Hey guys,
recently I have been thinking and since the majority of colleges are looking for the most diverse freshman class could they consider an applicant that usually make the cut because he/she intends to major in a rarefied field? since your intended major is not necessarily what you have to major in, can you use this to your advantage?
Not usually, no. Maybe if you have some accomplishment in the area that you bring to the table.
If your real major is a competitive one (such as engineering), taking a shortcut through another major could result in not being able to declare the real one.
Lots of people ask this question every year in an attempt to game the application process. Admissions folks know this. And they know that most kids change majors, especially if they are in a program where there is no application process to do so.
That doesn’t mean your intended major has no bearing at all - if your academic record and ECs scream ‘future Classics major’ and your recs concur, it could make a difference. But just saying ‘hey, I’m going to study a subject where you have a lot of tenured faculty but not too many students majoring’ isn’t by itself credible.
first of all i appreciate all the replies. my problem is that i intend to major in computer science at one of the top school and according to recent statistics the computer science major at harvard had the highest applicants. even though i want to major in computer science, most of my ECs are all centered around the space sciences so i was thinking of applying as a astrophysics major and then switch to computer science or another field. thoughts?
I suspect that at Harvard (or any school of that reputation) you would gain little in an attempt to get into a top school by attempting a back door. You would likely be competing with students who really wanted to study astrophysics. I doubt Harvard will have a shortage of such applicants.
I don’t mean to hijack this thread but I didn’t want to make another discussion just like this one so my apologies…
I intend on staying in a pre med track and taking the required courses for admission into med school, however, even though many of my EC’s are related to science/health/medicine, would admissions officers assume my application or me as an individual to be “taking a backdoor” or unfocused if I listed my intended major as Economics? I have a good interest in Econ and I’ve taken 3 of the 4 possible econ courses (didn’t take Micro because it was only a semester course and didn’t fit into my schedule) at my school including HL (I’m in the IB diploma program) this coming year, and I want to have a backup degree I can do something with should I not get accepted into med school and Econ would be a good choice for me, not doing it as a backdoor way to gain admission.
@Lift35 Others please correct me if I’m wrong. There is no pre-med major. You major in anything you wish and get pre med advising to be sure you have taken the appropriate prerequisite courses for medical schools. It is my understanding that getting into med school is primarily about 1. Grades 2. MCAT scores and 3. Shadowing and interest shown in the field. I think where you get your undergraduate degree is of little consequence so in my opinion you’d be better off being the bigger academic fish in whatever pond you decide to inhabit.
Yes @Ivvcsf, you are correct in that there is no pre-med major, just a list of required classes needed to apply to Medical School.
@lvvcsf I know that there is no pre med major. What I’m asking is if college admissions officers, not med school admissions, will care if I list Econ as my intended major at their university when my EC’s show a science/medical health focus and passion; I’m applying to colleges this year. I don’t want them to think I’m just choosing a random major so that I have a better chance of getting into their institution. (Not talking about med school, just college admissions) I apologize for not being clearer 
Your situation is different from the OPs because you aren’t trying to backdoor into a specific major. Since there is no specific path for your goals Econ is as good as anything else, though you might have harder gen eds ie. chemistry, biology, etc. than most Econ majors. You might contact a university you are interested in and ask the admissions office if the medical emphasis in your ECs would affect admission as an Econ major. You might also “Ask the Dean”.
First, if the school admits you directly into a specific major/program, then it does. Second, if your EC/passion/courses taken go in inline very well with your intended major, it may help too as it indicates a higher chance of success in college even if they don’t admit you directly into a major.
OP,
I think you should apply to the major that best fits your interests and ECs in high school. For schools like Harvard, et al, my understanding is that you’re not really applying to a major and that many students (I think the quote at Princeton or Penn was 75%) change their majors. You might think you want CS because it’s the “in” thing, but in fact, given your background in high school, you may end up preferring space science, or at least a combo of the two in some way.
I believe my son got into Penn because he chose to apply to a major that better reflected his strengths than another major that he was considering where he would be competing against students who were much stronger in that area. My son may switch to the other major…but he might not. I don’t consider it “gaming the system” at all.
Most state schools admit by major. Majors such as engineering and computer science are much more competitive at schools like the UC’s, UIUC, U Mich, UT Austin, Purdue etc. than other majors such as History and Religion.
I would think that an English major would have a very slight edge over a Comp Sci major at schools like Stanford as so many kids choose to major in Comp Sci that they have to find a way to admit other majors to fill their classrooms.
BUT, don’t try to game the system. Stanford will see immediately that you are trying to get in by applying to a non-competitive major and they will reject you. To apply as an English major or something to those top schools, you better be crazy good at English (novels, writing awards etc.) to be considered for a spot.
So yes, if you demonstrate genuine interest in Religion for example, apply for Religion and then transfer once you get in, but for highly selective schools, they can easily see if you are really passionate about religion or are just trying to go through a loophole. (Religion is just an example of a rare major)
Also OP, at many state schools, if you apply for a random major, it is very difficult to transfer to something more ‘mainstream’ such as engineering or comp sci. (At the UC’s, it is near impossible to transfer from something like Religion to Mechanical Engineering)