Our daughter is nowhere near ready to declare a major. She’s 17! When we ask her what she wants in a college her response is always “to learn how to think”. Is that a major? she says she wants to be surrounded by curious and hardworking students and to receive a well rounded education (liberal arts?) that allows her to exercise her brain and become a more sophisticated thinker. (nerd alert).
A lot of schools seem to ask what major you are interested in. She says philosophy, classics, linguistics etc but she really doesn’t care yet. Any schools that meet that criteria and won’t for e her to choose a major? She wants to be challenged!
Southern state
1520 (760/760, took once early junior year)
4.0uw/ 4.6 w - hardest rigor except differential equations. Did do AP bc calculus
7 years of French including AP
3 years Latin including independent study translating Latin philosophy
Policy debate team captain with moderate national
Success (tic bids for those that understand that world)
Internships at policy center for reducing mandatory sentencing as well as doing research at a nonprofit focused on bringing minorities to the table in business, esp to c level positions
Sports - varsity pole jump
And high lump (3rd in state)
Theater - lead and named cast in 3 shows, including on state theater competition
Dance -
7 years classical/tap/jazz training
She loves
Debate because she has to research her topics and the counter arguments. It’s very enjoyable to her to argue within the context of historyClass - taking rhetoric right nowAnd
loves it
Summers at Emory and Dartmouth
Policy debate camps
Member of six person honor committee that hears cases of kids who
Violate the honor code and suggest consequences
On panel that visits younger grades to
Discuss difficult
Topics - bullying/
Lgbtq/race/mental health
Most of her ecs are nerd stuff so I think
You get the gist. Please give me
Ideas!!
She was deferred Vanderbilt
Ed
Accepted
Vermont and Uga (waiting for honors)
Did we miss great fits that she could actually get into? This process is so discouraging and a big state school doesn’t really tick those
Boxes
For her
I’m a little confused – did she only apply to three schools? If not, which decisions are you waiting for?
She would be a perfect fit for a liberal arts college, where she could explore different disciplines and enjoy small classes with more discussion than lecture right from the start. Most colleges don’t expect students to apply with a declared major (there are a few exceptions, especially in engineering or business, or in universities in which you have to be admitted to a specific college with specific programs of study). Most schools ask for areas of interest, but that’s not binding. It’s okay to list areas of interest with no expectation that these will be the final choices of major.
I noticed some on there that might be a good fit: Hobart and William Smith, Muhlenberg, Ithaca, St. Lawrence, and Sewanee. Perhaps she can check these out and see if any look like good fits.
I was thinking Sewanee - because she said South…or Rhodes or Hendrix but unsure of the environment (rural ok??)) - but I asked the same about three schools - and one was UVM which isn’t South. I also thought Rice.
And would have to look at app deadlines.
Hoping there’s more schools than the three but I guess we’ll find out soon.
Are there any majors or general areas (e.g. visual arts, performing arts, humanities, social science, biological science, physical science, math and related, engineering, nursing or health professions, business, etc.) that appear more likely or less likely to be of her interest as a college major?
A big state school would offer a lot of majors, but may also have some that are at capacity and may require a secondary admission process to get into. Certain types of majors (e.g. nursing) are difficult to get into almost everywhere.
Commonly in liberal arts colleges and liberal arts divisions of larger universities, students may enter undeclared and have until the fourth semester or so to declare a major. But be aware that some majors (e.g. physics) have sequences of prerequisites that need to be started in the first semester to stay on track, even if declaration is not required until later.
She is a senior. She is having second guesses about her list and so she may actually take a gap year. Or defer an admission. She just really isn’t sure what she wants to do and may need more time. I think the big state schools feel scary to her even though they offer so many choices.
Google colleges with late admission deadlines. Also around May 1 a list will come out of colleges with remaining openings, and a wide variety of schools appear on that list
My kid is also 17, will be 17 in the fall, and is also really, truly undecided. We are looking at a gap year as well but will probably pick the college first then ask for deferral. She ended up selecting “best guess” majors on all her applications because it just seems like the system is set up that way, unfortunately. When I applied to college, I was told ‘undecided’ was viewed favorably. Not necessarily the case anymore. One person on one of these threads said “undeclared major” was the toughest “major” to get into at one particular college. Take that for what it’s worth. Idk.
All sorts of colleges will appear on the list-public, private, large, small, urban, rural, liberal arts, stem, etc. Many selective, and some will still have aid and housing available. I hope it helps.
It’s difficult to make college recs without knowing more about what she wants in a school/doesn’t want. Is she interested in an LAC? If so maybe Wooster, DePauw could work (I’m sure there are more still taking apps).
If a gap year is seriously under consideration, I would start planning that now…some programs or internships or whatever she might be interested in doing may be competitive and have deadlines this spring.
Regarding the NACAC list in May…the schools that will be on that list, while good schools, will not be the ‘popular’ ones. And, the vast majority of the schools that will be on that list are accepting apps right now…so best to not wait to maximize options and possible merit aid.
Your D can see in common app if a school is still accepting apps or not (many stay open after their ‘deadline’ has passed). She can also call the admissions office if it isn’t clear. Here’s last year’s NACAC list thread (there are threads for more years too): NACAC List of colleges still offering places is out
Im like a broken record but I will suggest Pitt especially for someone who is t sure what they want to do.
When you hear Pitt you think medical but Pitt has great programs in a wide range of fields. It is the #1 philosophy school in the world. It has a focus on language including less common ones plus speech and linguistics programs. Public & Intl Affairs is top10. It has a ton of new majors like the Intl Studies, Information studies, etc. They take a lot of AP credits and kid end up triple majoring or double major plus minor plus certificate. Very common there. They also do a lot of research and not just in clinical. Every dept has opportunities including Arts&Sciences.
Pitt is mid-sized - sure it has the rah-rah stuff but also plenty of kids who just arent into that.
like many schools, the honors kids often applied to top20 schools - just on my S18s end of his one floor in the honors dorm there was a kid who turned down Cornell for a full ride at Pitt and several who turned down RPI. So “thinkers” for sure
Pittsburgh has a lot of culture. My S18 stayed out there and there are tons of museums, fun neighborhoods, great food. It’s a great mid-sized city.
The OP’s other thread lists the schools they planned to apply to. Hopefully they will confirm if that happened.
(Note that the daughter posted in the other thread under this username. Mods communicated with the parent and the parent is solely using this profile now.)
If your daughter were to compose her list from scratch during a gap year, then she could look into colleges with notably flexible curricula, at which she could explore her interests with few limitations:
With respect to specific academic interests you mentioned, these sites could serve as a source for further ideas:
she says she wants to be surrounded by curious and hardworking students and to receive a well rounded education (liberal arts?) that allows her to exercise her brain and become a more sophisticated thinker. (nerd alert).