My youngest son is a senior in high school and top choice is NC State . We are in state and he would be a legacy student . He does not test well so would be test optional . His GPA is 3.8 with mostly honors and AP classes. I know NC State admits by major . He doesn’t know what he would like to major in . Are there any less popular majors he could choose that might help his chances of admission ? I know Exploratory Studies is one option, but heard that it might be better to apply to a specific major . We know it is a reach school , but he would still like to apply .
Is the 3.8 weighted or unweighted?
Has he taken the ACT yet?
I don’t think NC State necessarily sounds out of reach. What are his interests? Engineering might be hard to get into (it’s a tough one), but English might not.
Has he done the Focus 2 Apply assessment? It’s just to narrow down your interests — not a test. https://admissions.ncsu.edu/discover/#majors-and-minors
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His GPA is weighted . His favorite subjects in high school have been history related . He did take both the ACT and SAT and did around the same on both . He isn’t interested in engineering , but perhaps business , sports marketing and history with a law focus . However I have heard business is fairly hard to get into at NCSU as an incoming freshman so it might be better to choose something else as a major . I will have him look at the information you provided on majors . Thanks !
NCState recommends you apply in two majors so he could apply in business first if that is his top one and history second. Then if he doesn’t get into business they will evaluate him for history and may admit him into that major.
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What is his unweighted gpa. If you don’t have, give a 4 for an A, 3 for a B, 2 for a C. Divide by # of classes.
About 2/3 submit a test. You’d need an over 26-27 ACT to submit.
The average gpa is 3.83. It doesn’t say weighted or not and of course every school weights differently. Whether your school matches their system, I don’t know.
A lot 38% of males got in last year. 45% of female. Your son, if history, might align more with the female percentage wise. I’m assuming male is skewed down by engineering.
Likely a tough get but with a UNCW or ECU as a back up he’d be good.
To answer your question, I’d have him call admissions and ask.
Exploratory Studies has an LLC too which sounds pretty neat - so I’d likely do that. It’s made for kids like him - rather than try to game. That they have an LLC and curriculum says they want kids going that way.
My opinion - Always major over school. In this case, non major.
As for law, your major has zero relevance for law school - although some writing intensive like History or Philosophy may be better training. Or me might like this one.
When I hear history and/or business, I think exploratory 
Best of luck.
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Is there any data on how many students are admitted to Exploratory Studies? I’m wondering if that type of catch-all major for those who aren’t sure what they want to major in, is also popular enough that it becomes a competitive admit?
If he leans towards an interest in history and is thinking about a future in law, why not choose history and English as the two choices (or political science or philosophy as was suggested above)? Having strong reading comprehension and writing skills will undoubtedly help him in a future law career.
Everyone has their own strategy, but for colleges that admit directly to a major, I advised my kids to choose one - even for just a minor interest, so they would have priority for getting classes and advising, if they decided to stay in that major. For some majors, it can be difficult to get admitted after the fact and have to try and play catch up with classes and graduate on time.
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Has he asked his HS counselor for advice? They are in the best position to help him maximize his chances of admission because they know where his GPA/rigor/rank are in relation to historical norms coming from that HS.
Posters will be able to offer better guidance if you share his unweighted GPA, class rank (approximate it if his HS doesn’t rank), or his ECs (NCSU will evaluate fit to major).
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You may find this link useful to parse out application versus admission data - you can break down by instate/OOS, NC institution (NC State) and by your home county and probably even by High School to see the stats from prior years.
This is NCSU Common Data Set info for last year - Scroll down to Pages 16, 19-21 and you will see how they break it down for what they weight they give to consideration (Legacy is supposedly a “Not Considered” for NCSU) as well as the test score breakdowns and GPA ranges.
Are you certain your son, who has taken Honors and AP classes has a -WEIGHTED- GPA of 3.8? On a typical NC 4.5 Honors and 5.0 AP scale (A=5.0 / B=4.0 on weighted classes).
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You might have your son set up a discussion with Ms Pugh, contact at bottom of the attached.
On paper this sounds really good.
They have to fill up this program so I’m guessing you are not disadvantaged in applying this way but ask her.