<p>Does applying to a school as a certain, uncommon major help a student? My college counselor said I should apply as a classics major since I took Latin over the summer. However, I have no extracurriculars dealing with classics, so I was thinking I'd said I want to be a linguistics major (I have a lot of foreign language-related activities), although that isn't really what I want to do (I want to go into business... I have some business-related activities as well). Which, if any, do you think would give me an advantage getting in?</p>
<p>I don't think applying to an uncommon major has that much of an effect on your admissions because colleges know that the majority of students change their major atleast once. Unless you have to apply to a different school with in the college for each major it makes little difference what major you list on your application. I would go with what interests you most. (since you have foreign language related activities and business related activities maybe you could do international business or something like that)</p>
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<p>I completely agree with Pyar.
Especially in your particular situation, as classics and lingistics, while not exactly biology and psychology in terms of popularity, are not extremely uncommon majors, nor are they ones that you could only find at a few schools, and would thus NEED to attend said school in order to follow your passion. (Though linguistics is <em>somewhat</em> limited...I know, as I am a potential major, and I looked at whether it was offered in deciding where to apply...but that's largely irrelevant, I just didn't want anyone saying "so-and-so school doesn't have linguistics!)
(Oh, and plus, linguistics is <em>not</em> the study of foreign languages. While knowing multiple languages is often advisable and useful, it is not the definition of a linguist. Perhaps you know this already, but the phrasing of your statements made this ambiguous.)</p>
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<p>This has been posted many, many times (and recently too).</p>
<p>No, it doesn't have much of an effect. Your major might change. Many students try to game the system by putting uncommon majors in the hopes of improving their chances. Colleges are more likely to take seriously what you put down if your ECs and such support it. Linguistics is an uncommon major (and I hope you know it doesn't have much to do with learning foreign language), but it won't help a whole lot. Especially since your interests are elsewhere anyway.</p>
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<p>I imagine it would look better to put down the major in which you're really interested (esp if your ECs and classes reflect it!) than something "rare." Just be genuine...it's worked for a lot of people I know!</p>
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<p>personally, i think it could possibly help. I know two people who swear by getting into cornell by picking some obscure majors, the were both pretty borderline for cornell, and who knows mabe their majors bumped them over the edge. I don't have any proof, but i say if you really want to get into this school, then do whatever you think will help. just make sure it would make sense, like don't put german as your major if you've never even taken german. Also check into how difficult it is to change to your major. In some cases, switching into your desired major may be more competitve than it is when applying. (for example: at University of the sciences in Philadelphia they have a competitve pharmacy major, and you can't just sign up as a chemistry major and then transfer your next year into pharmacy. they only allow a few transfers per year.)</p>