<p>Hi there,</p>
<p>I'm just picking subjects for my back-up universities right now, and I heard from a student that is about to graduate that if you want to get into the ridiculously good universities for post-graduate studies (eg. Harvard, etc), that you should take the hardest undergraduate course possible to prove how smart you are.</p>
<p>I am choosing between Engineering/Science and Engineering/Law,</p>
<p>Personally I would prefer to do Eng/Sci, as I just enjoy it more, and I think Law would be interesting but I don't see a future in it. However, Law is a much harder degree, so would taking the engineering/law combination help my chances of getting into an elite college for post-graduate studies?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>To put it politely, that’s utter nonsense.</p>
<p>What really matters is the relationship between your undergraduate degree and your intended direction of graduate studies. That is, if you get a bachelor’s in engineering and then apply for a doctoral program in history… your chances of admission are slim and none without some serious explanation of how an engineering degree has prepared you to do historical research.</p>
<p>Also, which schools are “ridiculously good” for post-graduate studies is highly variable depending on the field. There are a huge number of disciplines for which “Harvard” isn’t even on the map.</p>
<p>If you want to go to graduate school in a particular academic subject, then doing undergraduate in the same or closely related subject is the best choice. I.e. do math if you want to do graduate study in math, do electrical engineering if you want to do graduate study in electrical engineering, do history if you want to do graduate study in history, etc… Exceptions would usually be closely related subjects (e.g. math to statistics, physics to some types of engineering, etc.) or if you have a decent minor-level preparation in the subject (e.g. math with some economics courses to economics).</p>
<p>For medical school admissions, major does not matter, as long as you take the pre-med courses; MCAT and GPA are the primary academic considerations. For law school admissions, no particular major or course work is required or preferred; LSAT and GPA are the primary academic considerations. For MBA school admissions, work experience is important; undergraduate major matters mainly in helping you get the best work experience after bachelor’s graduation.</p>