if i put philosophy instead of business as my intended major will it actually be easier to get in??
Junior here. Basically my whole app is business: DECA (state qualifier twice), finance club treasurer, I run a small sneaker resale thing on the side, and I did a stock pitch competition last spring.
Saw a TikTok saying business is the most competitive major everywhere and the trick is to put something like philosophy or classics and then switch once you're in. Is this actually a thing people do or does it backfire?
3.9 UW, 1500. Looking at USC, NYU, Michigan, Cornell, maybe Emory.
I don't even dislike philosophy, I took an ethics elective and it was fine. I just don't want to lose a spot because I picked the "wrong" box.
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If you do list a different major somewhere, assume you may graduate in it. That is the test.
It depends entirely on how each school admits, so go school by school instead of treating it as one trick.
**Where the major box really matters:** schools that admit into a specific college or program. Cornell admits to individual colleges (Dyson and the Nolan Hotel School are separate from Arts and Sciences). NYU Stern is its own school inside NYU. USC asks for a first-choice major and the program has a say. Michigan Ross admits most of its class directly out of high school. At places like these, a less crowded program can have a different admit picture.
**The catches, and they are big:**
1. Switching later is often the hard part. Internal transfer into a business school is competitive, capped, and at some schools close to closed. Read each school's internal transfer page (GPA floors, prerequisite courses, acceptance numbers if published) before you bet on it.
2. Readers see the whole file. Four years of finance with "Philosophy" typed in the major field reads as gaming, and the why-major essay ends up thin because there is nothing behind it.
3. At schools that admit to the university as a whole and let you declare a major later, the box does much less.**The legitimate version:** pick a major you would genuinely be fine graduating in, then connect it to what you already do. Economics, philosophy-politics-economics, or a decision science track can tell a real story with your DECA and resale work. That gets you most of the benefit without a plan that depends on a transfer you may not get.
Common follow-up: applying undecided. Undecided is fine at liberal arts colleges and at many universities that admit to the whole school. It is not a weakness there, but it also does not unlock a capped program later.