So I heard from a friend that applying to a college with a set major can increase or decrease your chances of acceptance. Is this true for the University of Pennsylvania? If it is true what are the best majors to apply under?
I ask because I want to major in biology or biomed and I don’t know whether I should apply under those majors or not.
not true. They admit by school, not by major.
So would you really change your major to something you didn’t want just to have a better chance of admittance? That seems odd. Unless you are truly undecided you should apply to the major you want to go into and if you don’t get in it wasn’t meant to be.
@Afraid2024 This is not true, intended major doesnt affect your changes. Strategically picking your major within a specific school is pointless.
Penn admits by school while also trying to build the most balanced class across schools, i.e. admissions decisions are not completely siloed in each of the 4 schools.
Even picking the specific school strategically is in most cases counterproductive because each school looks for slightly different things so if there is a mismatch between your profile/interests and the school you apply to that could hurt your chances. Also adcoms can sniff a mile away applicants trying to game the system by choosing strategically which undergraduate school they apply to.
No, I would just apply without a major…
I know what I want to do; but I can always chose my major if I get in
The point of making you choose a major when you apply is to see how well your applicant profile matches up with what you want to major in (e.g. I said I wanted to be a BBB major and I had experience in behavioral neuroscience). It doesn’t benefit you to choose an unusual major if your transcript and extracurriculars show no interest, nor does it disadvantage you to, say, apply with a bio major in mind if you’ve worked in a lab or hospital.
BTW, you’re not bound to what you put on your application. CAS students can’t even officially declare a major until sophomore year.