<p>Does one need to declare one's major on the princeton application or can one write "undecided" and simply write the 300 word essay? It won't hurt your chances will it?</p>
<p>Officially it shouldn't really matter as long as you decide on either an engineering or liberal arts major. If you put down what you wish to do it would give Princeton a general idea of the amount of students who wish to apply to that mjaor. It wouldn't hurt your chances per se, but it won't help them either.</p>
<p>Yeah but what if you put "undecided" I believe many applicants want to major in both humanities and sciences or currently do not have crystal clear goals for the future... Since this is just to give them an idea, would it not really matter if you put "undecided"? Also, if you write the extra essay for the engineering essay, will you be primarily compared with other applicants who are majoring in the engineering field? Would that be like trying to get into a tech. school such as MIT or Caltech?</p>
<p>for your second question, i remember an admissions person at princeton saying that they don't care about your major because most people change it by the time they're sophomores anyway, including prospective engineers. but really i think they have to consider major somewhat, because it does give a pretty good idea of what the student is interested in, and they can't have a class made up of all english majors, for instance. so i personally think the engineers are considered at least a little bit separately as long as they sound genuinely interested in engineering (math/science background/ecs, good essay). also, i would suggest putting SOMETHING down for your major... you must have a tiny idea of what you might like to study, perhaps just based on your favorite class. although technically it really isn't supposed to matter and it probably won't make or break you.</p>
<p>adding on to what kraor said (or maybe just emphasizing it):
just put SOMETHING down--even something that seems impulsive or random or whatever. think of a class you liked, some work you didn't mind doing, whatever. you aren't committing to anything at all, so don't feel like it's a big, important decision you're making. i think the worst thing you could do is put nothing, because that seems like you're not interested in anything (i'm not saying that people who put that aren't--believe me, i was considering putting undecided--but it could give that impression). better to give a few possible things than nothing at all.</p>