<p>Isn't going in undecided a waste of time and money? Won't you most likely not graduate on time if you declare your major already a year into college? </p>
<p>It really depends on the major. In many cases, you can take a general schedule your Freshman year and be pretty close to being able to graduate in 4 years. It helps if you have a broad idea (like saying I want to do something in Business but don’t know if it will be Economics or Accounting or Marketing, etc.). </p>
<p>There are, however, some degrees that are lined up a certain way and will need you to start taking classes in order. I’ll use Computer Science as an example. Almost all schools have the Computer Science curriculum lined up such that if you didn’t take any CS classes your Freshman year, it would be difficult to graduate in 4 years because each class builds on a prior one and you need to take them in order. </p>
<p>Again, if you can narrow down a broad category and get into the right Division of the school it usually will help. That said, you can always take a couple of summer classes to catch up even if you did fall a bit behind in the 4 year schedule. </p>
<p>I’d add that a huge portion of people will change majors 1-2 semesters in anyway, so I’d not let that keep me from starting. Most schools will work with you as best they can.</p>
<p>It’s funny that the private schools with the highest 4 year graduation rates are often those which don’t allow students to enter in as a declared major. </p>
<p>Anyways, the overwhelming majority of students change their major during their college career. If you scan the threads on the search and selection board, you’ll see that the vast majority of posters say they’ll major in one of four fields, business, biology, international relations, or engineering/CS. Rarely do you see people who want to study sociology, anthropology, history, or any number of disciplines that most comprehensive universities offer. The universities fill these less popular majors by requiring students to take gen eds and see where their actual interests lie. An undecided student, assuming s/he doesn’t want to major in the handful of disciplines that require students to start as a freshman, is IMO at an advantage since the student may come in more willing to see what’s out there, to explore all the fields that interest him or her. </p>
<p>When you get to college, talk to your academic advisor. Tell him that you’re not sure what you want to study but here are some subjects or topics you find interesting. His recommendations may surprise you. </p>
<p>Most school have students declare a major by the end of sophomore year. That will give you more than enough time to graduate in four years.</p>