<p>I'm interested in transferring to Middlebury because they have a fabulous environmental studies program. However, that also means they already have a lot of majors for that program. Would my chances be improved if in my app I focus on my interests which are not already popular with Midd kids? Or would leadership experience in environmental studies still mean something to them?</p>
<p>um, if you are applying to an impacted major, and I don't think that environmental studies is an impaceted major (especially anything that has studies attached to it). For example, applying as an engineering major to Cal Berkleley is an impacted major and applying to Johns Hopkin's biomedical engineering program is an impacted major and are all very hard to get into. Anything in the liberal arts categories, I don't think make such a big difference. The only liberal arts discipline I would stay away from when applying is Econ, as it is the most popular one, and that could hurt?, i really don't know.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>damn.</p>
<p>does applying as econ really hurt chances that much?</p>
<p>depends on where you apply, if the school has a business school, grade requirments for econ are usually less, but if the school only has econ it is usually impacted and difficult (obviously difficulty will depend on college, should be self explaining)</p>
<p>I don't understand what's meant by an "impacted major." do we HAVE to go with the proposed majors we write down on the application?</p>
<p>impacted means it is a popular major, limited space and is more competitive to enter</p>
<p>is a government major an impacted major at harvard and georgetown?</p>
<p>
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is a government major an impacted major at harvard and georgetown?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I do not think 'impacted majors' exist at Harvard or Georgetown. </p>
<p>To be sure, the college always receives significantly more applicants than the SFS, but the SFS typically has a lower acceptance rate.</p>
<p>Edit: When so few applicants at Harvard are accepted, one could argue that the entire university is impacted.</p>
<p>So no, majoring in Sanskrit studies does not increae your chances of acceptance, and putting that on the application will make you look impertinent if you do not have the correct prerequisites in place viz. a prior interest in Sanskrit, prior research, and so forth.</p>
<p>At top schools, I've never heard of the major making a difference. It would matter, however, if the college has different departments, like Columbia does between SEAS and the College, and Cornell between its many schools.</p>
<p>I think everyone totally misinterpreted the question. Liberal arts schools like to see good students who have cool extracurriculars. Mine happen to be environmentally related for the most part, and Middlebury and Bowdoin already have a lot of environmental activity on their campus. So I was wondering if that would make my extracurriculars less attractive to those schools.</p>
<p>Emphasize the ones that mean the most to you. You won't go wrong.</p>
<p>i was gonna put down ECON as a second choice at Chicago, but then thought otherwise, b/c its ranked #1 in the country, so i am putting something else, poli sci is my number one choice</p>