<p>my mom says I can major with like music at a really good school like stanford and since theyre music program sucks I get in, then switch to another major like biology/medicine. but there has to be some catch or you cant do this?</p>
<p>The school’s website or an admission officer’s response will paint this picture for you. Some schools like Northwestern have a different admissions process for Music majors, while others simply have Music as another major in their college of arts and sciences. If it is the latter, I don’t think you should have any problem switiching. One more thing, remember that pre-med isn’t a major so if you are indeed passionate about muisc, you can still be a pre-med.</p>
<p>For Stanford there won’t be any advantage to saying you’re majoring in music. If you are amazing in music and send in a sample of course that would help your admissions chances, but that wouldhelp no matter what you said your major woul dbe.</p>
<p>Sure you can always switch majors from what you put down on your application, you don’t usually declare your major until jr year anyway. Exceptions are where the school within the college you’re applying to also has to accept you (eg. Engineering, sometimes Architecture, etc.).</p>
<p>HOWEVER, as far as increasing your chances of admissions by applying in a weak major, your mother is wrong. Since students often change majors, what you put down on your application matters very little in all but a very few cases.</p>
<p>People ask some variation of this question every year. I kinda wish they’d stop asking that question on the application, but it likely makes it easier for them to remember applicants as they’re reading so many apps.</p>
<p>p.s. There is no such thing as a major in Medicine; you take pre-med coursework while majoring in anything, science or non-science. See the Pre-Med Topics subforum for more information.</p>
<p>so basically I can but it wont help?
my piano teacher said majoring in music requires you to go audition when applying to college. that means your music skill WILL help</p>
<p>So basically are you saying: Colleges dont really care what you put down as your major theyre gonna judge you all the same when choosing. But some majors might improve your chances if you’re really good at it.</p>
<p>“So basically are you saying: Colleges dont really care what you put down as your major theyre gonna judge you all the same when choosing. But some majors might improve your chances if you’re really good at it.”</p>
<p>Sort of. I think that regardless of your major, your music skills would give you a boost. If you put down “Russian literature major,” your skills would matter almost just as much as you putting music as your major.</p>
<p>But you have to be just as qualified in your stats…you’d have to be Mozart reincarnated to get into Berklee with a 2.9 gpa.</p>
<p>ok… so i should do it? apply with music major because im real good at piano then switch to premed when i get accepted?</p>
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<p>Again, there is no such thing as a pre-med major. Pre-med is a set of courses that you need to complete to apply to med school and you can do so within ANY major. For instance, my D is an English major and she is also completing her pre-med requirements. </p>
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<p>This is true in relatively few cases, and music could be one of them. However, recognize that this doesn’t mean just being “realy good”, but exceptional.</p>
<p>As far as I know admission rates aren’t different for different majors at Stanford. That’s the case at most colleges. The major you select on the application sheet is more for informational purposes than anything else. Colleges like to track how many people change their original intentions.</p>
<p>Some schools require you to audition for a music major, others do not.</p>
<p>Just check whatever you think you’re going to major in. If you’re not sure, don’t put anything. And pre-med is, as was mentioned, not a major.</p>
<p>wat about Biology or Medicine? arent those majors and the same thing as premed?</p>
<p>Medicine is not a major.</p>
<p>Biology is a major, but it is certainly not the same thing as “pre-med.” Biology is the study of living things, and includes human anatomy as well as animal anatomy, botany, biochemistry, microbiology, etc. etc. You don’t have to major in biology to be pre-med and you don’t have to be pre-med to major in biology.</p>
<p>Pre-medical studies (which is what pre-med is short for) are a sequence of classes that prepare you for taking the MCAT and entering medical school. They differ slightly at every school, but have to include:</p>
<p>*One year of college English
*One year of college math, including a semester of calculus
*One year of physics
*One year of general chemistry
*One year of organic chemistry
*One year of biology</p>
<p>There is some overlap between a pre-medical studies program and a major in biology, but there is just as much overlap with English, mathematics, and physics majors, and much more overlap in that program with chemistry.</p>
<p>^^^Thanks juillet, well done.</p>
<p>cool thanks</p>
<p>HEY what a second!
