Advantage to have undeclared major?

[Anonymous]

How does one submit an application as an undeclared major? Any advantage to not declaring on the Common App?

I’ve heard it’s better to have a narrative focused on a specific subject and/or interdisciplinary interests with sustained ECs and LORs to back those interests up.

I know having niche majors help as well…but I would think AOs would see though an applicant who is declaring majors/narrative just to be able to change once in college. The authenticity factor.

Ref a previous post, niche majors would probably depend on the college. Eg economics, history, political science are currently top five majors at schools like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. But more niche at places like Duke, U Penn, Cornell.

[Anonymous]

Doesn't matter much at the schools where you don't declare a major until end of Sophomore year except if there is separate admission to a particular school (nursing, architecture, some engineering programs). Matters most at publics due to impacted majors

[Anonymous]

You can get away with undecided for second tier schools.

About 1/3 each year from our school declared undecided.

I have never seen anyone from our school undecided and went to T20. Maybe 1 or 2 Chicago.

[Anonymous]

Ugh. DD would like a tier 1 school, but doesn't know what the heck she wants to do. She's good at everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. DD would like a tier 1 school, but doesn't know what the heck she wants to do. She's good at everything.

It's not binding at most schools. So just put something that seems interesting/is related to her ECs/that she can write an essay about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. DD would like a tier 1 school, but doesn't know what the heck she wants to do. She's good at everything.

It's not binding at most schools. So just put something that seems interesting/is related to her ECs/that she can write an essay about.

Thanks. I'll tell her to think about that.

[Anonymous]

I was thinking the same for the T20 schools (usually your narrative in your application would indicate a specific passion area like business, CS, etc….seems AOs like it if the student has a good sense of what they’re passionate about; helps them round out a class during admission process) I suppose when kids admitted to these T20 schools post on their schools’ Instagram commit pages that they’re “undeclared”…might not reflect what they submitted in their applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't matter much at the schools where you don't declare a major until end of Sophomore year except if there is separate admission to a particular school (nursing, architecture, some engineering programs). Matters most at publics due to impacted majors

Not true!
A T25 admissions office reads your application with your first choice major in mind. Even private schools that do not admit by major. They’re reading the application with your stated major to see how compelling you are. How competitive you are. So listing the most competitive majors at the college would potentially be a distinct disadvantage if your application is not absolutely compelling in all respect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. DD would like a tier 1 school, but doesn't know what the heck she wants to do. She's good at everything.

It's not binding at most schools. So just put something that seems interesting/is related to her ECs/that she can write an essay about.

Great advice
Agree 💯

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. DD would like a tier 1 school, but doesn't know what the heck she wants to do. She's good at everything.

Your course load, particularly junior and senior courses, has to match with your declared major.
Suppose you took all the hardcore stem courses to multivariable calculus and orgo, then declare you want to study history. It doesn't work that way. AOs won't be convinced. History kids would have taken all the advanced humanities, and probably did independent research in a niche area.

[Anonymous]

Agreed. And you would need years of ECs in high school, teacher recommendations, awards, essays to back up your intended major, competitive or not. Authenticity is key and most AOs can see through apps that aren’t (eg declare majors that one is not truly interested in pursuing only to pivot to something else in college).

[Anonymous]

My DS got into Yale REA as a history major with related ECs (founded a nonprofit, research paper, etc) that started back in middle school. Natl/international writing awards, school awards related to history, and his main Common App essay was threading these pieces together into a compelling narrative. LORs from teachers who likely underscored his interests/ECs in history. Hard to fake and I’m sure AOs would see through apps that tried to do that.

[Anonymous]

Yale doesn’t admit by major and students dint declare until sophomore year.

[Anonymous]

It’s not declaring officially but the narrative/focus area portrayed when applying…

I know for some colleges like Harvard, in the Common App it asks about preferred fields of study. Non binding but I’m sure AOs consider it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't matter much at the schools where you don't declare a major until end of Sophomore year except if there is separate admission to a particular school (nursing, architecture, some engineering programs). Matters most at publics due to impacted majors

Not true!
A T25 admissions office reads your application with your first choice major in mind. Even private schools that do not admit by major. They’re reading the application with your stated major to see how compelling you are. How competitive you are. So listing the most competitive majors at the college would potentially be a distinct disadvantage if your application is not absolutely compelling in all respect.

All true but there is more to it:
Top schools (ivies/stanford/duke /etc) do not admit by major or have caps or gatekeeping to be able to declare certain majors once there.
To prevent everyone being finance (econ major) and premed types, they look at the essays describing academic interests and compare the stated interest to what the activities show. They are looking for authentic interest. Those with authentic interests that are NOT the current popular ones(stem, business/finance) will stand out in the application pool. Undecided is fine unless the activities reveal its another premed or IB gunner trying to hide their true interests.
Also, because anyone can declare in anything once there, these schools look for breadth of coursework, rigor and success in all areas not just interest areas. Gone are the days when the proverbial english major could have significantly weaker stem background.