I am currently a sophomore in high school. Since I have to choose my courses for my junior year this January, it is necessary to determine my major. This is because junior year is the most important year, and the courses that I choose will greatly affect my major. However this task is extremely difficult for me, because I simply have too many interests. I am virtually fascinated by everything. I love ancient history (which may correspond to a history or classics major), literature, and language (linguistics). However, I am also pretty decent in math and science, as I am in AP Calculus AB right now and I really like physics. I heard that universities appreciate students with one big spike instead of well rounded ones, which is my problem. My question, therefore, is, can I just not decide a major when I apply for college? If I do this, to what extent will this impact my chances? Thank you very much.
You do not have to select your HS courses based on a college major. If you are interested in STEM, then you should try to take a Chemistry/Biology and Physics HS course along with some advanced Math, sometime during your HS years. If you are interested in History, then taking AP World, US and/or Euro would be a good option. As long as you take all required courses for HS graduation and for college admissions, you should be fine.
Absolutely. In fact on some of our college visits the schools actually encouraged you not to choose a major. They were very reassuring that you had plenty of time to decide. As a parent, when my children have not been sure of a major. I have encouraged them to select schools that are larger so that they can find what they are looking for without transferring once they are there. Or select a smaller school that has enough majors they could be happy with. I guess we tried to plan ahead for not knowing or changing one’s mind. HTH