Applying Undecided or Choosing a Major?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>This is the dilemma i'm facing: I really want to be an economics major at Harvard (I'm applying SCEA). However, I have not taken the Economics course at my school because the teacher is very bad and the highest grade he gives out is a 90/100 (after the student gives 200% of effort and writes what the teacher wants to see). In addition, I already have him for another one of my classes which really bring my GPA down. As a reference, even with the weight from his class (the weighting in my school sucks), that grade is my lowest compared to all my other classes UNWEIGHTED. Plus, I'm one of the top students that take his class.</p>

<p>My question is if I apply as a prospective economics major, won't Harvard and other colleges wonder why I didn't take the Econ course at my school? In addition, if i choose to apply as Undecided, what do I put for all the supplements that ask me to list my academic interests?</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

2

<p>Some schools dont even offer eco. Its not required. Its best to apply with a major. Harvard likes students who know what they wanna do</p>

3

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<p>Muhammad doesn’t know what he’s talking about. That’s baloney. Get your facts straight.</p>

<p>rokr: mark Econ if that’s what you’d like. Mark undecided if that’s where you’re at. It makes no difference to Harvard. H knows that they have remarkable offerings and ultimately, want people who want to learn – and explore their many options.</p>

4

<p>@T26E4 Thanks for your response. I feel much better hearing that now. I guess deep down I am a little undecided because I could take one of the over 3,000+ courses that Harvard offers and change my major completely. However, it’s good to know that they won’t frown upon me choosing Econ despite not having taken the course.</p>

<p>Thanks again.</p>

5

<p>No worries: When I was applying, I think I marked “Chem Engineering” despite only taking honors Chem (which I got two Bs!) . Didn’t hurt me any…</p>

6

<p>“Muhammad doesn’t know what he’s talking about. That’s baloney. Get your facts straight.”</p>

<p>T26E4, as I’ve said before, I’m afraid there is a small kernel of truth to what Muhammad says. I am not going to elaborate but I think with all your wealth of experience and knowledge you would look into this a little more before you repeatedly say that it makes no difference what you put as your intended major. </p>

<p>I agree in MOST cases the answer is disregarded, but ask yourself, with all the data that Harvard has to process for 35,000 applications, why would they even bother asking the question? Just to accumulate some totally useless information - exactly what purpose does this serve? An AO’s time is limited, why waste precious time looking at the response.</p>

<p>Additionally, why does Harvard ask if the applicant has attended Harvard SSP? Again, the question serves a purpose - just perhaps not what most would assume.</p>

<p>Also, why does Harvard not ask about extended family members who have gone to Harvard but a school like Columbia which has one of the lowest legacy admit rates and legacy percentage of the incoming class ask to list all relatives who have attended or have affiliations with the school?</p>

<p>The point is not everything about the application process is obvious. However, you can be certain that the questions are there for a reason. </p>

<p>T2, you can be very blunt at times but it doesn’t mean you are always right. In this case, you are not 100% correct.</p>

<p>“No worries: When I was applying, I think I marked “Chem Engineering” despite only taking honors Chem (which I got two Bs!) . Didn’t hurt me any…”</p>

<p>When you and I applied the world was completely different. For instance, at one point, I believe Asians were considered URM’s and were in demand to fulfill fledgling affirmative action measures. I don’t know much about this, but if this is true, it would appear the world has changed quite a bit since then.</p>

7

<p>I’m actually quite sure that T26 was completely right about this one. I know there are places where choice of a major matters. I am completely convinced that Harvard isn’t one of them.</p>

8

<p>^^ I respect your opinion Sikorsky. However, what is your source for being completely convinced about this? Why is the question on the app at all then?</p>

9

<p>T26 is correct. They couldn’t care less about what you put because guess what? You haven’t been exposed to even a fraction of the world, so you don’t know what you want to do in life. You know that you like. That doesn’t mean you’ll want to study it for four years and the rest of your life. </p>

<p>When I was applying to colleges, I put whatever major interested me when I submitted. Poly sci, engineering, neuroscience, etc etc. </p>

<p>At Harvard, most people don’t know what they want to do, and we have to declare this fall (sophomores). I know many people who switched in junior spring even. I bounced around to 4 different areas before I settled on the one I plan to declare, and it’s completely different than what I thought I would do. </p>

<p>Long story short, unless you’re applying to a university that has separate colleges such that you have to apply to, say, the School of Engineering or something, don’t worry about it. Your mind will almost definitely change.</p>

10

<p>I would have to agree with T26, Sikorsky, and CPU here…our K2 applied as undeclared and was accepted here and the other single lettered schools…despite having national and international accomplishments in a specialized subject and extracurricular activities…</p>

