<p>I noticed that many universities ask you to submit the major that you wish to do. Do people who put down less common majors have a better chance of acceptance, or does this not factor at all into the admissions process?</p>
<p>Just wondering, because I don't want choosing something like Biological Sciences (which is quite common) to hurt my app.</p>
<p>It will depend largely on the school. many universities admit you directly to the school of your chosen major, so your major is a real concern as they are managing yield within departments. If that is the case, then you would need to research how swtiching majors (especially outside the school) would affect you. Some schools make it very difficult to swtich into programs to combat a person listing agriculture then switching to biochem, for instance. </p>
<p>If the school doesn’t require you do apply directly to the school, why not put undecided?</p>
<p>It very much depends on the school. At schools where intended major or division (e.g. College of Engineering versus College of Letters and Science) makes a difference in admissions selectivity, changing major or division into the more difficult to get into major or division often requires applying to do so with a high college GPA in the target major’s prerequisite courses.</p>
<p>Thanks! Does anyone know how this works for Ivies, specifically HYPS?</p>
<p>^^bump, read above^^</p>
<p>I mark down the major that I…want to major in (Nursing) and nothing else.</p>
<p>If I don’t get nursing, tough cookies, off to the next school.</p>
<p>I would say do your research for each individual school - if you can find out the policies/how tough it is to switch majors or to switch into a certain major, absolutely do that. Common sense also goes a long way - think about how realistic it is to switch your major to nursing or engineering or something like that. So better to be safe than sorry and mark what you think you want to do, even if you’re not 100% certain.</p>
<p>Yeah I think I’ll just put down what I want to do and be done with it.</p>
<p>There is no “S” in the Ivy League. If you mean Stanford, that is a Pac-12 school.</p>
<p>Check each school’s web site on this subject. If you are still not sure, ask the admissions department directly whether freshmen need to apply to a specific major or division, and whether it is difficult to change major or division later. (Of the Ivy League, it appears that Columbia, Cornell, and Pennsylvania do distinguish by division and/or major; not sure about the others.)</p>
<p>Sorry, I meant Top-10 not Ivies. Thanks for the advice!</p>
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<p>Only if they have the academic and EC chops to back it up. For instance, just marking that you intend to study Classics without anything to go along with it isn’t going to help. But if you’re a top applicant with the accompanying coursework, EC, LORs, etc. to back up your choice, it can help you. My D1s fr roommate was courted by UMichigan, UChicago, Brown, Yale and others because she had outstanding credential in Classics.</p>
<p>“Do people who put down less common majors have a better chance of acceptance, or does this not factor at all into the admissions process?”</p>
<p>Also considering you’re probably the 300th person to ask this question on CC, I think any notion that it’s a “good” strategy is blown…</p>
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<p>Top 10 is just about as relevant as a sports conference.</p>
<p>Which Top 10? Do you know how the survey was conducted, what factors were used to come up with those schools?</p>
<p>Wouldn’t it make sense to do some research and figure out which schools best suit your academic, social and personal needs rather than using someone else’s concept of prestige, whether it’s based on athletics or other factors that may have no significance to you whatsoever?</p>
<p>@Entomom, Don’t worry–I’m not basing where I apply to only on prestige, I just was curious. I will be applying to a wide range and not just big names. My dream college is actually McGill. 
Thanks for your advice about ECs!</p>
<p>@T26E4, sorry I’ll do a search next time 
didn’t mean to put up another pointless thread.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to criticize your posting. I apologize. I’m just pointing out the fact that you’re not the first to think of this as an “in”. And the colleges know this too.</p>
<p>Put down what you genuinely want to study. If undecided, say that.</p>