<p>Hello,
I have a "strange" passion in two very distinct majors, Political Science and Computer Science, and a few of the schools I'm applying to, including Harvard, only allow me to select one prospective school/major on the Common Application.
If it helps, I have an equal of amount of leadership/extracurricular activities in both fields, and most likely will pursue a double concentration or dual degree program. Should the fact that i'm Asian American (Indian) or that I go to a STEM based magnet school influence the major I put down? Does Harvard have a higher admit rate for one of these majors? Any help as to what major to select would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You.</p>
<p>If I were you I’d just put down PolSci, as I assume it would make you a more interesting applicant having in mind your background, but Harvard explicitly says that academic interests(the prospective concentration you put down) do not affect admission decisions. </p>
<p>^ agree 100%</p>
<p>H actually won’t care what you list. List both, one, or undecided (that’s my vote since it seems to be the most true). H knows that they have amazing offerings and hopse its students will explore; shifting to other majors is very common. Students aren’t committed to most majors until the end of the soph year. Thus what you list is only a matter of curiosity for them.</p>
<p>I note two things: </p>
<p>First, neither of those fields is remotely obscure. Political Science (or as Harvard puts it, “Government”) is perennially among the most popular concentrations at Harvard College. Together with its close relative, the more flexible, policy-oriented Social Science concentration, they probably represent the largest group of related concentrations in the college. And Computer Science is popular everywhere. It’s a pretty big concentration at Harvard, and I think an enormous field for secondary concentration. Whichever one the OP puts down will place the OP squarely in the mainstream of applicants. There is neither any advantage nor disadvantage from either.</p>
<p>Second, there’s nothing “strange” at all about the combination. Huge chunks of the Political Science world are largely math- and statistics-driven, with a great deal of attention to the “big data” capabilities of software. (If the OP’s dual passion is more for both politics and electrical engineering, well, yes, that may be a little unusual.)</p>
<p>@JHS, it’s actually not that typical to come across a student who wants to pursue both fields equally. Comp Sci kids intent on majoring in Comp Sci tend to be STEM-oriented and often look for schools that allow them that sort of focus (MIT, Harvey Mudd, Stanford). Humanities kids tend to be less interested and less schooled in computer science. Understanding data and using software is not the same as coding. It’s changing fast as coding makes its way into all areas of study but as of this year, OP has a valid point. </p>
<p>OP, if you can’t list both, it sounds like you can either put down undecided or pick one without worry. My question for you is whether Harvard is a school that offers a dual degree program of the type you want. </p>
<p>Thank you all very much for your input, I have decided that I will put social sciences down as my choice.
@3girls3cats, from the research I’ve done, very few schools with strong government and computer science programs allow for dual degrees/double majors, and I understand that it may be extremely difficult to combine the majors at Harvard as well. I do believe, however, that Harvard does have the option of a joint concentration, if a student can justify how the two fields are related, and I have a few ideas on how to approach that. I am applying to a few other schools that have actual four or five year humanities/engineering dual degree programs, such as the University of Notre Dame, but I will obviously decide on which college caters best to my passions after learning about where I am accepted. </p>