Which is better? Apply as a Neuroscience Major vs. Undeclared

Applying to College
1

Hello. I am an upcoming senior and I was just wondering which is better when applying to colleges, to apply with an undeclared major, or as a Neuroscience major. I am asking this question because my Freshman year of high school I took Biology, Sophmore year; Chemistry, Junior year; Physics, and now in my Senior year I will be taking AP Biology and Forensic Science. Up to, but not including, this year I have received B’s in all of my science classes. I have also taken Honors Algebra 1, Honors Algebra 2, and Honors Precalculus, which I also received B’s in. However, due to a scheduling issue this year I am unable to take Calculus. So, I was wondering, which allows me a better chance to get into the schools I want to apply to, applying undeclared, or applying as a neuroscience major?

I would appreciate any and all input on this!

2

Hi,
You can always change your major when you get to college, but I think you have to take a hard look at your neuroscience major. Why did you get Bs in those classes? Was it not trying etc, or were they hard classes? If they were hard, then you might have to rethink if that will be a good major for you- your science classes will be much, much tougher in college. If you didn’t do very well in those classes in high school, then you might have a hard time with those classes in college too. For someone who wants to go into neuroscience, you don’t really have the grades for it in a field where your peers will have straight As and great research opportunities when applying for top universities. I would suggest applying undecided, since you won’t be competitive enough against other neuroscience applicants. Also, what are your ECs like/about? If your ECs are grouped around a certain theme, you could pick.a major related to that, just to seem as if you have a direction (which you can anyways change later). For example, if you did debate and MUN or other humanities/social science themed ECs, and did well in your history or English or gov classes, then consider majoring in Polic Sci or something else that relates to your ECs- colleges want to see that you have a theme of interest.

3

I think an undeclared major is better to declare because when you go into college you have the ability to explore your interests–and colleges encourage this. Also I agree with @katcollege that there are really competitive majors in each field and your GPA might not be considered as competitive when compared to the A+ student. Then again, you’ll find this across are majors–undeclared as well–, but atleast with undeclared the focus is more on your overall coursework rather than your math and science courses.

4

@DaedricSaiyan and @katcollege

Here is info about me:
White
Female
Middle class
Applying for: Major: Neuroscience or History / Dual Major/ Minor: Theatre
GPA: weighted: 4.0 unweighted: 3.5
AP’s: 6
APUSH Score: 4. AP Eng. Lit. Score: 4
SAT: 1970

EC:
Jobs: Referee K-2nd graders (for one fall season), currently a Lifeguard at a day camp for one full Summer (working approx. 40 hours per week), currently a Hostess at a restaurant during the fall/winter/spring

Volunteer Service: Set up and take down of Senior graduation, set up and take down of 8th grade graduation, worked the Senior dinner night at my school, was a Tour guide for 2 Open Houses at my current High school, I am a member of my school’s Key Club (we do volunteer services), and a member of my school’s Habitat for Humanity program, I helped with the set-up and take down of my town’s Relay for Life walk (for 2 years in a row), I volunteered to do Stations of the Cross at my Church, I helped out with my school’s 8th grade theater production for 2 years, I participated ina walk to raise money for starving children in Ethiopia, I am a member of my School’s Select Chorus and we volunteer to sing at Funerals as well as community events, I aided in my school’s Book Swap (brought books and supplies to different teachers), I also volunteered at a MS Center to aid in the organization of an MS Event, and I also recently did a run to help find a cure for MS.

Extracurricular Activities: I played on a travel soccer team my Freshman year, my Sophmore through Junior year I switched to a different travel soccer team (I was a starter on defense), I also play Soccer for my High School team (I played 2 years on JV and 2 years on Varaity), I played Basketball for my school my Freshman year of high school, I have done all of my school’s shows (we do about 2 a year, one drama and one musical), I was in my local college’s Equity production, I was a member of my town’s Theater program for 8- 18 year olds for 5 years (in which I received many lead roles), and I have been taking Voice lessons for 7 years.

Awards/ Certificates: Book Award ( I was awarded a Scholarship to a college for my academic achievements), I have my Lifeguard Certification, I also have my Basic Life Support Certification, I am going to be one of the head counselors on a Christain retreat I am going on in the Winter, I also received an Academic Award from my school for my improvement in my math class

Skills/ Achievement: I am a member of both National Honors Society, as well as Spanish National Honors Society

Athletic Achievement: I played on JV for 2 years ( the second year I was the Captain), now I am on Varsity for my second year

Leadership: One of the Head Counselors for a Retreat in the winter, Head Producer for my school’s play organization (an executive staff leadership position), was selected to attend a retreat run by adults from our school (on,y a select few are asked to go), Selected to go on a Leadership Retreat outside of school ( only 5 people from our school were selected to go), and I was the Captain of my JV Soccer team.

