I am currently undecided on a major. I am starting my senior year and am applying to some very competitive schools (Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Duke, Vassar, UPenn, Vanderbilt, Brown, Northwestern, etc.). I have a 33 ACT and a 3.91 unweighted GPA, so my stats are altogether pretty okay I guess.
I just want to know if I apply undecided on a major, will this affect my chances of admission to any of these schools? I have about three or four possible major interests, but I have not decided on one. I really like engineering and technology, psychology, biological sciences, and also earth sciences. Is there a certain advantage when applying to a university, decided on a major?
Does being Mexican provide certain advantages in certain majors/career areas? I know that being a low-income Latino and having a 33 ACT is like, seen as more of a big deal in certain situations when compared to a high-income white male with a 33, but I don’t really know if this also applies to certain majors.
Sorry for all of the questions, just curious and also a tad bit nervous.
What activities have you done and what obvious passions (that can be shown from your college app) do you have? My college counselor said that, for example, if you have traveled to many Spanish speaking countries, excelled in your Spanish classes, have a 5 for AP Spanish etc, to put down Spanish as your intended major so that colleges can really fight for you over someone else. Besides, you can always change your major once at college. It’s just that a decided major with passions that line up make it easier for admission officers to accept you (at least that’s what my college counselor says).
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1947599-faq-does-intended-major-make-it-easier-or-more-difficult-to-get-into-a-college.html
Some of the schools you listed do not admit by intended major, but intended major matters at some others (e.g. Penn), at least at the division level (e.g. arts and sciences versus engineering versus business).
Where intended major matters for frosh admission, expect the more competitive majors to be more difficult to change into later.
You might try applying for collegepoint.info
They take low income with high stats kids and match them with admissions experts. You can get personal answers to your questions there.
There are plenty of successful applicants to the schools you listed that were “undecided” (or listed multiple interests) and plenty of unsuccessful ones that expressed a very focused passion (or at least thought they expressed one). You need to be true to your strengths – if you have many academic interests, and they could be completely divergent, and you can demonstrate accomplishment and depth in those fields through grades, test scores, essays, LoR’s and EC’s, you will be fine. The selective colleges that you listed understand how uncertain great candidates can be. In fact most of them encourage their undergrads to explore multiple areas.
Specific to your case, what is your score breakdown? Did you do better in the math and science portions? How about SAT2 and AP scores? Which teachers are writing your LoR’s? Do you have significant academic EC’s and what are they (e.g. robotics club vs debate)? The point is that you want to present the most coherent picture of why you should be selected over thousands of other candidates backed up facts and examples.
A low income URM with high academic stat’s will have an advantage. How much will vary and may also turn on how many other similarly qualified URM’s are also applying with similar interests.
For most colleges, you do not apply to a specific major. However, you may need to a pick a school with narrower fields, for instance, engineering vs literature and sciences. Although it is possible to transfer between schools within the same university, but the difference requirements may slow down your graduation. This may not affect your admission much but your progress in college.