Myth: Admissions look down on those who apply without a major.

Truth: Unless you want to go into a specific program, universities don’t care what your potential major is.

Many high school seniors have small panics when they come to the “Potential Major” box on the application. You’re in high school! You hardly know what you want for breakfast, how do you know what you want to do with your life?
Some people try to write down something just so they can improve their chances.

In reality though, your potential major means absolutely nothing.

More than half of undergraduate students will change their major at least once. One of the absolute best things about college is that you will get to explore your options. Many people enter with one major, and then after a semester change to something completely different.

For example:

Perhaps you have decided to enter school as an economics major. You don’t know a whole lot about economics, outside of your AP Macro class, but you liked it well enough and have decided to roll with it.

After one semester of calculus, intro micro, and economic systems, you’ve decided that econ is not the choice for you.

But you loved your government elective, so you decide to try out Political Science.

The school isn’t going to come knocking down your door demanding to know why you switched. They’re not going to care at all.

The only effect that your potential major might have is who your freshman advisor will be. Some schools will put you in your potential department, but freshman advisors are better trained to help you fill your Gen-Eds, so don’t worry about switching.

Schools don’t look at your major when you’re applying, because they know it will probably change.

The only exception to this rule is if you are applying to a specific school within the university. But even when it comes to these specialized programs, it is usually easy to switch. For example, I know a student who went to a university for music conservatory, and after his freshman year decided to switch his path. The school allowed him to change into an academic major with no hassle at all.

So don’t sweat it when you don’t know what you want to do, college is all about that exploration, and you will find your path eventually.