I’m interested in applying to Harvard, and on the Common App, I need to answer “What academic program at Harvard interests you?” I’m not sure whether Statistics fits into any of the categories I can choose from (Biological Sciences, Computer Science, Engineering, Humanities, Mathematics, Physical Science, Social Sciences). And after looking around on Harvard’s Department of Statistics website, (http://statistics.fas.harvard.edu/), I’m not even sure if Statistics is an offered major. So two questions:
FWIW: All student’s apply to Harvard College as Liberal Arts Majors, and choose a major, called a concentration, during their sophomore year. So, whatever students select as their “intended major” when they apply to Harvard has absolutely no bearing on what major they will ultimately graduate with.
In the U.S., over 60% of students switch their major during the course of their 4 years of college. So, unless you are applying to a specific college within a university – such as the Wharton School of Business at UPenn – students are free to change their majors at anytime during the first two years of college.
And, if you happen to find your true passion during your junior year of college, you can still switch your major, however, you will end up graduating in more than 4 years – and those extra years will cost you dearly in additional money, as Harvard only guarantee’s 4 years of financial aid.
Harvard also has an Applied Math concentration, I believe, and that IS closely related to Statistics. There is a fair amount of overlap between the two concentrations, but they are in fact separate departments at Harvard, and both entirely separate from Mathematics (both of which are a bit unusual, at least in my experience). The Applied Math concentration, which is part of the engineering school, is more popular than Statistics, for whatever reason, but unlike Applied Math Statistics permits joint concentrations.