@ucbalumnus The Harvard example you list is irrelevant. You don’t declare a visual and environmental studies major when you APPLY to Harvard and listing it on your college application doesn’t boost your chances of being admitted. (Besides, anyone who doesn’t have a 3.0 GPA either isn’t trying or doesn’t belong there, IMO.) Both Harvard and Yale have selective majors which you must apply for…but again, listing them before you enroll doesn’t increase your odds of being accepted.
AFAIK, Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard, and Yale don’t require anyone to declare a major when you apply.
At Columbia, you do have to choose between Columbia SEAS and Columbia College–and Barnard for that matter.
AFAIK, Princeton only requires a special application for engineering students.
UPenn has separate schools for nursing and finance (Wharton). I’m not sure about engineering.
Cornell is the odd one but that’s because it’s partly public and partly private and tuition is VERY different if you’re in state in NY. Most of the programs you have to apply to specifically—Industrial and Labor Relations, the Hotel School, Agriculture, Human Ecology, etc.–offer programs that aren’t offered by other Ivy League colleges.