<p>I'm planning on applying Early Decision to an extremely competitive school that I know I would barely have a chance in. However, like everybody else, I'll really do anything to increase my chance.</p>
<p>My major will be journalism, probably the strongest major of the university. And my ECs all seem to be related to journalism, so I thought it might help.</p>
<p>However, someone recently notified me that my ECs' relation to my major won't matter, and that I'll have a better chance if I switch to a less competitive major, even if it may not relate to journalism. Is this advice true?</p>
<p>At the majority of schools, your major won’t matter a whole lot or won’t matter at all. That’s because you apply to one undergraduate division and are free to change your major to whatever you want. In that case, it really doesn’t matter what you put because you can always change it anyway - so I wouldn’t think the colleges would put much stock into what the students write because a lot of them will be trying to game the system anyway. If it makes you feel better you can put a less competitive major, although I wouldn’t think it makes sense for a journalism hopeful to put like engineering or biology or something.</p>
<p>At other places your major does matter a lot because some programs are by application only or you have to transfer between schools in order to switch to certain majors. Examples are Georgia Tech and NYU. In those case, I think it’s a bad idea to put a major that you don’t want in an attempt to switch. Schools like that sometimes do not take kindly to students switching majors shortly after arrival and make it very difficult or even impossible for you to transfer schools within the university.</p>
<p>I was thinking Northwestern, where I know Medill is extremely competitive… I know I’m able to change it, but I still know that Medill probably won’t help my chance. But then again, ALL my extracurriculars are related to journalism, so you’re right - it wouldn’t make sense for me to put bio, engineering, etc. But still, it’s just making me wonder, would it help if I switched to something in Weinberg rather than Medill?</p>
<p>I thought of Northwestern too at first when you mentioned Journalism… </p>
<p>Waitt… so you’re applying to NW because of journalism… but you’re willing to give up journalism to get into NW ? and if you’re thinking of shifting colleges, I don’t know if it will be easy btw. Do you really want to risk it ? and if the adcoms see you have TONS of ECs in Journalism… they’re kinda going to have doubts… and im pretty sure Journalism ECs will look more impressive if you apply to the school of Jour rather than Weinberg…</p>
<p>admission officer at northwestern told us it is easy to switch out of medill but hard to transfer into medill
i’m a fellow northwestern hopeful too
i say go for medill</p>
<p>My DD’s HS Chief Editor of the school newspaper got in. He was The chief editor for 3 years and a 2% top student, if you have a similar background, Medill is a potential for you. Good luck…</p>
<p>False. I’m not sure where you heard this, but I have read and heard from colleges that they specifically look to see if your record matches up with the major. They do look for fit. If you want to be a journalist, and you’ve been involved with journalism, I would recommend applying to Medill from the beginning, as you’ll probably have your best chances there.</p>
<p>This is true in a general sense–ie, someone with all humanities ECs/recs may look foolish applying as a chemistry major. But plenty of kids don’t have the resources in their hometowns to pursue their future major in depth. Plenty of high school newspaper editors, for example, go on to complete majors totally unrelated to english (even editors of the Harvard Crimson go on to be politicians, environmental activitists, and businessmen). </p>
<p>But in the OP’s case, any talk of prospective major politics is unrelated. Medill is a separate school within Northwestern and requires a separate application process.</p>
<p>Well yes, I, for one, am an editor in chief with no interest in being a journalist. I just think that in this person’s case, where they have prepared to apply to Medill, they should. They will not be gaining any further qualifications for Medill, so he or she might as well give it a go.</p>
<p>goodwood8: Yeah, I’d be willing to give up journalism major if I could get into NW. It’s really my dream school. I’d do anything. But you do have a point, I would look weird with all those journalism ECs applying for anything else.</p>
<p>NervusBreakdown: Ah! I expected that to be true…</p>
<p>artloversplus: I’m neither chief editor nor 2% top student. Therefore I mentioned I’d barely have a chance. It’s more like a lottery for me.</p>
<p>glassesarechic: Really? I never knew Medill had a separate application. Is this really true? I actually really had NO idea. Is this really true?</p>
<p>NulliSecundus: I heard it from a friend who graduated last year, and was questioning it myself.</p>
<p>I agree. If the OP has had the opportunity to have ECs very specific the their major that puts them into strong contention, placing themselves back into the general population of a ‘transfer pool’ isn’t a wise idea. If you were going into the CAS and deciding between PolySci or Economics, I’d say you are safe to apply undecided. You can change your mind. In your example, Medill is a separate acceptance (similar to many engineering schools). If that is where you want to go your best chance is as a first time freshman applicant.</p>
<p>It’s not a separate application, exactly, but you do specify which school you are applying to in the NU application. This is more permanent than picking a major in the college of arts and sciences (though transfers between schools are possible).</p>
<p>Oh, I knew you had to specify. I think I get what you guys are telling me, that it’ll be almost impossible to get INTO Medill afterwards. I guess I’ll take my risk at applying for Medill… thanks!</p>