<p>@Jevano Where are you applying from and what major? I’m applying from Engineering, but I’m only a freshman at my university and have done math/physics/gen ed courses. I don’t think my switch is very extreme…</p>
<p>I am applying for The University of the West Indies, Mona. I am a Finance and Economics major. I am applying as a sophomore. btw you are write don’t its much of a switch, but did you explain why you want to change major? </p>
<p>Not really. I applied for different majors (somewhat related) for each school so I couldn’t really say why I want to switch from engineering to (blank). </p>
<p>ok so what other schools did you apply to? </p>
<p>@Jevano I don’t think it’s problematic at all to intend to switch your major after transferring to a different school. You just have to know exactly what you plan on doing.</p>
<p>When Dartmouth writes “hit the ground running” I believe they mean an applicant that knows what they want out of Dartmouth, and will quickly and successfully take the necessary initiative as an incoming transfer. The applicant knows what they want, why Dartmouth is the best fit for them, and will immediately plug into academic and social opportunities at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Now, I hate to dismiss undecided students, but I feel like the admissions office wants to be sure that students will take full advantage of what’s offered to them, which is harder to argue if you don’t know how you want to spend your three remaining years. Incoming sophomores will be required to declare a major, and incoming juniors should be pretty well decided. When the student is a freshman, they can spend their first year exploring the different majors offered to them.</p>
<p>For transfers, it’s a bit different. I’m a Government major applying for the French program at Dartmouth. I have the credentials and experience to back up my interest, and I know exactly what I want to do when I set foot on the Big Green. Regardless of the decision, I feel it’s important for applicants to show in their applications that they can take initiative, even if they do change their major.</p>
<p>Just my $0.02.</p>
<p>@KingofSweden Point taken. But I still believe that a part of hitting the ground running especially if you are transferring as a sophomore or a junior is having completed prior academic work that has some bearing on the major you wish to pursue at Dartmouth. I might be wrong though. As a fresher at a 4-year American university, are the courses you take related to your major ? In Jamaica the university system is a replica of the British system so you start core course from first year.</p>
<p>At most American universities, students aren’t required to declare a major until their sophomore year, like mine. Yale, for instance, has a “shopping period” where students are free to choose courses that interest them to discover a possible major of study. While it’s good to know what you want to do going into college, it isn’t exactly required. And changing your major is quite common; over 50% of college students change their major at least once.</p>
<p>Ok yea so that’s the difference you Americans get to play around for a year first :). So it won’t matter what your major is when transferring as a sophomore </p>
<p>I would have to argue that for science majors it does carry importance… I can understand someone changing from Psych to English during their sophomore year but not English to Chemistry.</p>
<p>Is it advisable to email an admissions officer solely to express your interest, or is that a taboo? </p>
<p>@letters95 That is a very valid argument. Can’t speak for any hard sciences, which I’m sure hold an entirely different set of requirements.</p>
<p>I would refrain from emailing an admissions officer. Dartmouth makes it clear on their website it would do no good:</p>
<p>Does Dartmouth show preference in the admissions process for students who have demonstrated interest by visiting, calling and emailing?</p>
<p>No, the Admissions Committee does not consider demonstrated interest in our review of an application.</p>
<p>Best of luck as decisions draw near!</p>
<p>@Kingofsweden @Jevano I guess what I meant to ask earlier was whether my intended major played a role in the chances of me getting accepted. For example universities like northwestern would check how many spaces they have available in ther economics program since I applied for economics. However, uchicago doesn’t care about major, they admit people based on the quality of the candidate overall. It wouldn’t matter if everyone who gets admitted to uchicago is an economics major as long as they were the best overall candidates in the pool. So I’m wondering whether Dartmouth is more like northwestern or uchicago in this case? And I applied to brown, cornell, columbia, wharton, duke, georgetown, northwestern, uchicago, and wash u(rejected surprisingly). </p>
<p>@cali2387 I read every piece of info I could get my hands on about transferring to Dartmouth, never saw anything that answered your question. If Dartmouth is like Northwestern in that regard, then we are at an disadvantage as economics is very popular at Dartmouth–more students do it than any other course. </p>
<p>@Jenavo I wanted to play it safe, that’s why my first and second choices are slightly less popular majors </p>
<p>Another example of a university like uchicago is brown (I believe) because of their open curriculum I don’t think it matters what you say you want to major in. </p>
<p>I am interested to know, since you applied to so many school how did you structure your writing supplement so it appeal to the admissions board at each school. One would think that you had to highlight what was different and better at the school you are applying, but you can’t do that seeing that you applied to more than one school.</p>
<p>I’ve only e-mailed the admissions committee 8,362 times in the past twenty-four hours. I think I’m still below the threshold for being considered “annoying,” but we will see. Anyone think we’ll get a release on April 30?</p>
<p>@Discodruid1100 naaa you are officially annoying now…they have probably marked your email address, so all the emails you send so straight to spam :). And no I don’t think they will be releasing anything on April 1. The earliest date they gave is May 1 and its only a day later so you won’t die. </p>
<p>Are any of you URMs? I am one and am just wondering how y’all feel about the recent protests on campus. I personally don’t think the protests reflect Dartmouth at all, and I see no issue with their present diversity on campus. </p>
<p>can you expound on your acronym please, I am not American so I am still learning…URM?</p>