My D will likely major in one of the humanities at a mid-size university (her desired size). She is not applying to pure liberal arts colleges. With the exception of engineering, the sciences and business programs which don’t matter in her case, is there an advantage to applying “undecided” to fall into a wider pool of candidates or are her chances better to pick a major and change later if she wants?
I think it’s fine to apply undecided. My youngest did. He was pretty sure he was interested in International Relations, but he had no ECs or gift with languages or extensive travel experiences to bring up in essays or interviews. He took three history APs, did Science Olympiad, orchestra and Literary Magazine. Typical bright well-rounded kid. Oldest son was just the opposite. Most of his time was spent doing computer related stuff and what wasn’t was math or science oriented. Few schools require you to declare when you apply. It’s good to have some answers about what interests you if asked at an interview, but it’s fine not to be stuck on any one things. There are so many cool majors out there that aren’t covered in high school at all.
Check whether any desired major is oversubscribed at each school, and direct admits frosh. If so, it is often better to apply to the major and hope for admission to the major as a frosh, if getting in later is difficult.
Non-art humanities appear less likely to be oversubscribed, but check the situation at each school.
Generally a non-issue, especially for humanities students. Admissions knows that kids change their majors all the time. The only situation where declaring a major at the time of admission matters is if your D is applying to a particular ‘school’ with in the school that has limited enrollment - like a school of journalism, for example - where getting in later, if she doesn’t declare now could be harder (minimum GPA requirement, availability of a space, etc…) For most humanities majors, there is no issue at all so she can indicate a preference or not. Her formal ‘declaration’ of a major generally won’t be required until the end of her sophomore year in any case.
have her (not you) look at the admission policies of the schools she is considering to see if they take major into account. Generalities here don’t help her; all that matters is what the actual schools do where she is sending apps.