As the title says, how are you guys choosing your colleges and majors?
I want to hear from different people…because I have no idea what to do with my admission.
And by the way, I think this is stupid questions, but if you apply to liberal arts colleges, do you have to choose major?
Usually you will have until the end of sophomore year to declare a major at liberal arts colleges. This may be true at other colleges and universities too. But some you are accepted into a particular department or major. And always, you have to keep in mind that some majors have prerequisites and you may have to start on those well before Jr year. Also some regular majors are course heavy and you have to start earlier. But if you were undecided between math and econ say, and you took classes for both, you may not have to declare until end of sophomore year.
My daughter picked colleges by interest in the best school she could get into that seemed to have the kind of people she liked and she wanted an ‘away’ experience. She waited to pick her major. She applied undeclared, but she could have picked a basic liberal arts major and changed later. She explored science research so took chem and physics, and took math to support the physics, and ended up a math/CS major.
Thank you for your reply! But is it necessary for students to choose major when they are applying to liberal arts colleges?
No. You can apply to a LAC as undeclared and it doesn’t count against you at all. Most people are undeclared and of those indicate what they plan to major in, most change it after they arrive. Just remember to that LACs have math, bio, chem, physics, and comp sci depts too - ‘liberal arts’ includes those subjects too.
Most colleges, if not all, have Undecided Majors. Many freshman have no idea what they want to do yet. I believe that you then take mostly Gen. Eds. and your advisor works with you to determine your major. There are a few majors, such as nursing, that you have to apply to as a freshman or you can’t finish in 4 years. At my DD’s college all science majors have the same classes for the first 3 semesters to allow them to change majors and still graduate in 4 years. Of course, that assumes they still stay in one of the science majors.