Isnt there different departments of a college (Art, History, etc.) and each have a number of teachers teaching that depart. And isnt Harvard’s Art Department much worse than its say Engineering department? So Major HAS TO matter because if Harvard accepts all Biology majors then the Art teachers wont have anyone to teach!</p>
<p>First, students don’t JUST take courses in their major. They need to take distributional requirement and some people are actually interested in more disciplines than just their major field.</p>
<p>Second, in most cases, students don’t even have to declare a major until their jr year.</p>
<p>Third, while colleges have tenured faculty that are permanent, they also can hire temporary Instructors to teach classes when needed.</p>
<p>Fourth, colleges are no different from any other business where demand for certain parts of their inventory are more or less in demand from one year to the other, but there is never the case where one department is not needed at all. And if through time there is attrition in the need of a department, then that would come up in the long term planning of the university.</p>
<p>There are other reasons why your theory is incorrect, but I’m pretty worn out trying to convince you, so I’ll let it go at that. If you still insist that major is a huge factor in college admissions, go for it!</p>
<p>Entomom is giving you a lot of sound advice, but for a musician it seems that you are tone deaf to what she is saying to you.</p>
<p>However, what you need to do is look at each of the schools on your application list indvidually, and check out the application procedure for each of them. Some schools you apply to individual program /majors/schools within the university, some schools you just apply to the school as a whole. </p>
<p>For some schools/majors/programs, there are special application hoops you need to jump through, such as auditions/interviews etc. Are you as supreme a musician as you claim? Stanford, for example, may not be as reknowned for its music program as Julliard or Oberlin, but I can assure you its musicians are not weak. You also need to be aware of what musicians a school might be needing this year…how many pianos or violins or oboes do they need this year?</p>
<p>Finally, be aware that those universities that do require applications to
individual schools/majors/programs have chosen to set themselves up that way for a reason and it is not always as simple as you would like to transfer into the program of your choice later. One reason is that you may not be able to get all of the courses you want or need because obviously the students in that program will have priority to register for those classes;and, of course, you will be placed in the classes for the major to which you applied and were accepted. Another thing is that the program you desire may limit transfers in to the major or program because it can accomodate only X number of students in its labs,etc. or even just because the school has chosen to limit the number of students in that major.</p>
<p>These are things you will need to check carefully at the colleges you are considering. Scheming generally tends to backfire…it would be better if you just crafted an excellent honest application reflecting who you are, what you have acheived, and what specific talents you would bring to benefit the campus if they admit you. Something along the lines of, “I really want to be a biology major but I want to participate in the musical organizations on campus and work behind the scenes on theatrical productions” would be very nice.</p>
<p>alright thanks i understand now. </p>
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However are you confirming what I said here with majors being important. Because although you may not be able to transfer immediately, the point is there are a certain number of labs/band rooms that must be filled up or prevented from overfilling</p>
<p>Honestly, I think that declared majors will make an impact, not a make-or-break, but a slight impact nonetheless. Adcoms try to mold their incoming freshman class with certain numbers of students in the arts, theaters, etc. If you can convince them that you will sincerely participate and contribute to their arts program (even if you don’t really want to), it may help your chances a little. For example, there’s a girl who got into Columbia through their engineering school (female engineers are rare). However, I doubt that that’s what pushed her through (she obviously had to have been qualified), but you just can’t shake off the feeling that applying as a female engineer didn’t boost her chances any.</p>
<p>Of course they know many students switch majors, hence the little weight given to the declared majors. However, I’ll bet the ones they truly believe will participate in their arts program will have a small leg up.</p>
<p>cool i understand that</p>
<p>This isn’t true everywhere. Cornell requires a separate application process to change into a more competetive school (according to the Princeton Review).</p>