<p>LBowie, my response was not to you. It was to the OP to this thread.</p>
<p>It never even crossed my mind that your post was directed at me. In fact, I don’t think I even saw it because I was typing at the same time.</p>
<p>OP, I think your son should apply to Dartmouth if he is looking at Ivies. He seems like a Dartmouth kind of kid. I’m prejudiced, because my S just graduated. 
At least 50% of my S’s best friends at D are Asian Indians, and their interests range from poli sci to econ to pre med to engineering. I know that perhaps the last thing you need is another reachy school, but what the heck.</p>
<p>Well, you know what high school kids say: apply 8 for 8 and you’ll get into one. </p>
<p>Undecided/undeclared, imo, leaves adcoms guessing how to frame you. Imo, it’s a better angle for kids who are super strong in various directions.</p>
<p>If Dartmouth makes the list, then OP still needs to include Penn to cover all eight ivies. </p>
<p>Poor Penn, that unsavory business with Penn State is undoubtedly hurting them. Please consider showing them some love. Applying to 7 of 8 is just kicking them when they’re down.</p>
<p>^I don’t know about the advantages of declaring undeclared, but my younger son insisted on doing so except at schools like Georgetown and I think American where you apply for a specific program of study at the outset. His high school interests certainly did not scream international relations. He did not do Model UN because the kids involved at our school were the hard drinking crowd. He did Science Olympiad (liked making stuff like bridges and was interested in ecology), origami on his own, and the literary magazine (because a bunch of his friends were in it.) He took all the AP history courses and also wrote about working on the neighborhood association archives, and touched on travel in his origami essay. He came off as well-rounded and that’s fine I think, especially if you are aiming one notch down from the Ivy’s which he was.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your comments. I am asking my son to read them as well. They are really thought provoking and are helping him in bringing more clarity.</p>
<ol>
<li>College Prestige is important. At our work we have seen how two candidates being equal how where they went to school makes a difference. At the same time, if he is not able to get to reach schools then we prefer that he stays close to home.</li>
<li>When I say - he is not hard core techie - I mean that he has not developed any apps or designed new technology, etc. He is tech savvy - understands technology and did well in Science, Math and his Java classes in school. Developed website for his non-profit, etc. However at this point, he does not see himself doing programming or hardcode technical stuff for life.</li>
<li>I asked him to take Strength 2.0 test and it became apparent that he is more of a people person with strengths been harmony, developer (people developer).</li>
</ol>
<p>Now revising college list based on where he need to declare and where he can go undeclared.</p>
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<p>What field are you in, and how nuanced are the differences?</p>
<p>“If he gets in to engineering and decides he hates it, he can always transfer to another college within the same university” - Maybe.</p>
<p>I’m an engineer and have often encouraged students “on the fence” to start in engineering (those credits usually transfer to other majors, but not visa versa). However from reading CC threads, I’ve learned that at some schools there are minimum GPA requirements to switch into another college. That is something to watch for.</p>
<p>Naveenjain,If you decide to look at rankings USNWR is the most popular but not necessarily the best guide.Try Fiske, Colleges That Change Lives ,or Forbes to get a different perspective.</p>