Is Applying Undeclared Still an Option? What Families Should Know #shorts

9 Dec 2025 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

1:53

In this YouTube short, a viewer asks whether students can still apply to college undeclared. The speaker explains that, except for a few rare liberal‑arts schools—mostly in the Midwest—applying undeclared is no longer a realistic option. To help families navigate major selection, the speaker recommends a gamified high‑school assessment that matches a student’s strengths to three suggested careers and three majors, providing projected earnings and an AI‑risk rating for each path. The speaker also urges parents to notice their child’s natural talents, label them (e.g., "natural leader"), and facilitate informational interviews with professionals whose work aligns with those gifts, enabling the student to explore and ultimately choose a major with confidence.

Chapters

Ruby D has a question. She said, is it acceptable to apply undeclared anymore? Is that a myth or reality?
I'm sorry, it just doesn't work that way anymore. There are some liberal arts schools, very rare. There are some in the Midwest. Many students don't know the name of them, so they may not recognize them. But they're gonna force it. And here's the thing I want to encourage you to do. We want your child to know. So how we do it is the first thing we do is we take them through a high school assessment. We gamify it. Let's be real, that's the attention span they have. Then we take this assessment and we say, is this you? And they're like, Absolutely, yes, this is me. Then we say, here are 3 careers that it recommends. Here are 3 majors that it recommends. Here's how much money you're gonna make in each of these. Here's if AI will be doing your job by the time you graduate from college. And now they're ready. They're ready to raise their hand. Typically, the ones who are not ready to pick a major are good at a lot of things. It's not that they're not good. They're really good at a lot of things. So I want to encourage you parents, when you see them doing something amazing, say, "Wow, you're a natural leader. Maybe this would be something to look into." Or if you have a friend or family member who is doing a career that would align with their gifts and their talents, ask them to set up an interview with them. Exploring what does this look like. Do they like their job?