<p>In helping S fill out apps I notice that almost every common app supplement asks what majors he is most interested in. Many ask what campus activities he is most interested in. Some ask about his vocational plans. One even asks him to rate how certain his plans are for each of these areas on a scale of 1 to 5.</p>
<p>Maybe it's the social scientist in me, but I am now suspicious about the purpose of these questions and want to ask the experienced parents here about them and how S ought to answer these questions. So far he has been saying majors and activities that are an extension of the interests demonstrated through his transcript and ECs, rather than simply saying "undecided". Career/vocational plans are too far in the future for him to be able to say anything.</p>
<p>Where originally I thought these questions were mainly to help the schools plan (most students change majors during their college years and many change their career plans), I now suspect these questions are related to results obtained by the school's institutional research. I know colleges do an enormous amount of institutional research and they probably use this research to shape their admissions decisions. As one example of how this research influences admissions, in 2004 President Levin of Yale said this to help justify high admit rates for legacies: "[L]egacies that matriculate achieve higher grades at Yale than non-legacy students with the same high school grades and test scores."</p>
<p>Is it possible that kids who designate majors and activities during the application process and say they are very committed to them have been shown through institutional research to be more successful in college?</p>
It is possible, but the only the people doing the institutional research would know… But yes, it is not unreasonable to assume that a math whiz in high school will continue to be a strong math student in college.</p>
<p>Like you, I always thought the questions are primarily meant to help colleges plan. Yes, students do change their mind about their majors, but an applicant with an interest in physics is a lot more likely to major in some science than in history.</p>
<p>If colleges didn’t ask those questions, they would have a hard time even coming up with a ballpark figure of how many students are interested in sciences vs humanities vs social sciences vs business etc.</p>
<p>My S’s Univ. requires a choice of major on the app. The student is admitted/denied based on the major choice. For instance, admittance to the College of Engineering is much tougher than to the College of Agriculture. They didn’t ask about college activities.</p>
<p>I think a student who indicates they are interested in an unusual/underenrolled major will be more interesting to the college (provided all other things are equal). Colleges have to have enough majors to justify having a department, say, of Slavic Languages. On the other hand, there probably needs to be something in the application supporting such a stated interest.</p>
<p>I think the answer is all of the above with variances applied from one school to another. I don’t think there is anything sinister about it. I also don’t think the information should be manipulated in an attempt to “game” the system as I have seen others try to do. </p>
<p>I have personally seen matriculated students be identified by their area of interests for scholarships. I have also seen some denied admission when their academic background did not support sufficient preparation. If a school has an especially popular area of interest some will use the intended major as a consideration, but most do not. Others use it to help set up appropriate contacts for visiting students and parents. Some simply use it as an indicator of student trends. Could really be any number of things. </p>
<p>If you call admissions, they will sometimes tell you whether they use it as part of the evaluation process or merely as statistical data.</p>
<p>My S’s Univ. requires a choice of major on the app. The student is admitted/denied based on the major choice. For instance, admittance to the College of Engineering is much tougher than to the College of Agriculture.</p>
<p>This is rarely the case. And when it is, it may be true for engineering, for reasons such as preparation. But even then you could apply and be accepted in “a less competitive major” and transfer to any major you like. </p>
<p>I think a student who indicates they are interested in an unusual/underenrolled major will be more interesting to the college (provided all other things are equal). Colleges have to have enough majors to justify having a department, say, of Slavic Languages.</p>
<p>Most undergraduate universities do admissions at the university level, not by college or department. At the undergraduate level they are looking for well-rounded students. Many students change majors. </p>
<p>Usually, including your intended major is for information purposes only. Assuming a “good” well-rounded student - whether you intend to major in theatre or business will more than likely not affect your chances in undergraduate admissions.</p>
