<p>I've heard that you have a better chance of getting in if you choose undecided rather than a major.</p>
<p>bumppppppppp</p>
<p>It depends. If you are a strong student and applying to a large university that has a variety of “schools”, applying to the school of general studies can help you versus applying to the school of science, engineering etc. I know this was the case at Purdue last year. Because the typical applicant to the “undergraduate studies program” was a weaker student than the typical applicant to the college of liberal arts, college of science etc, the strong undecided applicant had a better chance of winning a merit scholarship than the student applying to the college of science or engineering.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard that, and I doubt it’s true. </p>
<p>Colleges recognize that vast majority of students change majors from what they list on their application. At least on the Ivy League level, colleges consider your “intended major” of little to no importance. </p>
<p>The only reason you might want to put a major is for scholarship reasons. But besides that, whether or not you list one shouldn’t make a difference.</p>
<p>Agree that sometimes merit awards are linked to your specified major. That said, you may lose said award if you switch majors anyway. Just one more thing to think about. </p>
<p>One other thing–some majors are considerably tougher to get in to if you don’t get in as an entering freshman. Also, would you want to attend that school & find out you can’t get into the major you want?</p>
<p>I don’t think it helps, but I don’t think it hurts either. Colleges know that students switch their majors all the time. If you wanted to study something very specific that was not too popular and the school you were applying to had a department for it and they were trying to keep that department open, applying for that major and adding essays and EC that demonstrated your long term interest might help.</p>
<p>From stats I have seen form some colleges, the admission rate for those undecided is about the same as those applying generally to Arts & Sciences. Usually applying undecided either means you are applying for Arts & Sciences in general or the university has a division of A&S for undecided. Where it makes a difference is between applying undecided rather than applying for the business or engineering college for which the middle 50% (GPA/test score) range of those admitted is often higher than that for A&S and undecided.</p>
<p>Right now, I’m leaning towards the sciences and maybe medical, but I don’t know for sure. Would it be best if I just chose undecided then, or in this case does it not matter?</p>
<p>It depends on the school. There is no general answer applicable to every school.</p>
<p>Some schools which have various divisions (e.g. arts and sciences, engineering, business, etc.) have different levels of selectivity between the different divisions, or even majors if they have freshmen enter declared as a major. Also note that some schools have competitive entry into some majors even for students who are already attending as undeclared students.</p>
<p>Public universities under budget pressure are probably more likely to have different selectivity across divisions and/or majors, since they tend not to have any reserve capacity in each major to accommodate major changers.</p>
<p>For larger universities, you still have to pick a college within that university, and then within that college you can choose undecided. If you’re interested in the sciences, you likely will pick a college associated with “Arts and Sciences,” which is also where a lot of pre-meds end up.</p>
<p>It’s fine. My friend put her major as undecided and got into Stanford</p>
<p>It really depends on your situation. Even if you haven’t settled on a major, it’s usually better to least one (or more when there’s more slots) that you’re considering so that you can give them an idea of your interests. Colleges know that your major is likely to change while you’re there, so it’s not a huge factor, but they usually like to have some idea of your interests so that they can build a diverse class.</p>
<p>If you’re completely undecided, then that’s what you should list. But if you have a few majors you’re considering, listing them would probably be a good idea (or even listing the division you’re interested in where they have broader categories available).</p>