Should you apply undecided or pick a major?

SSelective colleges read the intended major on an application as a statement of intent for now, and Yale and Stanford have each described, in their own language, why that statement matters. Families often resist naming a major because it feels like signing a contract at seventeen. The worry is reasonable, and it also misreads what the declaration is for.

Students who leave the box vague believe they are being honest, and usually they are. Whether that honesty helps them in front of a reader is another question, and the colleges themselves have answered it, along with a second question families ask far less often: what happens if you change your mind.