I am interested in math/science and I am aiming for “Stanford, MIT, CMU”. I feel I am strongly inclined towards CS, but I heard that the admission rate for CS was very low.
Though my essays would clearly show my inclination to CS, should I mention that I want to major in CS or mention as undecided.
Is there any difference in the admission rate between the two options? Or is it the same?
For CMU, it doesn’t really matter because you’re going to apply to SCS if you want to major in CS (transfer is almost impossible). For Stanford and MIT, even though technically you’re free to choose any major after enrollment, the reality is there’re simply too many would-be CS majors (close to 40% at MIT and 25% at Stanford, and increasing!) So, these schools, and a number of other similar schools, are actively looking at all means, including additional admission barrier, to limit the number of potential CS majors because of the limited resources in their CS departments. Even if you declare “undecided”, these schools will try to decipher your intention or inclination when reading your application. In other words, if your ECs and/or essays lean toward CS, they’ll assume you want to be a CS major.
The best strategy is to be honest and transparent. Show your passion and love for CS, and why you have what they look for. Let the chips fall where they may.
In your opinion.
Both say they do not admit by major. @MITChris has confirmed that for MIT and also stated that once admitted, majors aren’t capped. Engage in all the conspiracy theories you want, but in my opinion, with both colleges haves a <10% acceptance rate, I doubt that declaring undecided will help or hurt.
That said, I also don’t believe in attempting to game the system by trying to tailor one’s application to what one thinks will look better to admissions. One should assume that if “I heard…” that the experienced AOs have heard the same thing and at this point, I really doubt that a ~17 y/o will come up with an admissions strategy that said experienced AO has not already thought of.
So bottom line, if the OP is interested in CS for these colleges, and the application reads as potential CS major, apply as a CS major
For CMU, changing into the CS major after enrolling in some other major is not automatic, and is highly competitive if you enroll in a division other than SCS.
https://csd.cs.cmu.edu/guidelines-transfer-dual-degree-minor-and-additional-major-cs
No, it’s not just my opinion. I was informed of some of the internal discussions in that regard.