Hi CC,
If a university states that it accepts by school, does this mean that the major I apply for does not affect admissions at all (even minutely)? For example, if I apply to an engineering school and want to major in computer science, although my extracurriculars might point to a different branch within the school, will admissions officers take this into account? Do they even see prospective majors when reviewing applications?
It depends on the university.
My counselor said that it depends on the university (like above mentioned). Some universities won’t tell you if the major matters.
Thanks, I suppose colleges don’t want to share too much about their admissions process assuming people will apply under a different major. Probably why I could find little info about it online.
If a given major is more competitive, that is likely because it is full. In that case, entering in a different major or undeclared means needing to go through another admission process to change into the full major.
I won’t be applying under a different major, I just wanted to see if it mattered whether I declared myself a CS major or mech engineering. I want to do CS but my EC’s point toward mech. I wanted to see if they’d even consider what my major request was, seeing as how for the school I’m considering you don’t need to declare a major until the end of sophomore year.
If CS is in the engineering school then it should not affect your admission chances. But it could vary by college.
Did you look to see how easy/hard it is to transfer to the major you desire if you enter as another major?
Check if the college has any admissions requirements for current students who want to declare either the CS or ME major. If either one has requirements higher than 2.0 GPA or C grades, or has a competitive admission process, that suggests that the major is full. If the college does have direct frosh admission to the major, then the major being full will make it more selective for frosh admission, but if the college admits everyone undeclared, it should not matter for frosh admission (but you could have to go through another admission process to declare the major if it is full).
If it makes things any easier, I’m talking about UPenn.
From what I can tell you need a 3.0 gpa to transfer into the school of engineering, which is similar to Wharton’s requirements. They say it’s a competitive admissions process but the first-hand accounts I’ve seen are people saying internal transfers to different schools (which is NOT what I’ll be doing - CS is in the engineering school) are not that difficult. You can also declare a major by the end of sophomore year, and the UPenn website says 1/4 of first-year students enter with a major undecided.
I just found a page on the UPenn undergrad website that to change your major within a school, you just need to fill out a form and talk to your advisor. Since this is such an easy process, I assume this suggests UPenn doesn’t admit by major within a school? Should I play it on the safe side either way?
Another idea is that I could write to my regional admissions officer. Would this be best or are they just going to end up responding vaguely?
You should put down the major that you want to major in. You should have courses that back that up…math, science and hopefully CS. Don’t worry about what your ECs were.