Is Applying Undeclared Still an Option? What Families Should Know

4 Dec 2025 · 2 min

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Most colleges now require students to declare a major at application. A few Midwest liberal-arts schools still allow undeclared entry. An advisor recommends a high-school assessment that matches student interests to three career paths, showing projected earnings and automation risk for each job.

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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?