<p>Most admissions reps from the liberal arts colleges I’ve met with say that “undecided” is their most popular major, and its fine to say it. I don’t think students should feel pressured to know, nor do I think making up something exotic is a good strategy. If you know, great; if you don’t, that’s fine TOO.</p>
While this may be true in some cases - ie, that you could be accepted to a less competitive major and transfer to any major you like - that would be a dangerous assumption for readers of this forum to make across the board.</p>
<p>At some schools, admission into certain majors or schools (eg, BioMedical Engineering at Hopkins) is so competitive that it is extremely difficult to move into that major if not admitted into it initially. At many of the UCs, there are several “impacted majors” in a variety of fields and no student should ever assume s/he could transfer into one of them having been initially admitted for a different major or as Undeclared.</p>
<p>So… know the particulars for the schools of interest to you.</p>
<p>"My S’s Univ. requires a choice of major on the app. The student is admitted/denied based on the major choice. For instance, admittance to the College of Engineering is much tougher than to the College of Agriculture.</p>
<p>This is rarely the case. And when it is, it may be true for engineering, for reasons such as preparation. But even then you could apply and be accepted in “a less competitive major” and transfer to any major you like."</p>
<p>This is NOT a good strategy. You won’t be able to transfer into one of the more competitive majors because you won’t have the prerequisites required (priority for those classes is given to declared majors.) If you are planning to change majors at a school that requires you to declare upon admission, you’d better check to see if it is feasible.</p>
<p>Yep, S1 was accepted into the College of Engineering at his univ. but then decided that engineering was not what he really wanted. When he called about changing his major (he was still a h.s. senior at the time), admissions office told him to be very sure about his decision because it would be very difficult to get back into engineering should he decide he had made a mistake.</p>
<p>As for Pres. Levin’s comments, it was most likely issued to counter outsiders’ criticisms for legacy preferences. By saying that legacies were achieving better than their similar counterparts, he can deflect some of that.</p>
<p>When DS was going through this last year, most of the colleges he applied to advised him that if he even thought he might want to go into Engineering to put that rather than undecided. Nursing was the other major that was “impacted” and much harder to transfer into once at the schools.</p>
<p>My question is not about the choice between a college of engineering versus a college of letters and sciences or about schools that limit enrollment in certain majors, but what it means when colleges that are not this restrictive nevertheless ask applicants to list likely majors within a college and to even rank them in order of preference. And what does it mean when the college asks applicants to do that for EC activities and vocational interests? What is the real purpose of these questions? Are the answers being used to evaluate and distinguish between applicants for admissions purposes? </p>
<p>Levin’s comments make it clear that Yale, at least, is generating analyses of the educational outcomes of its matriculants based on their initial applications. If Yale is comparing outcomes for legacy versus non-legacy matriculants, what other kinds of analyses might the school be doing using data from applications and with what effect on admissions? If Harvard asks applicants to rank commitment to academic majors and college extracurricular plans, is that because the school’s institutional research has shown that applicants who express stronger commitments are more “successful” at Harvard and beyond? Does institutional research by colleges suggest that “undecided” applicants take longer to graduate and/or have lower GPAs than applicants with a clear academic plan in mind?</p>
<p>Now that I see how ubiquitous these sorts of questions are in college applications I am trying to learn more about their purpose. Has anybody seen any published research or ad com explanations?</p>
<p>Yesterday we visited the college that my son has applied to (and has been accepted to). On the application, he put down “Engineering” as his major.</p>
<p>Well… although we knew that he was going to receive a “full tuition” scholarship from the school, yesterday we found out that because he put Engineering on his application, he was automatically awarded an additional $2500 per year from the Engineering department (as long as he stays in Engineering). Nice surprise - that will pay for about half of his dorm costs.</p>
<p>My point is that my son wouldn’t have gotten this little surprise extra $$ if he had put down “undecided” on his app.</p>
<p>So to change the OP’s question, my son is a math/physics/comp sci guy, but likes other subjects too. He’ll probably end up majoring in one of those 3, but just isn’t sure. He’s picking schools based on strong CompSci departments. However, he definitely doesn’t want to be an Engineer. Is it better to say CompSci/Math, etc. or undecided which is actually what he truly is? Thanks.</p>