Intended Major
Hey everyone, I'm going to be a senior next year and I really want to major in computer science. However, as you may know, it is one of the hardest majors to get into, and I'm afraid if I put it down as my intended major it will slash my chances of getting into some colleges. I plan on applying to schools like UIUC and Penn State, among others. I know it's a bad idea to put down undeclared when I obviously have passions, but do you think it is better to declare another Engineering-type major on my application and then transfer to CS considering the majors would be in the same college? Or would it be better to just put down CS as my intended major and take my chances? My grades are near-perfect and I have a 730R 800M on SAT, for a reference point. Thanks in advance.
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3 answers
First of all I would not switch majors unless if it's an undeclared program because it could be MORE expensive! I know it's hard that your desire major is very competitive, but I think you can pull it through by showing how passionate you are in getting this major and that might just work. It can be through courses, activities, etc.
It is not recommended you apply to one major and then try to switch to another more competitive one. It usually never works and then you'll be unhappy. This is probably because if you apply directly while there aren't many seats to begin with are all open to accept new freshman. I would look at the chancing calculator and see what it says. If you seem to have a long way to raise your chances you could try community college and transfer to an ivy. That way you would have more time to improve your stats and still get to go to an ivy for some years to. I learned transfer admissions are usually higher than direct admission. Your stats seem great already though. It depends on what grade you are in.
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I can’t answer your full question, but when I toured UIUC they explicitly advised against applying to their engineering undecided program because they accept very few people into that and you would have better luck applying directly to your degree program. However, the comp sci program there is extremely competitive