<p>On one hand, if the student's work or volunteer experiences and EC's support their stated academic interest, you might assume that specifying an intended major would be a helpful addition to the application. But can it hurt just as much, such as if the adcoms don't see a connection between the student's activities and his prospective major? Or, what if the applicant makes the mistake of listing an intended major which is too popular at that school, and for which the school has already received a ton of applicants interested in that very major? But then does saying you're undecided communicate a lack of passion or purpose, or a possible aimlessness / immaturity? Thoughts? (Obviously, for some majors, or schools within schools (eg. Wharton), you have no choice but to partially declare in advance. I'm talking about when you have an option.)</p>
<p>I have this question in general for all students. Specifically, I'm also posing it because my D is an athlete with very few EC's outside sports, and other than a business internship, none that support a specific intellectual interest. Furthermore, her intended major is economics, which is very popular at many schools. Would listing that be the kiss of death?</p>
<p>Unless you are applying to a specific program [Wharton, music, etc] it is not necessary to mention an intended major. Colleges KNOW that many, many students change their mind about their major once they are in college.</p>
<p>D has received many athletic questionnaires which ask this question, and of course so do many applications. Then “undecided” is the best response?</p>
<p>S listed political science, but then was asked during several interviews why he was not participating in Model UN, or Mock Trial, etc.</p>
<p>D listed “psychology” as her intended major (which is the second most popular choice after “undecided”), and none of her ECs were even remotely related to the field of psychology. She was not questioned about her choice, but asked a few questions about her academic interests in general, and in the end she felt that her major choice did not make any difference in her admissions decisions. Adcoms know that kids can make a 180-degree turns when it comes to choosing their majors. An elective class or a distribution requirement course outside of their chosen major can light up their interest to something totally different.</p>
<p>I don’t think it usually matters much. At Carnegie Mellon when you apply to the School of Computer Science it’s pretty obvious what your major is! I think being a budding computer scientist might have been a slight plus the year he applied to Harvard as they had just announced plans to expand the engineering department. I agree if your proposed major has logical ECs that you’ve ignored, you might be better off putting down undecided instead, or listing a couple of possibilities.</p>
<p>TheGFG,
My hunch on why this question is asked, is because coaches may be wary of recruits who declare pre-med type majors, which require inflexible lab times and intense coursework/scheduling that might conflict with practice times, travel, and the reality of being a D1 athlete while pursuing the most demanding major (“something’s gotta give”).</p>
<p>But I wonder what if you ECs are somewhat related to your major but not the exact same. Like my major EC on the app was research, but all of the research dealt with physics related topics like atomic phyiscs. But I put my prospective major as mechanical engineering, do you think it would have an adverse affect in this situation?</p>
<p>D (now a junior) usually listed biology as an intended major on her applications. One school she applied to limited the number of bio majors they accepted. She ended up being waitlisted. I’m convinced that if she hadn’t listed biology as her major she would have been accepted. OTOH, the school made it seem as if kids could not switch majors into biology once they got there. It wasn’t her top choice, so no big deal – but a little annoying all the same.</p>
<p>S1’s school requires the student to list intended major and a 2nd choice. They are then either accepted, rejected or deferred based on the college they applied to. For example, if a student applies as an English major, they are applying to the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. They will in not be in competition for admission with those who are applying to the College of Engineering.</p>
<p>Bay, at every meeting with college coaches D asked this question: “Are there any majors which are incompatible with participation in this sport?” The answer was exactly the same at all the schools: definitely architecture (due to the intense project assignments they get) and sometimes engineering (difficulty level + projects). All the schools seemed proud to say they had pre-med students on the team, though.</p>
<p>My daughter is an college athlete and was warned (rightly so) that a graphic design major would be difficult if not impossible because of twice as long class sessions and MANY late night art studio hours. She tried, but ended up changing majors and minoring in art.</p>