Advantage to have undeclared major?

[Anonymous]

My (unhooked) kid recently got into one of HYPS REA with authentic interest/impact in a popular STEM major. I think it’s still possible to stand out in the application pool even without a niche focus.

I don’t believe you can even apply to Stanford as undecided? They ask for top 3 majors and they seem to prefer applicants with interdisciplinary interests.

At the most competitive schools, it seems difficult to stand out as a competitive applicant if applying undecided.

[Anonymous]

These college admit Instagram posts for the top schools (HYP, etc) have a lot of undecideds

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These college admit Instagram posts for the top schools (HYP, etc) have a lot of undecideds

Most of them didn’t apply as undecided though.

[Anonymous]

For top schools I believe a student needs to stand out in some way, be a unicorn. That is after they have met the basic requirements of high statistics.

One way is demonstrated interest and engagement in a subject matter that is unique from how others have engaged in that subject matter.

I think it is harder to stand out as a unicorn without a focus, but maybe your student has a way.

I have two students with top stats. One got into a top 10, one got into top 30 and was waitlisted top 20, with the younger being the one to get into the top 10.

There was a difference in LORs, focus of ECs and major choice, first was undecided and well rounded. The second saw what their sibling went through and took the intervening time to focus and create a strong narrative for a specific major and cultivate stronger relationships with their teachers.

I am sure there are other ways, but this is what I saw work.

[Anonymous]

I just checked our HS instagram pages for past 5 years to see what kids declared:

Penn: At least half undecided
Yale: history, art history or Asian studies
Cornell: almost all engineering
Princeton: anthropology, environmental studies
Harvard: government, politics, environmental studies
Brown: biology, pre-med
LACs: many undecided

Caveat: this could just be the kind of applicants they like to take from our school (top private outside the DMV). Also small sample size 2-5 kids per school per year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just checked our HS instagram pages for past 5 years to see what kids declared:

Penn: At least half undecided
Yale: history, art history or Asian studies
Cornell: almost all engineering
Princeton: anthropology, environmental studies
Harvard: government, politics, environmental studies
Brown: biology, pre-med
LACs: many undecided

Caveat: this could just be the kind of applicants they like to take from our school (top private outside the DMV). Also small sample size 2-5 kids per school per year.

Penn is baked in. You either go to Wharton or non-Wharton. If you don't apply to Wharton, matters less.
LAC is the most welcoming for undecided.

[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.

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+1. It's VERY important! The AOs want to see that your kid has thought out college, has an idea of what they want to study, has planned out high school activities and coursework accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I agree with this completely. If you look at, e.g., Harvard-Westlake's IG page, there are a ton of "undecided" majors, but these are kids who probably had expensive college counselors so there's no way they are actually undecided as they were molded into a niche interest. I think it's possible that some of these kids picked undersubscribed majors that their friends would know are B.S. (e.g., medieval studies, gender and sexuality studies, linguistics, classics, philosophy, etc.) when they actually plan to study econ and go into banking or consulting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

I agree with this completely. If you look at, e.g., Harvard-Westlake's IG page, there are a ton of "undecided" majors, but these are kids who probably had expensive college counselors so there's no way they are actually undecided as they were molded into a niche interest. I think it's possible that some of these kids picked undersubscribed majors that their friends would know are B.S. (e.g., medieval studies, gender and sexuality studies, linguistics, classics, philosophy, etc.) when they actually plan to study econ and go into banking or consulting.

my non-DMV private school DD was listed as undecided on the IG page last year. Applying as gender studies and anthro, with ample evidence for both. At T10 now and not majoring in either, but likely to minor in one or both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

I agree with this completely. If you look at, e.g., Harvard-Westlake's IG page, there are a ton of "undecided" majors, but these are kids who probably had expensive college counselors so there's no way they are actually undecided as they were molded into a niche interest. I think it's possible that some of these kids picked undersubscribed majors that their friends would know are B.S. (e.g., medieval studies, gender and sexuality studies, linguistics, classics, philosophy, etc.) when they actually plan to study econ and go into banking or consulting.

Bingo. Not all but some probably don't want their undersubscribed majors out there publicly/on the record.

[Anonymous]

How did it go for your kid who applied as undecided this cycle ( if you've already heard back from schools)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

DC from top STEM magnet applied undecided to Duke in RD and was accepted.