<p>Does it help if you tell a college you want to major in an unpopular major? I assume that they cannot take everyone who picks the popular majors such as Econ and English, and have to have people who want to take Arabic, Womens Studies, etc.</p>
<p>This has been discussed many times.
In general, colleges know that most sutdents end up changing their major during college, so they don't put all that much thought into prospective major. Of course, if you're interested in a program that is in a separate college within a University, as Engineering, Architecture, etc often are, you need to make that interest clear and apply for that program, because it is often very difficult to impossible to transfer from the main college into a special program.
The one time I could see a unique major having an impact would be if the applicant had extracurriculars that showed clear and long-term interest in the subject. Putting something that is entirely incongruous with past interests simply to increase admissions odds will likely be seen through by the college.
Put down what you actually want to major in, and if you don't know, there's nothing wrong with putting "undecided" either. Playing the system really won't help you.</p>