<p>I was wondering how much of an impact your selected major has on admissions decisions. I would figure (or hope) that it wouldn't have that much bearing, taking into consideration that your average college student will likely change majors during the course of study. If it did then wouldn't everyone jsut apply to a pushover major and then switch majors later on?</p>
<p>It depends on where you apply I think ... some schools only accept a certain amount of applicants for each major. Colleges know people change their minds but they look for trends so they can predict how many applicants are going into x and y majors</p>
<p>it all depends on where you apply. some schools don't consider your major. Some consider it depending on what it is; for example at the UC schools if you're applying for any major that is within the college of Letters and Science (or even undeclared) they don't consider it, but they do consider it for engineering majors, fine arts majors, etc.</p>
<p>your major can aslo reflect your interests, resume and test scores....(not good to put down prospective Mathematics major with a 550-m on the SAT)...</p>
<p>Between majors like Biology, Math, English and History; there is no difference in admissions. All of these people would apply to something like "College of Arts and Sciences" within the university. It will not matter if you list your major or just say undeclared. However, there is a difference if you apply to a different college within the university such as "College of Business" or "College of Engineering" or some special program in music/art. The competition during admissions is between people applying to the same college within the university, and not between everyone applying to the same university. Sometimes, this can be quite significant. The Wharton School of Business at UPenn is even more difficult to be accepted into than the general part of UPenn. Some engineering programs can be much more difficult than the general university.</p>
<p>The scam of applying to a university as an undeclared major and then transferring into a more competitive program does not work. If you are accepted to UPenn, you can not just transfer into Wharton. You have to reapply to Wharton even if you are already attending UPenn.</p>
<p>On the app, you mark off what college within the university that you are applying to.</p>
<p>To add a bit more to what dufus wrote since not everyone is aware of how large U's are organized. </p>
<p>When you think of UPenn or Berkeley, for example, you may think of it as one entity. But large U's are composed of several colleges that are somewhat independent. Colleges may have different admission requirements even though they are in the same university.</p>