Not sure where to put this, but exactly how easy is it to switch majors within the same school?
For example, could one apply for an “easier” major to get into at a top school and then transfer into a more competitive one?
It ultimately depends on the school.
Generally, it isn’t too difficult to change majors within the school. However, admissions officers are experienced enough to know when someone is trying to game the system by picking a “random” major to seemingly make it easier to get into that school.
It really depends on the school, you should look into ones you’re interested in applying to. Some state schools have college GPA cut-offs for declaring majors/switching majors and those cut-offs can be ridiculously high. At other schools what you put on the application has no impact on what you need to study there - you can put CS major and then right away declare an English major. Many students change their minds once they’re actually taking college courses, and colleges know that.
With that said, just put your intended major - seems a bit unethical to intentionally lie.
It is commonly the case that if there is a formal difference in admission selectivity threshold between different majors, changing into the more difficult-to-be-admitted one after enrolling will require an additional admission process (may be a grade/GPA requirement higher than C/2.0, or a competitive admission process).
The reason some schools admit by major is that certain majors are filled to capacity.
Schools offset a huge number of departments, certain of which are continuously oversubscribed (Business, Engineering), and if you are not a direct admit, you face the possibility of studying somewhere and not being able to get into your major!
For many colleges you apply to a specific school within the university such as liberal arts, business, engineering. It is generally easy to change majors within your school (ex. from accounting to finance if you are in the business school, from English to psychology if you are in the liberal arts school). But depending on the college it might be very difficult to arrange an internal transfer from one program to another – especially if you are trying to transfer into a program where the admission criteria are more difficult than they were for the program you were accepted into. Colleges actively discourage students from “gaming the system” by applying to an easier program and then trying to switch into a more competitive one. (Ex. if you apply and get accepted to Penn Arts & Sciences don’t expect that you will be able to transfer into Wharton). IMO you should apply for the program you want to study.
Thank you for all the replies! Does every college allow for unintended major applicants? If so, does this hurt an application?
Do you mean undecided? Unintended is funny!
No. This is one of the factors you need to consider in your research of schools. What year or you (or son/daughter)? Some schools admit high numbers of undecideds and provide substantial help finding a major. Others have tight guidelines and switching is difficult or near impossible.
Some schools are completely open but the most common firewalls or requirements to apply to College of Arts and Sciences or School of Engineering. Business is often a direct application but that’s what you want if you are selecting a school based on their business program. Computer Science often requires declaration on application. Pick ten schools and start researching. As you cross some off add others until you get a good feel for what you want.
Lot’s of questions can be answered on CC by searching old threads.
Applying undecided won’t hurt your chances but for college with multiple schools (like liberal arts, business etc.) you will have to apply undecided within one of the schools. (ex. undecided - business school, undecided- liberal arts school).
It all depends on the uni, actually. For instance, UIUC has “engineering undecided” which is tough to get but allows you to choose any engineering major. They also have DGS, which is undecided for the whole university and much easier to get in to. In theory, it’s possible to get in to almost any major from there (besides the b-school ones, I think), but most engineering would require a good GPA and some (like CS) would be very difficult to switch in to.
I agree, you would have to read/understand the policy of each school you apply to.
What about the field of General Studies? Do people apply for that and then switch out of it once they figure out something real to major in?
See answer to #11. There is no one rule that fits every school/every situation.