<p>I am not sure what I want to major in yet so I just marked undecided on my apps. Have any advice for choosing a major- what you are telling you kids to do to help pick one? I have a lot of ideas, but I can't pinpoint myself down to one. I'm glad the schools I'm applying to allow me time to choose!</p>
<p>Standard advice is to try and get a first-year course in each of the subjects you are interested in. However, try and do some homework on the professors at your school so you get a good professor, and a good experience in each area. Another thing you can do once you get to school is talk with older students about their interests and majors.</p>
<p>My advice: Relax - don't sweat this one too much now!
Reidm's advice, to take courses in areas of interest your first year, is excellent. My daughter, now in her third year, did just that. She knew she was interested in liberal arts/ social sciences / psychology. One of her first semester courses was economics. One day she ran into her economics prof at the campus gym, and the prof said, "You know, you seem to be very good at this stuff. Would you consider being an economics major?" My D said maybe, took another econ course second semester, and now is a happy major - with the original prof as her advisor.
So use that first year to explore your options and "find your bliss." And remember, there IS life after college - many people change fields in mid-life. Nothing is irrevocable.</p>
<p>I have two stories illustrating the advice given above. One is that of a man, now retired who was convinced he wanted to major in English. He was urged to take a course called something like Physics for Poets. He became a nuclear physicist and worked on the Manhattan Project. Another story is that of a student who went to MIT thinking he would major in biology. He took one history class as part of the General Education requirements and became hooked. He ended up as a history major.
Most colleges let students decide in their sophomore year what they want to major in so that they can spend the freshman year taking courses in various disciplines exploring what particularly interests them.</p>
<p>Thanks for your advice! You guys are always so helpful!</p>
<p>would it hurt in the admissions process if i put, for example on the columbia app, undecided for my major? they ask for 3 things i would like to study and i put undecided for all 3, becuz i'm really not sure..</p>
<p>It is better to put something down so as to give the adcom a very general clue as to your interests. Putting something down does not in any way commit you to majoring in that field. If the application asks about your degree of certainty, that is where you can equivocate. But adcoms would like to know whether you are a likely humanities, social sciences math/science major. As well, they would like to know whether your declared interests jibe with your intended major. For example, someone intending to do a math/science major ought to have taken the most advanced courses available in his/her high school in those subjects and done well.</p>