Choosing Major vs. Writing About Academic Interests

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hey CC,</p>

<p>I have three main intellectual interests right now: Spanish, economics, and neuroscience.</p>

<p>Is it bad to write about how interested and inspired I am about one area of study for my Harvard supplement, then choose another area of study as my first major? Here's my situation:</p>

<p>I am very proficient at speaking Spanish, and there are many things I love about the language and the aspects that surround it. I have taken extremely high level Spanish classes for my age all of my 4 years at high school, and received straight As every year and a 5 on the AP. I also greatly enjoy economics. I am doing very well in the economics class that I am taking right now (Economics is usually only offered to seniors), and I spent all of last year studying Spanish business and economics in my Spanish class (The highest level offered at our school).</p>

<p>As of now, I feel that putting down Spanish as my first major and Economics as my second major (Or a combination of the two) would be a great combination. Idealistically, I would like to study economics and finance in college, with a minor in Spanish (Hopefully focusing on the economics of countries such as Brazil and Mexico).</p>

<p>You see, I also love neuroscience. I've spent the last two summers doing a neurosurgical internship, observing surgery in the operating room and studying neurological disorders. The experience has been amazing, and I have written some incredible essays about it.</p>

<p>The problem is, my grades in Biology can't really compete with my phenomenal grades in Spanish and Economics. They're still good (720 on Biology SATII) and a progression from B to A- during my last year of AP Biology (Which was an extremely hard class), but I'm still not sure what to do. Is it true that I would need very good credentials in science to have neuroscience as my first major?</p>

<p>In short, this is a matter of putting my potential major down as Spanish/Economics and writing my essays about neuroscience, or choosing my major as neuroscience, which could possibly make admission harder.</p>

<p>Any advice would be greatly appreciated!</p>

2

<p>In general, Harvard does not care what your intended major is and how your grades reflect that or not. The majority of high school seniors do not end up majoring in what they think they’ll major in, and Harvard knows that.</p>

<p>They do want to get a better idea of your interests and intellectual curiosity and so you should put down whatever is most true, and whatever you can write the best essay about (if you write your essays about academic interests at all, you don’t have to).</p>