What exactly do colleges look for when they see if an applicant would fit on their campus? Does the term “college fit” just refer to how an applicant would “vibe” with a college and how they would associate with the institution’s values? Or can it also include specific academic interests and future goals?
For example, if I’m interested in biochemistry/genetics with applications to agricultural science, and I emphasize this in my applications, would UPenn College of Arts & Sciences or Harvard reject me because they think I’m a better fit with something like Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences?
In this case, would a college that is not big on agriculture-related life science research reject me EVEN THOUGH I’m a qualified applicant for their biochemistry program alone? Would such an extremely specific academic focus cause rejection?
Actually, it may be slightly less difficult if you aim for a major that exists but is less popular at the college, since (for example) JHU is flooded with pre-med and biomedical engineering applicants, Stanford is flooded with CS major applicants, Harvard is flooded with economics (pre-finance and consulting) applicants, etc… Of course, the application must be convincing that the less popular major is your true interest, not a Trojan Horse for application purposes while you intend to change major after enrolling.
As a person who did this in a past life, I question why you would want to go to any of those schools, save Cornell, if that’s what you want to do. There are many state schools that are exceptionally strong in plant science. I would put Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Iowa State on par with Cornell and well ahead of the rest. If you want to head west, UC Davis and Cal Poly are both in that realm too. East, NC State and Virginia Tech. There are MANY others that would serve you better than the Ivy League schools, be far easier to get into and cost less money.