<p>I'm asking because I'd really love to go into Economics and Russian Studies, and I feel that with some of the courses I took, and an Independent Study I plan on undertaking, this could apply very well. I know that schools say that putting "undeclared" doesn't put you at a disadvantage, but could something very current (i.e. Russia's recent expansionism) fuel demand for a major, and therefore make me look more attractive as a candidate? I'm also sort of thinking that being female and going for such a male-heavy major might help, but idk.
Many thanks!</p>
<p>It depends on the college.</p>
<p>If the choice of major affects admission selectivity, then changing major to a popular (relative to capacity) major after enrolling may also require an admission process.</p>
<p>You need to check each college to see if it matters.</p>
<p>I don’t know the specifics of the schools you’re applying to, but in most cases as long as the major you’re applying for isn’t too popular or impacted it should’t have to much of an impact on your admission.
Typically major matters either for really popular majors or really difficult/well known programs. For example engineering acceptance rates are typically lower than the rest of the university because of the selectivity of most engineering programs. A prime example of this is Berkeley where the college of engineering accepts about 11% of students vs the university’s 18% acceptance rate. Well known programs undergo a similar principle (UPenn Wharton, JHU BME, etc). </p>
<p>Russian is not THAT popular. And if you apply to the Russian flagships, you’d have a great advantage (and you’d be taking Economics classes in Russian, and then in Russia, once your language is up to par.)
<a href=“http://www.brynmawr.edu/russian/flagship.htm”>http://www.brynmawr.edu/russian/flagship.htm</a>
<a href=“https://russianflagship.wisc.edu/”>https://russianflagship.wisc.edu/</a>
<a href=“http://www.russianflagship.ucla.edu/russianflagship”>http://www.russianflagship.ucla.edu/russianflagship</a></p>