<p>…K2 could have easily indicated majoring in something related to K2’s expertise/prowess…but, uncertain as to what K2 wanted to pursue in college and being true to K2’s belief in honesty…K2 did not…</p>

11

<p>Wow! I’d like to thank everyone for replying so quickly. It seems the general agreement is on par with what T26E4 originally said. However, Falcon1 does bring up an important issue: if it’s not considered since most students end up changing their major anyway, why ask the question? For engineering schools, there seems to be a clear reason. My best guess would be that it weeds out the students who, for example, might want to major in “pre-med,” but don’t know what to do when they don’t see it as an option in Harvard’s Concentrations. Maybe it’s simply used to help build the picture of the applicant when deciding if he or she gets in. Who knows?</p>

12

<p>It’s asked because it indicates an interest of yours, but it’s not important.</p>

<p>Pre-med or pre-anything is not a major. It’s a set of courses you take in preparation for graduate school in a certain field.</p>

13

<p>“our K2 applied as undeclared and was accepted here and the other single lettered schools…despite having national and international accomplishments in a specialized subject and extracurricular activities…”</p>

<p>Getting warmer.</p>

<p>Well, I am not looking to start an argument out there. If you believe that the question is there as a throwaway item then so be it. In most cases it is and the applicants actions speak louder than words.</p>

<p>Oh, I expect next someone will post a quote from Yale saying that 80% of college applicants change their intended major because that would obviously be the nail in the coffin of what I am saying. I’ll save them the trouble. My reply would be is that there is always more than meets the eye and one needs to look at more of the underlying data (Hint: use historical departmental data). Also, colleges are very selective in what they say and the image they are trying to project/protect. For instance, even though for many years the percentages of certain ethnic groups remained completed static around a fixed number, if you asked Benzel or Fitzsimmons if there are “soft quotas” for these groups you would get perfectly crafted responses denying they exist. I’ll let you all be the judge if the facts match up with the words though.</p>

<p>For personal reasons, I am not going to go any deeper into this issue. Again, for the vast majority of applicants, what box they check is irrelevant.</p>

14

<p>Back to the OP’s original question. In your situation, it doesn’t matter in the least if you check economics or undecided. And no, admissions officers have neither the time nor the desire to try to understand why you didn’t take the economics class offered in your high school. It is simply not that important to them. They have scores of qualified economics students to sort through and demonstrating proficiency in economics is not as important as say someone looking for a coveted spot in their math department demonstrating an enormous aptitude for math (not just 800’s on the SAT I and II).</p>

15

<p>

I don’t think it’s this at all! The applicants who know that little about college and majors/concentrations aren’t going to be savvy enough to compete in that applicant pool anyway.

It’s this. They want to know everything that’s relevant about the applicant.</p>

<p>Do you have an idea what you want to study in college? Great! Tell us about that.</p>

<p>Are you still open to all kinds of possibilities? That’s fine, too! Glad to know that.</p>

<p>Neither position is explicitly advantageous over the other for admissions. Either answer may help give the admissions committee a clearer picture of who you are. They want as clear a picture as possible. That’s it. No need for conspiracy theories.</p>

16

<p>falcon: i agree I can be too blunt sometimes. </p>

<p>And my statement is an extrapolation from my own interactions with the area admissions reps from my alma mater, a Harvard competitor. In every info session they do, the OPs question is asked. In every single session, the refrain is the same: “If it interests you, put it down. If you’ve not decided, put that down. It’s a point of curiosity for us only and has no bearing whatsoever” — basically what Sikorsky said in post 15.</p>

<p>Given that my alma mater and H vie for and admit in the same fashion, that’s my assumption. I guess H could throw me for a loop – but I’d be surprised.</p>

17

<p>Falcon-there are no coveted spots in either math department.</p>

18

<p>Every spot at Harvard is coveted. </p>

<p>With respect to math. Do you think Harvard (or better yet, Princeton) is not looking to get the most promising future mathematicians for their departments?</p>

<p>The admissions committee has to build a class as best they can. Prospective STEM concentrators are very important, so are kids going into the Classics and so on…</p>

19

<p>Sorry, but I wasn’t looking to start any arguments. I know I am swimming against the tide of conventional wisdom here on CC with my comments. No need for anyone else to refute what I said because I realize would it have been better to let sleeping dogs lie.</p>

<p>I’ll go along with what Sikorsky said which is that they ask because they want to get a better picture of the applicant (which is true) - and there are certainly no conspiracies! I think this matter doesn’t need further discussion.</p>

20

<p>I’m not arguing. Unless you go to/went to Harvard, I think a current/past student knows more than you. So don’t speak on things you don’t know about.</p>