Son trying hard to gain admission to one of several elite colleges (certain ivies/rice for example). He is strong in STEM, but honestly, at this point (rising senior) is considering many majors, from biology, to statistics, to applied math, to engineering…I could go on. I am just curious if people have thoughts on how one’s intended major might impact admissions at elite schools. Is it favorable in any way to consider a less populated major at the college? Or one that is heavily populated? I will add he is definitely not a Comp Sci guy. I do understand that his major needs to be backed up by his resume, etc., and right now, just about any math/science major (especially bio or math related) make sense. Thanks for your thoughts.
It depends on the college. Some colleges, such as MIT, do not admit by major. Then again, everyone accepted to MIT is probably capable of majoring in anything and making a success of it. Other colleges DO admit by major. Personally I consider it important to get a direct admit to your department of choice in those cases. While it is usually possible to switch to something easier, it can be very difficult to switch into an “oversubscribed” major, usually CS or engineering. It is possible for students to get into their college of choice but be shut out of their preferred major. At some schools, it is much more difficult to get into the CS/engineering departments than into the college as a whole.
Bottom line is reseach carefully, have several backup plans, and apply to a good mix of reach, match, and likely schools.
Edited to say: I realize you said he is not a CS guy, however universities often have individual mixes of STEM majors among their colleges.
Thank you. Yes, he is applying to at least one university that admits to a specific school, and then for others, they are asking what he plans to study. I understand it is not a good idea to say “undecided” so we won’t do that. I guess I am asking if there is any evidence that what you put for your major impacts admissions in any way at the places where you don’t apply to a certain school. Or, if it is just more about getting to know the applicant, since many undergrads change their minds. I do get what you are saying about not missing out on engineering or CS if that is what he wants.
His list has several safeties/matches and now the work is going into trying to have one reach option if possible.
It may be helpful if you tell us the schools. But, in general, the answer is no. If it’s a university that has different undergraduate schools or colleges (Cornell, NYU, Northwestern, Michigan, e.g.) of course you have to apply to the specific school. Same with schools that just have liberal arts and engineering. Have to specify liberal arts or engineering (e.g., Tufts, Lehigh, Union). But if it’s Yale (non-engineering) or Williams or Middlebury, no, it does not matter if you specify that you intend to be a psychology, biology, or philosophy major. They know that most students change majors. Many do more than once. That said, maaaybe if the student says he intends to major in classics and has substantial background already in Greek and Latin.
At one college that does not require a major to be declared prior to the end of sophomore year and that encourages wide exploration in the liberal arts across multiple divisions/ fields, it is interesting to note how admissions were handled. When S and friends requested their admissions files, they saw which “committees” had admitted them. Some of them were admitted by the “first generation committee,” some by the “institutional ties committee,” etc. Those without a special category were admitted by a division committee based on their expressed interest. For example, one student who had named political science or history as two potential fields of interest was admitted by the “Division 2 committee.” At that college, division one is arts and languages, division two is social sciences, and division three is math and physical sciences. So, does it matter somewhat for admissions even when it officially doesn’t matter, and when a student easily may change her mind and major in English even if she came in thinking she’d major in biology? Maybe it does matter somewhat, if they are thinking of your potential to achieve within that area of interest, as suggested by the committee structure at this one college…
There is nothing anywhere in this college’s admissions materials that would indicate such a committee structure. That is known by only a few, such as this group of friends who were curious about how admissions worked and decided to view and compare their admissions files.
It can but in your case probably not. If your DS had done significant work in a particular area (especially a non STEM area) that would help his admission to an elite school. Since the areas you mention are common to most applicants (STEM) then it won’t help and the competition will be fierce.
@CU123, thanks. He is strong in Spanish (will take AP Spanish, won a national scholarship to study abroad) so I am hoping that will look favorable. But, I am not quite sure that is what you mean. I think you mean, for those students NOT majoring in STEM, like a Classics or Art History person, right? In any case, I think I am getting my answer…a biophysics major won’t have an advantage over a statistics major, and vice versa, at a school like, say, Brown. I just want to make sure we are not missing something, since he doesn’t have his heart set on a particular major at this point. Thank you!
Anyone who looks like they might be premed probably has a disadvantage at Hopkins. They only have so many lab stations and they also need students for their other majors. If you look at CMU, where they actually make you commit to a discipline, you can clearly see admit differences. The School of Humanities and Social Sciences has about a 30-40% admit rate., last I remember. The school of Computer sciences is down into single figures.
So, yes, it can make a difference what you pick as a major. This lawsuit involving Harvard has recently forced them to open up some admissions info. It verified what a Princeton Admissions Officer admitted years ago; Classics majors have an edge
But when you are talking about admittance at the single digit acceptance schools, it’s not enough to just declare that you are a X major . You have to show it over time. Also as you have noted, certain majors have little or no distinction from others
I believe someone mentioned this earlier but if your son is majoring in a STEM related major, there isn’t any advantage in a different STEM major. Generally speaking, colleges are not very concerned about your intended major so you should just put down your intended major that you really want to pursue on your application
Colleges where a specific major or division is more selective do it that way because that specific major or division is filled to capacity. Different STEM majors may be in different divisions (e.g. biology in the arts and science division, mechanical engineering in the engineering division) that have different admission selectivity; if the school admits by major, different STEM majors may have different admission selectivity.
Note that three out of the eight Ivy League schools (Columbia, Cornell, Penn) admit by division.
Yes, put down the intended major. If admission selectivity does differ, then changing major after enrolling could involve another competitive admission process.
If it matters, it tends to be disadvantageous to choose a more heavily populated major, particularly if the department is running at full capacity. Departments at full capacity often have limitations against current students declaring or changing into the major (high college GPA requirements, competitive admission).
Options:
- Apply for the most restrictive major…e.g. Engineering and then move to a less restrictive one if he doesn’t want that
- Apply to colleges that are not restrictive…e.g. Case Western Reserve University that has a “Single Door Admissions Policy” and you can major in whatever you want. Obviously if you want to maybe do Engineering, you need to be prepared for it (e.g., have tken Calculus/Physics/Chem).
Well, for Ivies, say you want stem and they will review you in that context- the courses, rigor, performance, scores and ECs. They want to see you can hit the ground running and have built the mindset through the right experiences. At the same time, most top colleges like depth and breadth.
If you say, eg, that you want classics, but your whole background points to stem, they can certainly question that. In ways, it’s not about the fact that kid can change majors, but their thinking at the time they apply, the awareness and logic in what they do choose.
You want to see, in addition to the individual college’s supplement, whether they ask for additional supps for certain stem majors. And you need to know enough about the targets, to know what your best presentation is.