<p>I am not neccessarily considering doing this, I was just wondering cause I was talking to someone who brought it up. </p>
<p>Alot of colleges look to spread out their applicants over majors. So sometimes, if an applicant intends to apply at a rather less popular major their chances might be slightly increased.
Well after having this conversation with someone, I looked back at how my application was shaping. It seems that my extracurriculars and courses strongly favor one area of study, while I do not intend to go into that at all. But when i think about my admission chances, it seems I have alot more to back up for this "fake" intended major...so what do you guys think about "lying" about your intended major with full knoledge you will study a completely different area once you are admitted? Any personal experiences?</p>
<p>i've heard that too. i think it is worth lying about your major. i've heard not from one but every single one of my advisors, friends, and tutors that it can most certainly increase your chance of getting in. like my sister's friend; she got into Stanford with "undecided" but got rejected from Cal Tech with "engineering." Stanford is slightly more rigorous and prestigious college than cal tech, but because of the major, it might have made that shift. maybe she did ED on Stanford and not on Cal Tech, i don't know. but even after getting in to a college with your "fake" major, you can EASILY change your major (usually) with grades kept up.</p>
<p>Haha, I'm not sure any university is more rigorous than Caltech (Caltech has harder core requirements and less grade inflation than Stanford), although I'll admit that Stanford is probably more well-known to the average person. Also, your intended major is not considered when you are applying to Caltech (I'm not sure about Stanford). You are applying to the Institute. Finally, Stanford is SCEA. As for the OP's question, just put down the major that you plan on doing, although transferring majors isn't too much of a problem at private schools. "Lying" about your major at a public university, on the other hand, could lock yourself into something that you may not want to study.</p>
<p>Well that is the thing. I am extremely strong in the sciences, espeically my extracurriculars.(IMO) I guess I have kinda had an interest in it, but I REALLY don't see myself doing something like that in the future. I've heard colleges like to see you focus on your interests, so basically I'd be lying about my interests. </p>
<p>Also, I don't understand what you guys mean by the difficulty of transfering from one major to another at ANY schools. I thought you don't have to declare a major until your sophmore year, so I always figured intended major was solely for admissions purposes. Is there any downside to doing this?</p>
<p>"Classics major: taken greek and latin....doing EC related stuff to classics"</p>
<p>This applied to me in my application process. I plan to major in classical civilization and have taken four years of Latin and have numerous 1st places at the state level (and top 10 at national level) in tests such as Roman History, Roman Culture, and Latin literature. I can't imagine that hurt my chances.</p>
<p>If you think lying will help you get in and are that desperate, go for it.</p>
<p>It isn't lying so much as it is shaping your application. Check the policies of the school you're applying to see how difficult it is to change majors. Besides, people change their minds a million times about majors, there's no way you could have "full knowledge" that you're not going to study something.</p>
<p>Hm...I can't see it making too much of a difference. And if the little difference it made (barely) pushed you into the acceptance pool, would you really want to go? I mean, do you really wish to attend a school that you had to "shape" your way into?</p>
<p>just do what you want really. I wrote down history major when i knew that history major was incredibly tough at columbia, harvard, yale. But i still managed to get into columbia. I doubt i would have gotten into harvard or not waitlisted by yale had i put sth liek African studies. It's only one chance so use it as u see fit. But remember ur actions have consequences so look into transfer options.</p>
<p>Would someone really enjoy getting into a college and always wondering if it was lies and not their own personal merit that did it? It may seem expedient at the time, but I don't think it is worth it to later end up feeling like a fraud. </p>
<p>dsctt726 makes a good point. I think it would be to one's advantage to express one's true interests and try to find a college that will enable him/her to pursue them.</p>
<p>There is also the basic ethical issue of whether it is justified to lie to get a personal advantage over someone else ...</p>
<p>I don't know how much of an advantage it would give a person, though. This comes up ALL the time so I think there are people out there that do try to game the system, which means the colleges know about it and would adjust their actions accordingly. The lie would have to be maintained throughout -- the essay, the interview, the recommendations, etc. I also think the indicated major (supported by past classes, ECs, etc.) would have to be something obscure. Science is pretty common.</p>
<p>Sometimes there are difficulties shifting majors if you are trying to go into something popular. I remember being told at one informational meeting (Berkeley) that anyone interested in EE should say so on the application because it is popular and therefore they can't allow everyone in. It can be a problem to shift colleges within the university as well -- people periodically talk about applying to an easier college and then transferring to another one that is harder to get into. But then others say that the transfers may not be allowed (lack of space, failure to have a high enough GPA within the initial college, etc.).</p>
<p>Be aware that some majors are housed in different schools within the university. At GW, IR and journalism have separate from other liberal arts programs. Really research which majors you want to pull the "bait and switch" and what the internal transferring process is.</p>
<p>Don't know if this is true - gaming about your major can back fire on you too I suppose. For example, you try to present your field of study in the classics. School has small classics dept and I suppose they would keep some kind of running tabs on the intended majors, adcom may hold that against you if that dept's potential space is filled ? It is foolish to think large U's adcom work like depicted in the book "The Gatekeepers" by Steinberg. In that book, each adcom will take his allotment and go away each by himself to make decision on his own. If this method prevails on large u's, you might have the danger of filling one class mostly of science major, and not enough of the others, or vice versa. It will take very little to keep track of remaining space. All an adcom would have to do each time he makes an admit is to log it into shared bulletin board and +1 on biology, whatever. And running totals of admits by intended major would be in plain view. I mean it is not practical otherwise. You may run out of seats, of professors, of administrators if no such order is kept.</p>
<p>Anyoen, esp parents who are adcom,or knows how adcom works, please comment.</p>