Top schools: which is the best major for me to apply for to demonstrate my "spike"?

Applying to College
1

I’m applying to many Ivy league or equivalent schools in the RD round. I want admissions officers to understand that I have a deep interest in writing, so I’m wondering which major I should put down. I believe that most of my ECs relate to journalism, but many of the schools I’m applying to do not have journalism or communications programs. So should I put English or Comparative Literature as my major?

Here’s a quick rundown of my ECs related to writing:

Blogger for Huffington Post
Co-editor in chief of school newspaper
Creative writing published in 4 literary magazines
Author of fantasy novel published on Amazon
Reporter for town newspaper
Paid staff writer for a financial literacy startup
Editor for national literary magazine
Winner/finalist in several essay contests

2

People write about all kinds of things, not just literature. So you can indicate an intended major of just about anything you are interested in that you like writing about.

In any case, if you are interested in journalism, you may want to pay particular attention to getting a broad general education as well as perhaps more in-depth education on topics that you would like to write about. Having general background knowledge about a subject can help you avoid errors in writing that are obvious to readers who have some knowledge of the subject.

3

@ucbalumnus thank you for that. If I were to put down Economics, do you think I’d have to mention in my supplements that I want to learn Economics because I want to be a journalist covering that area?