Hey, everyone. I have recently had doubts about major declaration and Googled them, but not much turned up.
My first doubt is that is there any college that doesn’t let you declare your major UNTIL you have been accepted?
The second doubt is that if you declare your major while applying, can colleges reject you from that major and automatically assign you to another one? I had a friend who applied to Purdue for business studies, and got rejected from that major. Then Purdue gave him other choices, from which he chose cyber-security, without studying coding a single day in school! Now, Purdue gave him some options, but I just wonder whether colleges can automatically assign you to another major that is more suited to your essays and ECs. Speaking of which, I am applying for C. Sc. to all colleges, and apart from a coding competition (in which I didn’t even qualify), a recommendation from my C. Sc. teacher, and a few other small things, none of my application reflects anything that pertains to my major. Art has been my hobby for 14-16 years, so I will write my essay on it, and so my third doubt is that does this mean that TOP colleges would question my commitment to computer science? And in that case, would it be better to apply as undeclared? Many students are passionate about athletics but are still accepted for their respective majors. Could that be my case also?
- Some colleges admit everyone undeclared, or without regard to intended major. But note that some majors at some colleges are filled to capacity, so declaring those majors after enrolling may be difficult (e.g. require a high college GPA or competitive admission process).
- Yes, some colleges may have higher admission thresholds for certain majors than for the college overall. Some of them may admit students to the major, but other students to the college but not the major (may admit them as undeclared or in a different major).
- CS is filled to capacity at many college, so you want to investigate carefully whether direct admission to the CS major is available at each college; if not (or you are admitted to the college but not the CS major), investigate how difficult it will be to declare or change into the CS major after enrolling.
These older threads may be helpful:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1947599-faq-does-intended-major-make-it-easier-or-more-difficult-to-get-into-a-college.html
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19854939/#Comment_19854939
You need to be careful, because there are more than just a handful (but not a large number) of universities that admit by major, and a much larger cohort admit by college (business, arts & sciences, etc.). Some of these schools make it easy to change majors or colleges, but some don’t (UT Austin is very tough on changing to some majors, like computer science). Definitely research this issue once you get yourself a semi-final list. If you are truly uncertain about your major, my advice would be to strike off your list a school at which you would find it difficult to change majors–there are far, far too many great schools to trap yourself that way.
Most colleges will let you specify a major you are interested in when you apply, but some colleges have some majors that you can’t declare until you show up. Like at some schools, you can’t be a nursing or a business major as a freshman - you’re pre-nursing or pre-business while you take the prerequisites and get accepted to the college of nursing/business.
And no, colleges don’t automatically assign you to another one. They may reject you from one major but they will typically ask you what major you would rather have instead like your friend at Purdue, and often they will have you specify a non-competitive second choice when you are applying for the first one.
And it’s not arbitrarily decided based on your essays and ECs. Colleges don’t expect you to have your life all planned out at age 17. Lots of students don’t have the opportunity to study what they want to study until they get to college, or they become interested in it later on.