<p>anyone know?</p>
<p>Probably, considering that more men major in it than women. I think it mainly depends on the school though and its overall proportion of male to female.</p>
<p>That's something I'd like to know too...any idea which specific colleges it would give girls an advantage at? Like Stevens or RPI would it help?</p>
<p>My guidance counselor thinks it works to my advantage sopmewhat.</p>
<p>Girls that apply to technical colleges (Think RIT, RPI, pratically any engineering college beside maybe MIT/CalTech/Olin) are at an advantage because adcoms want a more balanced class.</p>
<p>On the other hand, guys that apply to LACs (think my current school of Geneseo) are at an advantage because they need it to balance in the other direction.</p>
<p>MIT and Olin do try to give preference to women, but it wont help you much at Caltech.</p>
<p>What about schools like Stanford, Princeton, Yale?</p>
<p>Optimization - I dont really know, but I am going to guess it wont make much of a difference. They really dont put a lot of emphasis on choosing a major, and in generally, schools like that do not have a gender inbalance.</p>
<p>OTOH, for a girl to have done well in math/sceince/technical areas during the high school years speaks well for her.</p>
<p>I'm looking forward to more feedback on this as well. I'm hoping that choosing to major in physics is helpful, considering that the majority is male in that field... </p>
<p>However, do you need much background to choose this as a major? I've only taken classes in physics...is this too weak of a background?</p>
<p>Response to question about engineering at Princeton:</p>
<p>It is a fantastic program, and is very proactive about balancing the class with males and females. On a tour last March, however, our tour guide said that there was a lot of concern in admissions about people, women in particular, who were claiming to plan to major in engineering, but were using this as a tip to get into Princeton, and then "changing majors" soon after admission. Expect to talk about your passion for engineering in the required essay for applicants to Princeton who check the engineering major box, and to face some skepticism about your choice if you don't have a strong history of involvement in math, science and exploring engineering:</p>
<p>Engineering Essay
If you are interested in pursuing a B.S.E. (Bachelor of Science in Engineering) degree, please write an essay describing why you are interested in studying engineering, any experiences in or exposure to engineering you have had, and how you think the programs in engineering offered at Princeton suit your particular interests.</p>
<p>We're talking about physics here...not engineering.... That's another spectrum of the scientific field...</p>
<p>Big East 55 brought up engineering. My point is that, at least at Princeton, young women were thought to be using a declaration of a specific major to enhance their chances of admission. I have no idea if this is going on in other majors, like physics, at other highly selective universities. Just making an observation based on a conversation last spring at P.</p>
<p>back to what aeolia6 said, is only taking physics classes like AP and honors physics enough to justify why you want to major in physics?</p>
<p>OP, Do you mean an advantage in admissions, an advantage in the classroom, an advantage in the workplace? I was a physics major back when Newton only had two laws. Ok, the late 1970's. I would say it WAS an advantage in admissions because it was the dawn of affirmative action for women and schools suddenly seemed to want more women represented in the classroom. </p>
<p>Once I got to the classroom, however, I would say my experience was mixed. My fellow students, mostly male, were great. Very collegial, supportive, and so on. I had a few professors who just didn't get it, and gave me the class roster to take roll, expected me to collect papers, and do other clerical work in the classroom, aparently guessing that XX people have extra talents in this area. I was very resentful of this attitude, and transferred out of classes where I detected descriminition. Other professors were fantastic and gave me every opportunity to excel.</p>
<p>When I was recruited for my first job, things were equal. I was treated well by the company I went to work for. Women were promoted at the same rate as men. </p>
<p>I can't say what the climate for women is right now, especially concerning college admissions, but my guess would be academia and the workplace are gender neutral in the selection process, and look for demonstrated aptitude and interest. You don't have to have discovered some new law of nature before the age of 17 to succeed in physics. </p>
<p>Some schools that only offer science and math majors struggle to maintain a balance between numbers of men and women, and so may recruit women more agressively. My D gets lots of mail from Caltech, MIT, and so on, because she has strong math/science scores, and might fit/survive?, academically, in those places. It doesn't really seem that different than it was 30 years ago...</p>
<p>Not sure what your real question is, but best of luck to you. Physics offers many amazing areas to explore.</p>
<p>if you took advanced physics classes, does that solidify your reason for wanting to major in physics? in my school, very few people take AP physics</p>
<p>I would say yes. Of course, you can use an essay to write about your interest in physics, and you could ask your physics teacher to write a letter of rec for you. </p>
<p>I've heard many colleges don't worry much about what you state as your major, because they know you are likely to change your mind. However, if you are torn between majoring in, say, classics or physics, and you are applying to a college that doesn't offer a classics major, it might be in your best interest to go undeclared, and make sure you end up at a school that offers you many choices of major.</p>
<p>You seem really concered about this question. Why does it matter so much what you state as your major, or even that you have one right now? Are you in love with physics or see a future career for yourself in that area of study? Physics is very broad, and it's likely that your focus will shift to a single area after the first year or two, but you won't know what that is until you've taken some physics classes. It's OK not to know what area you like best. You haven't even studied the second half of the basic topics of physics yet!</p>
<p>i have to choose a major/area of study for the university that im applying to</p>
<p>Do you have reason to think the university weighs your major choice heavily in their admissions decision?</p>
<p>yes, the university accepts people into certain schools, not as a whole, so major does count.</p>
<p>plus everything counts when it comes to admissions!</p>
<p>Here's my question, are you serious about majoring in Physics? </p>
<p>If yes. Go ahead, declare.</p>
<p>If not. Don't. Universities that require you to apply to certain schools will generally have stricter rules about switching once you're at that University. Please choose a major/school that you're interested in. Disregard any supposed benefit or hindrance to your admissions chances.</p>
<p>As for whether or not declaring physics will help in admissions if you're female. It depends. The adcomm will scrutinize your application to make sure you have the necessary background (i.e., AP Physics, high score on the SAT II Physics test, extracurricular interests in the sciences, etc.) And if you have the background, you probably become very desirable in the eyes of that adcomm. </p>
<p>A note on Princeton. Princeton admissions officers have made it clear that in the field of engineering (we're not even talking physics majors yet!), they'll look for a background in physics. Too many students in the past went to Princeton thinking they'd be majoring in some engineering field and then switched out because they couldn't handle freshman physics.</p>