And thank you so much for your input!! :slight_smile:

5

You major will make no difference whatsoever. I’ve heard many admission officers say that unless you are applying to a specific school (ex. business, engineering) that the major doesn’t matter. That is because about half of the applicants apply undecided and of the half that do apply with a major, half of those historically end up switching majors while they are in college. I would try again to somehow fit calculus in your schedule senior year.

6

@happy1 is right that colleges don’t care what major you choose, and I agree that you should try to take calculus (which is usually the math class ad coms look for). That being said, if I were you I wouldn’t declare neuroscience. If you had a bunch of ECs that had to do with it (research, math or science club, volunteering at hospital, etc) then it would be different. Colleges won’t admit/deny you based on what major you choose, but they like to see that the things you’ve done and accomplished in high school are grouped around a particular theme or interest. Your volunteering and ECs are more humanities/social science based activities, and you have little that has to do with science. Although they won’t care much about your major, having a major that has to do with what you’ve done (or undecided) will reaffirm to them that the things you’ve done matter to you. You want to go into neuroscience, but don’t have great grades in those classes and have no science related ECs, so colleges might wonder why you want that major, and why you haven’t really pursued it in high school. It doesn’t really matter at all, but it’s just generally good to group your activities around a theme, and have that match with your major. But, whatever major you choose, or choose undecided, won’t change their decision of acceptance or rejection.

7

If I was admission officer (I’m not) and looking at above posts, I might wonder why “neuroscience?” So why? PhD? MD? It’s okay if you don’t want to answer.

8

@Jugulator20 I want to apply neuroscience because how the brain has always interested me. Also, I want to help treat/ diagnose people so I can save lives. Also, when I did Biology m Freshman year of high school it really interested me. This year I am also taking AP Bio and Forensic Science.

9

I think it’s great that you want to treat/diagnose people so you can save lives. Good luck to you. I understand that things can change but at the present do you see yourself in medicine, research?

10

Wow, the people above who are claiming that colleges don’t take into account what major you are applying for are full of it, in my opinion. Yes, obviously, lots of students change majors while in school - however, any admissions director who doesn’t attempt to balance the incoming class by major is going to be out of job pretty quickly.

As for the OP - you should be upfront about your desired major. If neuroscience is what you are interested in, there is no real gain to trying to hide that fact.

11

^^^^If you think admissions officers lie about this in talks on separate occasions and that two friends of mine who are admissions officers at two selective NYC schools lied to me about this…well, then I guess…OK you can believe what you want… But with half of a typical class applying undecided and about half of those applying with a major changing their minds, it is impossible for an admissions officer to pre-balance a class by major.

My understanding is that admissions officers are charged with 1) getting close to the target number of students into a class (too many or too few is an issue) and 2) getting a well rounded class which, would include people with different academic and extracurricular interests (so you have some science kids, some arts kids etc.) – this should eventually make for a well balanced set of majors among the class regardless of if an applicant put a projected major down on an application or not.

The OP should do what he/she wants in terms of applying with a major.

12

^^^ “this should eventually make for a well balanced set of majors among the class regardless of if an applicant put a projected major down on an application or not.”

Yes, lots of students change their major, and lots of applicants apply as undecided. However, admissions officers definitely do shoot for targets in terms of “science kids” or “biological sciences” even if not absolutely fixated on getting perfect balance across majors. If an applicant’s interest clearly fall in a certain area (as this one certainly seems to) there is no reason or advantage to not declaring an interest that exists. And, as a female applicant, there might well be an advantage to doing so.

13

Broadway- you need to look at each of the schools on your interest list individually. Some schools do not consider the major when considering applicants but admit by comparing your stats/EC’s to all other freshmen being considered regardless of major. Some schools most definitely DO admit by major, so for example, if they are going to accept 200 students into the neuroscience major and your stats fall outside of the top 200 applicants for that major, you will not be accepted. So at a school that does not admit by major,you might be OK applying as a neuroscience major because you will be compared to the overall student body, not just to those in your major. If it is a school that does admit by major, than your GPA may not be competitive for that major and you might be better off applying undeclared and then switching.

14

Broadway: if your goal (treat/diagnose people) is med school, med schools don’t care what your major is. Being a neuroscience or history major and/or a double major will not give you much, if any, advantage in med school admissions. If med school is goal pick a major(s) that you’re interested because if you like material you’re more likely to do well GPA wise which will initially be a big concern to med schools. Most importantly, enjoy your upcoming senior year in high school. Again good luck

15

@NickFlynn - We should probably just agree to disagree on this topic. If the OP had ECs related to the sciences or got all A’s in the HS science classes I would probably agree that including the major would create a level of consistency through the application, but that is not the case here. In any event, OP should do what she feels is best and I don’t expect either choice will end up being a deciding factor in the application.