Hi, i am interested in economics and physics and am looking to apply as an econmics major or a physics major
i was just wondering would applying to one or the other increase/decrease my chances at admission to the ivy league?
or would my chosen major not effect my chances at all? thank you
it depends on the college and whether or not that is an “impacted major”…
For example, at our local public college, many students want to be Bio majors as this is an excellent value college for Pre-meds. But we can’t have half the class being bio majors…so they make you declare what your major will be and limit how many of certain majors there will be and it is difficult to switch majors.
other colleges have a Single-door admissions policy and don’t require you to declare what you want to major in…and you can switch at any time (assuming you are prepared).
Unless a school admits by major or by school (ex. business school, engineering school etc.) then the choice of majors isn’t particular important as admissions officers understand that you will be free to switch majors once you start college.
So do you think it wont matter if i choose econmics or physics? it wont affect my chances to the ivy league where the most popular major is economics?
No.
Ivy League universities admit by school, not major. Many matriculated students ultimately select a different major than they planned when applying. It’s a fact of life, and colleges know this.
Many of the Ivy League schools are well endowed, so they have sufficient capacity to absorb all student demand into all or nearly all majors.
However, economics appears to be capacity-limited at Cornell, since it requires grades higher than C in the prerequisites to enter: https://economics.cornell.edu/major . It may not affect frosh admission if they admit all frosh in the arts and sciences division as undeclared, but be aware of the higher grade requirements to get into the major later.
Of course possible major matters. If you aren’t prepared for econ or physics, of course they may choose someone who is. Same with having relevant ECs.
Of course, you can change majors. But the app is a snapshot of your readiness and thinking when you submit. It has to make sense. You may even need to explain this interest in a supp.
And they do try to balance the number of kids aiming for various majors. Why do you think they ask about possible major?
I believe Cornell is referring to declaring the major once on campus, spring of soph year. (?) Not freshman admission.
I agree with @lookingforward that major does matter - no U wants 90% econ majors (or CS, or whatever). It matters less there than many UCs or other Us where admits are by major.
And it may be, or have been, useful to be interested a less popular major than the school is “known for”, as was the case at Stanford awhile back with humanities majors: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/31/education/as-interest-fades-in-the-humanities-colleges-worry.html
HOWEVER, you can’t convincingly choose, say, French Literature without having studied French or been active in related ECs.
So, be true to your own interests - if it’s Physics and Econ, great. You might double, you might choose one, you might go a totally different way. But if those are your interests and what you are good at, say so and show why.
I think this is a question that is important to research school by school. I know some say be true to your interest, however your interests can cross over between many different schools. My D19 is going through this right now. She loves math and that might mean pursuing engineering, in the engineering school, applied math, often in school of letters and science, or even finance, in the business school. When we look at school we try to learn how they evaluate applications. A few we have learned - at UCLA they clearly stated to us that you get considered by the school you apply to, so if she selects engineering, a highly selective school, and does not get selected, she would not be considered for math in the school of letters and science. At UCSB you select a major and alternate. For this campus, if she selects say, electrical engineering, and selects math as a second choice, if she doesn’t get into engineering, she would be considered for the college of letters and science. USC was the most interesting. The application is first read by admissions. They then farm it out to the chosen school. If not selected it goes back to admissions and they might farm it out to the second choice school, or they could admit into the campus undeclared without either of the chosen school choices. At other schools like Stanford, they say students often don’t know what they want so they admit the person, not the school. So there, it doesn’t seem to matter. I just wish this would be more apparent on the website. An important question to ask to college recruiters.
Such colleges may be very well endowed ones that can afford to maintain reserve capacity in all majors or expand capacity as needed when a major gets popular (Stanford appears to be in this category), or may have secondary admission procedures after enrolling to get into specific majors that are filled to capacity.
Just addressing the ivies or any other highly selective that does not admit by major or school, I think it is a fallacy to think that students indicating certain majors that get in will have materially lower qualifications than students indicating other majors. Their academic strengths may vary in certain specific areas, but the students you are being compared against will be top students with strengths in those areas. IMO, the correct strategy is to showcase strengths that you can substantiate rather than try to create a persona you think that will have weaker competition.
Note that three of the Ivy League schools do admit by division. Also, Harvard does have a limited access major (visual environmental studies), though the gating occurs after students are enrolled at the college, not during admission to the college.
“showcase strengths that you can substantiate rather than try to create a persona you think that will have weaker competition.” Yes and a nice rewording. But you do want what you substantiate to be relevant to what you say you want to study.
I doesn’t matter if only some Ivies admit by division or college. They will look at the stated potential major.
It’s a case where, “Better safe than sorry.” Don’t assume you can slide into xxx without the evidence you’re ready. Your app and supp need to make sense