So, I applied to two reaches for Computer Science. My college counselor never told me that STEM degrees tend to be harder to get into, leaving me and the 5 colleges I applied to with harder chances than I anticipated.Turns out the reaches (and last two schools I am waiting to hear back from, U of Southern California and Tufts) CS is so competitive I don’t really have a shot at all getting in with my stats (32 ACT, 3.7 UW, great ECs, good essay). Problem with just changing my major is that one of my supplements for each school is specific to Computer Science (at USC it is more about business/CS, so I might change my major at USC to business).
My heart is not really in CS in the first place, and am wondering if switching majors to business in USC and International Relations at Tufts could be beneficial to my chances. I am interested in both majors.
College lasts four years, life tend to go on. You need to chose something that would be enticing at the entry level and lead you onto you career path. What is the most mindnumbing major you can think of, but the school wants to atract more students? What if you changed to that area for admissions purposes. You might end up taking a number of yucky classes and have difficulty changing into CS. You might get financial awards because of you chose that major. Oh dear! Remember the phrase…don’t commit the crime if you can’t do the time.
Business is very difficult to get into at USC, probably similar in difficulty as CS. D16 had higher stats and didn’t get into their program. IR at Tufts is also extremely difficult to get into.
In any case, I would advise against trying to change your major on your applications at this point. It may be that you are in to one or both schools. Changing your major would pretty much guarantee that you are denied, as you would be back of the line for any students that are admitted to that major.