<p>My DD will be applying to colleges in the Fall. Right now SUNY New Paltz is on top of her list with history education as her major.
She also wants to look at York PA, College of St Rose and Marywood. </p>
<p>Is it best to list undecided or a certain major? I know schools have quotas they have ti fill and can probably only take so many education majors.</p>
<p>If she has a specific interest, or she would like to go after scholarship money tied to a specific major, then she should list it. I think listing “undecided” does not help you stand out from the group, so it’s better to list something provisionally.</p>
<p>Depends on the school.</p>
<p>Some schools may admit freshmen all as undeclared, while other may admit freshman already declared as a specific major.</p>
<p>In some schools, selection criteria for freshman admissions may differ based on major applied for, depending on how popular the major it.</p>
<p>In some schools, sophomores or juniors intending to declare a major may have to apply to declare it, based on grades in prerequisite courses, if the major is popular.</p>
<p>As above- it depends on the school. For example, at UW-Madison all students are admitted to the university as a whole, regardless of proposed major. Summer advising and registration will be determined by intended major, undecided get all campus advising whereas specific majors will get someone from the school/college covered by the major. Since most entering students either are undecided or change their major it is no big deal. UW has very few scholarships for entering students so that aspect is not important like it could be elsewhere. The School of Education requires an application after some college semesters, including the college gpa and essays.</p>
<p>I suspect many public institutions also admit without regard to major but have requirements and sometimes competition to get into majors with limited capacity. The best thing to do is to check with each college applied to.</p>
<p>If your student is undecided, list undecided. Most college students change majors at LEAST once or twice while in college. I’m not sure there is an advantage to listing a major at the colleges you are listing.</p>
<p>Some schools DO have limits on the numbers of students for certain programs…e.g. engineering, business, sports management are a few I know of. BUT sometimes listing these majors makes it actually HARDER to be accepted to the college.</p>
<p>For example, our DD graduated last spring with an engineering degree. She applied and was accepted as an undeclared arts and sciences major. She KNEW her school would allow her to declare engineering as her major if she took the requisite courses during her freshman and beginning sophomore years…which is what she did. The reality is she would NOT have gotten accepted as an engineering major as her application as the applicants who put engineering down as their major tend to be a much more competitive pool of applicants. At her school, the business school was the same.</p>
<p>A number of colleges ask about majors and then in other places say it doesn’t matter what you write down. Generally these schools don’t have any restrictions on most majors anyway. I think it makes sense to write it down if there’s something that goes along with your interests, but it’s also fine to write undecided or to put down a couple of possibilities. My older son applied to a college within a university that only has one major (It’s the school of Computer Science) so naturally he put down comp sci. There was never any question what his major would be. He’s been headed down that road since he was 8 years old. </p>
<p>That’s interesting thumper, because I think at some schools it’s easier to get into via Engineering (Columbia comes to mind.)</p>
<p>I have a daughter at Marywood (loves it). They have very generous scholarships based on SAT scores. They also have some scholarships for specific departments, but most of those seem to be for upper classman. Best bet there is to have great SAT scores, which is an automatic 80% off tuition guaranteed for 4 years as long as the GPA stays at 3.25 (or maybe it’s 3.5?).</p>
<p>My son is at New Paltz…he applied twice, once out of HS and listed undecided as his major, got accepted, but didn’t attend at that time. Then he applied as a transfer his Jr. year and listed a major and was accepted again. I don’t think it matters all that much, the strength of the applicant is much more impoortant. Good luck!</p>