhood education or elementary education or counseling for children or something like that. You also could take a break from school, and work DCL for a year or two to help save to college and decide if you really want to work there long term, etc.

I do agree, experience working with children now would be beneficial towards getting a job with DCL. Summer camps are fantastic, but to work as an counselor at an overnight camp you have to be 18. You could do CIT programs to get experience now. You also could look for a part time or summer job working in a day care center, preschool, or day camp. Most day camps allow high school aged counselors. The YMCA might be a good place to look through for day camps, or your local parks and recreation department.

 

[disneyteen44]

My brother who wants to be a YAC for DCL is currently going to school for recreation and leisure

 

[NCConch]

My daughter is planning to major or minor in Child Life which is a hospital based youth activities career. This would give good child development education and give you something to work towards after serving on ships. A child life specialist in a children's hospital that has experience in "sprinkling pixie dust" would be a great asset to the sick kids.