Hi, I'm going to be a senior in the fall, and I am planning on applying to Hopkins. I want to declare an intended major when I apply, but I sort of have a conflict. I want to major in East Asian Studies, but at the same time want to major in Engineering (Biomedical if possible). I saw a thread regarding double majors, but would it be possible to declare such intentions when one applies?

I changed my mind so many times freshman year. Come in with an open mind and make sure to take advantage of the fact that Freshman fall is pass/fail. Take a wide range of courses and find out what you like best.

Anyway, like Daniel said... you don't have to make any decisions about your major during the application process. Plenty of people apply and have absolutely no idea what they are interested in until a semester or two into college.

I've said this on the message boards a lot, so I apologize for sounding like a broken record, but I'm going to say it again...:)

Even if you come in with your mind made up, (or so you think) you could still end up on a different path.  I came in dead-set Neuroscience, Pre-med, and as of right now, I'm a chemistry major Pre-Law.    Changing your mind is good!

I came in as an IR major and I've stayed an IR major. But I picked up two minors along the way (econ and french). It was nice to have direction but I also just took the classes that I wanted to take and it ended up as an IR major. Even now after I've finished most of my major requirements I continue to take classes in my major. If you come in undecided, over decided, or decided you'll have plenty of time to explore potential majors.

An important thing to remember about college majors is that they have no bearing at all on what you do later in life.  Being an english major does not disqualify you from studying medicine in the same way that being a physics major does not disqualify you from studying law.  You can do anything with any major.  Most of what you learn in college has little to no practical value anyway so you might as well pick something interesting.

hi there!

Congrats on your app being in! I know that's a weight off of you.

And being undecided is perfectly fine. You're supposed to explore and discover your likes and dislikes in college. One of the cool things about Hopkins is that there is no core curriculum, meaning there is no set of classes that all freshmen are required to take, which equals more freedom!

I personally chose Hopkins because of the public health studies major. I knew what I *didn't* want to major in--"hard" science courses like bio, chem, neuroscience weren't right for me at all. My mom and I used to argue a lot over what major I would choose, because she thought I'd be better off with something like bio because I am pre med.

Then I realized that I didn't want to pursue a major like sociology or psychology, because of all the paper writing that goes into that. I actually do appreciate science because it's a chance to take a break from strenuous reading and writing, esp. if you're like me and you don't like too much reading or writing.

And I really don't like things like political science, international studies, economics, etc. That wasn't an option.

I saw the public health studies major website, and realized that it was all that I could want in a major-- a mix of natural and social sciences, plus it's a noble and oh so useful major on my opinion. =]

So I chose what to study based on what I knew I hated/strongly disliked. Kind of weird, but worked for me. =] And whatever you choose, know that Hopkins has stellar programs in so many areas  :)

When I applied to Hopkins, I considered History as a major. Upon entering however, I had switched between Economics and Public Health. Now that first semester is over, I'm undecided and realized that I have been undecided pretty much since the beginning :)

The great thing about being undecided is that you're forced to keep your options open. That way, when you're signing up for classes, you aren't mentally limited to taking the required classes of whatever major you signed up for. In reality, people change majors pretty frequently, so it's better to take courses you are interested in at the time rather than what you think you should take to fulfill requirements.

Don't be intimidated by the fact that most everyone you will meet will have some idea of what they want to major in (I was certainly was!). Chances are, they'll change it. You have plenty of time to decide!

Back as a high school junior (which was four years ago--wow), I was thinking of applying to colleges/universities as either a biology or psychology major. Both fields interested me, and I was already thinking that I'd like to become a pediatric neurosurgeon. So, I looked for schools with good programs in either biology or psychology. One day, I was looking up information about a college that interested me at the time when I saw that it offered not only those two majors, but also neuroscience!

That's when I started the journey towards deciding to become a neuroscience major.

Ironically, I chose not apply to that college because overall, it didn't seem like a good fit for me. However, I now started looking to see if other schools had neuroscience in addition to biology and psychology. Because I didn't want to be too program-specific in the college application process, my final list of schools had colleges and universities that all had programs in biology, but not necessarily neuroscience or psychology. I applied to all of them as a biology major for consistency's sake, but I put neuroscience as my second major option on the Hopkins supplement. (I used the Common Application.) At the time, I was still thinking either biology, neuroscience, or psychology would suit me fine--I wasn't leaning heavily towards one of those fields.

