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<p>Because those majors require very little work to complete, yet nevertheless apparently exhibit reasonable salaries, and even the opportunity for grad school for some of its students. These majors are therefore highly ‘efficient’, and - although the administrators will never admit it - I suspect efficiency is the true goal of those majors. </p>
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<p>Haas is indeed highly efficient…presuming that you can get into the major in the first place. Many people however will not. Mass Comm is also an impacted major, but is surely easier to get into than is Haas, and American Studies and Legal Studies exhibit no impaction problems. For the efficiency construct to be meaningful, it should include the work and risk associated with getting into the major in the first place, and should also incorporate what happens to those students who spend time to complete the work necessary to enter the major, but still don’t make it in. </p>
<p>I also strongly suspect that much of the ‘success’ of Haas graduates stems from the selection effect of simply being allowed to cherry-pick the most capable and most talented students into the major - it’s unclear exactly how much additional value the major provides. {Note, I’m sure that it provides some value, but exactly how much it provides vs. how much stems from the selection process is difficult to determine.} All of the benefit from Legal Studies and American Studies and much of the benefit of Mass Comm can be traced to the majors themselves.</p>