Question about declaring majors on college apps?

[mirabillis]

This is directly related to UC-schools at this time - but may apply to Common App schools too. (I don't know, I haven't looked at Common App yet)

 

I am working on a pretend app to see what there is to see, so there are no surprises upcoming.

 

I see for UC schools in particular you have to choose a major. I understand this could be be a double-edged sword. Some schools are more limited in their acceptances into certain majors - so an alternate could help you get in. Further, they list undeclared. At this point (10th grade), my ds has no idea. Maybe pre-law so could be ideally Business, Economics, Political Science - also he's very mathy so could be statistics or math or computer science (but I understand computer science/engineering is cut-throat competitive). And then UC Berkeley for instance showed School of Business major closed...  Huh?

 

What did you do? Did you choose a major? Did you declare undecided? Is undecided/undeclared frowned upon?

 

 

Edited September 25, 2017 by mirabillis

[Julie of KY]

If my son had to declare a major for the common app, I don't remember it - It wasn't a commitment at all.

 

One school he applied to, you had to apply into a major. At this school, it was very difficult to later change your major into certain majors and the one he wanted was very competitive. They encourage to apply into a second choice major for acceptance to the school, but they were upfront that he might never get into his first choice major. "I" as a parent advised him to ONLY apply into his first choice major as "I" didn't want him to go to that school if he couldn't major in his choice.

 

I had no problem with him declaring a major at other schools in which it was very easy to change your major.

 

I'm not familiar with the applications in CA, but I would make sure you know how easy it is to change between majors within a school.

Edited September 25, 2017 by Julie of KY

[JanetC]

If a major is hard to get into as a freshman, it will be hard to get into later. Possibly very hard.

 

Before you declare a major that is easy to get into with the hope of changing majors later, ask yourself whether the school you are attending or the subject you are studying is more important for you.

[Roadrunner]

This document outlines each UC's policy towards declaring a major.

For Berkeley:

"For applicants to majors in the colleges of Letters and Sciences, Natural Resources, Chemistry and Environmental Design, major is not considered and students are not disadvantaged by applying Undeclared. For applicants to Engineering, major choice is considered in selection; Engineering Undeclared is highly selective."

 

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/freshman-admission-matrix.pdf

[josephturner]

If you are undecided ,there is nothing to freak out.It's okay to be undecided.There are a lot many students who are undecided.You can say about in your admission essay.You can also talk about it to management.
http://www.franklinplannerme.com/