Are there any downsides to going undeclared?

College Majors
1

<p>I have absolutely no idea what I want to major in. I'm all over the place. Everything from photography, graphic design, journalism to biology, political science, psychology, or film. I just have no idea how to make the right decision. I have way too many interests. </p>

<p>Is going undeclared a bad thing? Are there any cons? I'm feeling super pressured to choose a major (or double major) right now since it's almost time to sign up for classes, but I'm really considering just giving up and not choosing one. What would be the best thing to do?</p>

2

<p>I’ve heard that going undeclared when applying to colleges gives you an advantage. But I think you’ll be last priority for classes or something. You also wouldn’t get many of the specific scholarships. Freshman year shouldn’t matter that much but I think by junior year, you should know.</p>

<p>Don’t feel pressured. I suppose you can always choose a major and change it later. A lot of people do that at least once.</p>

3

<p>No, going undeclared isn’t a bad thing. Tons of people go in undeclared. Don’t feel pressured to choose a major (and definitely don’t feel pressured to pick a double major!). Just look at different intro classes in the majors you think you might be interested in and take those. </p>

<p>It’s good if they also fulfull some sort of general education requirement - like if you need to take a science with lab course, take intro bio. If you’ll need a social science, take intro psychology. You really don’t need to choose now, especially if you have absolutely no idea and you don’t know how to make the decision - take some classes, figure out what you’re good at and what you really are interested in and go from there.</p>

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<p>One upside to going undeclared is that you don’t have to pay additional tuition surcharges, if your university does such a thing. At my school, UIUC, bio/chem majors pay an extra 3k a year; engineers, 4k. Other programs like journalism or art have to pay extra as well.</p>

<p>prado is right in that you might have lower priority for class registration, but I find that lower level classes across all subjects (think big lecture halls) are rarely ever filled up completely. And there should no restrictions to which classes you can sign up for.</p>

5

<p>Cal Newport, my favorite blogger on college academics, advises some students to go undeclared (and then some more)…</p>

<p>[Study</a> Hacks Blog Archive My Advice for Rising Freshmen](<a href=“http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/05/26/my-advice-for-rising-freshman]Study”>My Advice for Rising Freshmen - Cal Newport)</p>