After I received my college acceptances, I looked even further into these programs at the schools that accepted me. The more I did this, the more I thought that neuroscience would be a better major for me over biology and psychology. I mean...it's studying the brain and the nervous system...how much cooler can you get? (Well, that's what I thought.) Thus, when I was stuck deciding between Hopkins and another university that I liked just as much, the deciding factor was the neuroscience program here.

No joke! In April of my senior year of high school, I attended an open house for the other university and liked all its pros. About a week later, I attended an open house for Hopkins--and while I found that Hopkins was different in many ways, I still liked it just as much because of its own positive aspects. Both universities, while quite different, had a lot to offer when it came to academics as well as non-academics. However, attending both ( a ) a neuroscience program information session and ( b ) a student panel after which I spoke to a then-current student majoring in neuroscience sealed the deal. I loved what I heard about the neuroscience major at Hopkins--and I knew that because I liked a lot of other aspects about Hopkins, I would be fine if I changed my mind about my major.

Three years later, it turns out I haven't changed my mind about the neuroscience major. While it hasn't always been a smooth ride for me as I've taken courses required for the neuroscience major, I've enjoyed learning the concepts discussed in those courses. Also, I've been an undergraduate research assistant at a neuroscience research lab for a year now, and I've loved the exposure I've had to the field. :)

Not everyone I know has stuck to the major he or she chose as a freshman. In fact, I think most people I know--both people I've met at Hopkins and people I know from home who attend other colleges--have changed their minds about their majors at least once. As you can tell from some of the responses on this thread, that's the case with some of the other current students on this message board! However, I did change my mind a lot about my minor...

Lauren put it really well, a lot of people come in decided and change their minds anyway.  I'm another one of those.  I came in dead-set on neuroscience.  In fact, that was one of the major reasons I chose Hopkins over a state school (that didn't have the neuro major).  After a (neuro) class I hated and a couple of (chemistry) classes I loved, I had a change of heart and switched to the chemistry major.  Then I realized that the rest of my major requirements weren't so appealing.  So I looked at some other majors and re-evaluated.  I thought about what kinds of things I'd WANT to be taking.  I thought about what I want to do after graduation and how to best get there.  So I changed my major again...Now I'm Public Health Studies (natural sciences) and I feel like I've finally settled down. :)

I think going in undecided is great.  There's nothing wrong with not being sure yet, you're still in high school!  It took a lot of time in college for me to really figure out what I wanted to major in, and even still I don't know exactly what I want to do with it after graduation.  

Great question, by the way.

I guess my situation is kind of unusual because I came in as a Political Science major and have never changed (aside from adding a History minor).  I would just like to affirm that if you don't have something that your heart is set on, it's ok to come in undecided and take an assortment of classes until you find something you like.  I would also consider what the requirements are for any majors you are considering.  I picked PoliSci because it has relatively few requirements so I knew I would have the chance to take a lot of other classes.  If you take one with more requirements, you won't necessarily have that chance.

When I first came to Hopkins I was interested in International Relations, Public Health and Writing Seminars.

I fell in LOVE with Writing Seminars my first semester, and was hooked ever since. I was drawn to the small class sizes, how everyone participated in class, and I really enjoyed the work we were doing.

I think it is best to explore a lot of options and just see what you are most interested in!

I didn't really know I wanted to be an environmental engineer for a while. Actually I don't think I even knew this field existed until I started looking at colleges.

I had done some research in high school with a professor at a university near my home, which had an environmental focus. I really enjoyed this, and found that at most places this kind of work was done in environmental engineering departments. My high school had an engineering focus as well.

I figured that environmental engineering would give me the opportunity to use math and science knowledge to do something that could actually help people on a large scale. Thus far it looks like that has been a correct assumption, so it definitely was a good choice for me.

Just like Peter, I am totally in love with my major. Check out my blog entry about it: http://hopkins.typepad.com/2012wse/2008/11/enveng.html

It's always a good idea to take courses in all of the academic disciplines you are interested in.  Your freshman year is really dedicated to this.  There's no need to marry yourself to a major before even stepping foot on campus.  Take some time to explore all of you fields of interest, let your feelings sink in for a semester or two, and then see if you know what the right decision.  For me it wasn't so much a decision as it was just knowing that this is what I want and love to do.