How much does your intended major matter?

<p>Hi everyone,
Just how much does what you write as your intended major on your app matter?
I'm ambivalent of my intended major- I don't know if I want to go into medicine or something with foreign affairs/policy. I honestly think I'd be happy with either.
I have good ECs for both, but as an Indian female, would it hurt my chances of admissions if I applied as a pre-med? I don't want to apply as an undecided, but I also know that there are a lot of Indian pre-meds, which could hurt my chances at top schools. My number 1 school right now is Penn; anyone have any advice?
Thanks, y'all are the best.</p>

<p>The major you choose won’t hurt but it CAN help. Women engineering majors do get viewed favorably, but asian pre-med majors probably don’t get viewed differently.</p>

<p>It depends heavily on the school. </p>

<p>For my own school, it does matter, since selectivity varies wildly from a major to another, and selectivity is reported by major. (For instance, dual-major physics/mathematics is “open-admissions” provided you meet the major’s requirements, while crime rejected 82% of all applicants)</p>

<p>For schools like UPenn? Not sure, but selectivity doesn’t vary as wildly from 0% to 82% rejection rate.</p>

<p>So would my chance of acceptance be greater if I didn’t apply as a pre-med?</p>

<p>I don’t have the answer to your question but i think it does if you don’t meet the requirements and the major is competitive. I want to go into the business administration major in the school I want to go tobut I don’t meet the entrance requirements so I’m applying as an englishman major since I got my ighest grade in that class and I’m a math and english tutor to children. I don’t know if it’ll work but I’ll try. When I get there ill change my major to undecided and try to raise my gpa then when i do ill go into business administration.</p>

<p>A lot of colleges (especially private ones) say your intended major doesn’t matter since so many people change theirs – however, it’s definitely good to be able to articulate something specific because it shows your interests.</p>