College Q&A: Should I Pick a Less Competitive Major to Gain Admission?

As high school seniors begin their college applications this fall, they take stock of their school performance and extracurricular activities. Many begin to worry that their student profile will not hit the mark for their intended colleges. The anxiety this stage creates is a perfect breeding ground for myths about how to “beat the system” and gain admission at all costs. Well-worn 1990s anecdotes of engineers entering college by way of the study of Ancient Greece abound; these outdated tales only add to the feeling that there’s a magic key buried in the least desirable major that will open all doors.

And so, today’s Q&A: Should my teen choose a less competitive major on their application in order to gain admission, and then switch to their desired major after they are admitted?

There are really two questions here — the practical one (will it work?) and the moral one (should I do it?). In both cases, I can only offer my philopsophy and the experiences that have led me to it.

For both practical and moral reasons, my answer is no. Here’s why:

Times have changed. A lot. Whether or not it was a good strategy in the past, switching majors after admission is harder now. This is especially true at large, impacted schools like the UCs and CSUs. A few schools even have policies against it for the first year or even two years. These policies vary widely, though, and one would have to make it a mission to sort out the exact…