I apologize if this topic’s been discussed, but I’ve heard from friends that since some schools are selective/lenient depending on the major you pick, is it possible to initially apply with a major that is easily accepted to that college/uni, get accepted, and then switch to your actual major once enrolled? Not sure if that made sense, but let’s say my intended major is bio, but the Uni that I’m applying to is selective in that major. However, if they easily would accept a humanities major, could I apply as a humanities major and then switch to bio as soon as I’m accepted?
It’s just some things my friends have discussed, and I was curious about it.
It depends on the school and the major, but typically the most desirable and selective departments are also the hardest to transfer into (surprise, surprise). @Kuumamon
If the University selects by major, then they also have barriers to switching later on (cal poly slo, uwash Seattle for instance.)
You can do that if you apply to a LAC or a college that doesn’t admit by major, since college’s there expect students to change their minds about their majors.
The best advice I would give is to apply to the major you are seeking and to apply early (I’m not talking early decision). Often schools will stop admission to specific selective colleges within their university once they deem them full. I would suggest if you want to study a subject and you have the choice of going to a preferred school or being enrolled in a preferred major you will want to decide which is more important to you. Majors such as engineering, computer science etc. tend to be very sequential and preference for those courses goes to students in those majors. Attempting to back door into them, even if you are successful, would mean extra time in school. It is usually easier to transfer to a non stem major than to a stem major.
This is entirely dependent on the college. Where I went you did not apply with a major and were not allowed to choose a major until end of fist year, and not required until end of second year.
If frosh admission selectivity varies by intended major, it is likely that changing into the more selective major after enrolling requires a high college GPA or a competitive admission process.
The reason some majors may be more selective is that they are enrolled to the full capacity that the departments can teach. This capacity limitation will apply to both frosh applicants and enrolled students seeking to change into the major.
If I had a nickle for every time someone brought this up…
As others have mentioned, schools that admit by major almost always have internal barriers to prevent students from transferring into the more competitive programs. More often than not it is harder to transfer into these programs than it is to earn admission as an incoming freshman because the transfer approval depends not only on your academic record (which generally must be significantly above average) but also on the amount of open space in the department.
So to answer your specific question, theoretically applying as an Humanities major and switching to bio later is possible. However the transfer is much harder than it sounds and you run the risk of delaying graduation because you couldn’t transfer quickly enough.
In addition to the many good points above, many schools offer advanced classes for freshman majors that move at a faster pace than the standard into classes. For example, they might have a BIO 121, BIO 122 sequence open only to declared freshman Bio majors that covers in two semesters the same material that would take 3 semesters if you took BIO 101, 102, 201. So even if your major is not strictly sequential, spending your freshman year in a different major could cost you time and progress within your intended major, leaving you with less time for electives, a minor, or more specialized upper division classes in your major.
Moreover, many schools already struggle to accommodate the internal transfer requests from students who matriculate genuinely undecided and undeclared, or who choose a major and later find that it is not a good fit. If you knowingly declare a different major than the one you intend, you are doing a disservice to the school and to your peers who may be displaced by your lack of transparency.
Whenever this question comes up, I imagine that the real question being asked is “What if my choice of major is the one and only thing that leads to a rejection from my dream school?” If you are feeling that fear, take some time to acknowledge it. Remind yourself that such fears are normal, and give yourself some self-compassion for feeling as you do.
Just don’t let fear make your decisions for you.
And consider the possibility that your ultimate dream school is the one that wants you just as you are.
Get a good book on college admissions such as “Admission Matters.” Stop talking to your friends about admissions, or at least paying any attention to what they say. How many of these myths do you recognize from their advice? [ul][]Colleges like well rounded kids so its important to take part in lots of different clubs, play a sport, etc []Colleges like to see volunteer work []Great ECs make up for grades []Keeping in touch with an adcom at colleges where you are applying shows interest helps your app. Come up with questions to email []Volunteering overseas is a great way to stand out []All colleges track visits to campus []Colleges “understand” if you spend so much time on your sport or other EC that your grades are affected. Football, for example, takes a lot of time so be sure to point this out in an essay[]If you have a bad grade in a class or two be sure to explain why in one of your essays, especially if it is not your fault because the teacher was lousy or unfair []You should contact a prof in a major you are thinking about with some questions, and they will help you with admissions because they like to see motivated students []At all colleges its easier to get in with a less popular major []med school admit rate is a guide to how good the pre-med track is []If you get a letter of rec from an alumni it will really help. See if your parents or relatives know anyone who graduated from the school []Rankings tell how good colleges are []The IVY (capitals are important here) colleges are the best []Spend a lot of time agonizing over which schools with sub-10% admit rates to apply to. Rankings, especially, matter here. []Your safety is State so don’t bother looking to much into it or considering alternatives.[*]Apply to the colleges you love, talk to your folks about money once you get those admit letters[/ul]And so many more…
A lot of bio classes are blocked for majors outside of the department. You’d essentially be handicapping yourself from the get-go, and I don’t think it’s necessarily ethical to get in through the “easy” department just so you can transfer later. I’d say to disregard what your friends say and stick to the major path you intended.
For all the reasons listed above, don’t apply as a humanities major and expect to transfer to bio. If nothing else, the university is going to look at your HS transcript and see that you’ve taken multiple advanced bio and chem courses while having only the bare requirements for humanities.
But here is something you can consider: many schools offer many flavors of biology/science majors. Some are more competitive than others. You could possibly increase your odds by a percentage point or two by noticing that neurobiology had a different acceptance rate than say cell and developmental biology and apply accordingly. You’d need to be prepared to stick with whatever major accepts you but the overlap of available courses within a field can be significant with no difference for career and grad school placement.
Thank you everyone for your detailed responses! None of my family members have gone to school in the US so a lot of the information that’s getting fed to me are from my friends’ stories and online, so sometimes I have trouble determining if things are valid or not. My major is far from being declared, so I was just curious. Again thank you all!!
@mikemac Your bullets helped a lot, thank you! I don’t have any family that have gone to school in the US so end up hearing my friends discuss what their family members have done for college. I did have my doubts though, so I’m glad I put up this thread. My friend’s brother is in UCI at the moment, so maybe I can ask him for a rec letter. And I’ll be sure to discuss the C i got in Honors pre-calc in my essay ahah
Only your guidance counselor should discuss that C (you’d provide him/her with the explanation on your ’ college brag sheet’. If you don’t know of what that is, look it up.)
Except for Dartmouth, which wants a peer recommendation, the letters of recommendation should be written by teachers in core subjects, subjects that pertain to your future major, or teachers with whom you really got along, plus employers, rabbi/priest/pastor/immam/spiritual leader.
