<p>Just wondering, as a lot of people have been telling me that a a prospective female biology major, I'll be more likely to be rejected as a lot of girls apply for biology...this true?</p>
<p>not at MIT..</p>
<p>Your prospective major doesn't play a big role in admission. Many people change majors several times once they're in school and colleges know this.</p>
<p>Biology in general is a really common prospective major, so that won't do you any favors, but it's not like your chances are ruined either. The effects, if any, are minor.</p>
<p>blargh. is that true? can't you just put as "undecided"? .... I'd be so mad if that "minimal effect" was the tiny thing that would decide whether i would be put over the top or not.</p>
<p>If biology is your choice, and you're a girl, I think any effect it would have would be positive. I've read Admiss. Directors say, "God help the girl going for a humanities major." Writing biology won't hurt you. It won't, however, help as much as physics or engineering.</p>
<p>i must say i'm curious too. how about environmental biology?</p>
<p>what about biomedical engineering?</p>
<p>BME is the engineering major least likely to "help" a girl get in (as opposed to say, mechanical), but the guy/girl ration in bme is still rather significant.</p>
<p>it'd still help, though?</p>
<p>Hmmm. So in a nutshell, it would slightly hurt me?</p>
<p>Probably. Majoring in bio makes you look like you're going to be pre-med and colleges don't want too many of those (the more they have, the more they have to place into med school, and the chancier their placement stats). On top of that well over half of applicants to med school are women, so they don't need more women pre-meds, and that hurts a bit more.</p>
<p>I seriously doubt what major you put has any effect on admission... some of the things people have said in here are just plain false.</p>
<p>Some majors, like BME, are often competitive at certain schools though. This is because there is usually an entirely separate engineering program or school which is hard (or impossible) to get into later on in your undergrad career.</p>
<p>What if you put, NOT PRE MED. How do you stress that you just want to be a scientist? and not get stuck in the pre med catagory??</p>
<p>Maybe apply as a chem major? And when it comes time to actually declare it (around start of sophomore year), just declare bio...
Who knows.</p>
<p>You guys are really overthinking this. It doesn't matter if you put premed or not. Most of them will change once they're in college.</p>
<p>It doesn't matter if you apply as a chem major and declare bio later. It doesn't matter if you apply as bio and declare chem later. It doesn't matter if you apply as undecided and declare bio later. There is no viable advantage in worrying about this.</p>
<p>Instead, focus on your grades, essays, and recs. Those can be make-or-break.</p>