<p>Does anyone know whether Yale, or any of the Ivies, admit students by the major of their choice (In which case, it might be harder or easier to get in based on your major) or not?</p>
<p>Yale does not admit by major. The admissions office knows that the majority of college students --including those who thought in high school that they knew exactly what they wanted to study – change their majors at least once.</p>
<p>whew - that’s good news! Thank you, wjb.</p>
<p>If Yale doesn’t admit by major why was there an (optional) engineering essay on the supplement? </p>
<p>I’m interested in engineering so I went ahead and wrote it just to be safe. What impact (if any) will this have on my application?</p>
<p>All undergrads are admitted to Yale College, and all enter “undeclared.” It’s not harder or easier to get into Yale by identifying any particular major. That said, Yale has put substantial resources into its science and engineering programs in recent years, and Admissions is on the lookout for students with significant aptitude and achievement in those areas. The engineering essay helps them identify those students. So if you express an interest in engineering and you can couple that interest with significant achievements in the area – research, competitions, awards etc. at a regional or national level – that may help your application.</p>
<p>While all undergrads are admitted to Yale College, Yale does need to satisfy a certain number of engineering majors each year. So I think the admission rate for Yale Engineers are slightly higher. But that’s not to say that it’s easier to get in, because I’m sure that the applicant pool is more self-selective (due to the essay).</p>
<p>Thanks wjb and iceui2.</p>
<p>I was wondering if the essay was because Yale had either a really competitive engineering department or maybe one that they are trying to grow. I thought my engineering essay was really strong, so hopefully that works in my favor.</p>
<p>
I think this probably doesn’t tell the whole story. I think Yale is looking for students of diverse interests who will fill the college’s various majors. But I don’t think just stating that (for example) you want to be a classics major will help you–but winning some national Latin prizes and accomplishments of that nature might help you.</p>
<p>But in the hypothetical you raise, Hunt, I’d argue that it’s the fact the applicant has won Latin prizes at a national level, not the fact s/he has identified Classics as a potential major, that’s the selling point.</p>
<p>Does Yale really have a shortage of prospective classics majors?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.yale.edu/oir/open/pdf_public/W037_YC_Majors.pdf[/url]”>http://www.yale.edu/oir/open/pdf_public/W037_YC_Majors.pdf</a></p>
<p>^ So they have no real shortage of bio majors. I guess they trying to recruit the physics/engineering types with their YES-W program.</p>
<p>No, of course not. Biology is commonly listed under Yale’s most popular majors.</p>
<p>But most of those people are probably pre-med instead of research-minded types.</p>
<p>Don’t see anything peculiar about that, though I’m not sure it’s 100% true considering Yale has large numbers of pre-meds applying from humanities and social science disciplines.</p>
<p>Pre-med and research are hardly mutually exclusive. Many medical school professors doing research are MD and MD/Ph.D’s. I’m personally considering pre-med but mostly interested in medical research and pharmacology.</p>
<p>Me too! Planning to go pre-med</p>
<p>Btw, what about other Ivies? In terms of admission by major, I mean. If anyone knows…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’m fully aware. And I’m not saying it’s peculiar, rather that Yale might not be looking at prospective bio majors for their science recruitment because they already have quite a few, though some of these bio majors may not be as academia/research-focused (the types that Yale’s maybe trying to recruit?) as their physics or engineering peers. Just speculation. I don’t know all of the details.</p>
<p>^Oh, I certainly agree.</p>
<p>^^I don’t think any Ivy has admission by major. Some have admission by school (e.g. Cornell, Penn, and Columbia for engineering).</p>
<p>To provide some perspective, although it’s somewhat out of date, of the people I knew at Yale who then went to medical school, about half have had careers involving serious on-going research and academic positions. Almost all of the others have had their careers focused on serving under-served populations. The one exception I can think of is someone whose wife (another classmate) developed a very serious chronic (and ultimately disabling) illness while they were in their 30s, and that has pretty much dominated their lives since.</p>