devrybound

If I were to apply to a university on a less popular major like mythology or latin, would I have a better chance of getting in? For example, if both departments of latin and biochemistry at UCLA were equally prestigious, would I have a better chance of getting in by declaring a latin major?

WallyxD

I think I saw something on this site with a similar question. I would say yeah, because there wouldn't be as many applicants applying to a certain school within the university (granted that they accept a specific number of applicants based on their school of choice). Do you have plans of changing your major after hopefully being accepted.?

ReesesPieces

Yes and no-- You must be a QUALIFIED applicant (i.e., you have ecs pertaining to that major) and then you will have a better shot.

devrybound

No that was not my plan. How does that work? I was just debating whether i should major in physics or computer science to become a software engineer. If I take physics (which I enjoy a lot), I could minor in computer science and still go into the software engineering field.

annasdad

Do you think that nobody has tried this before, or that university admissions people are so stupid as to fall for it?

Generally, those schools where declared major is considered in admissions decisions place very high barriers to switching majors once you're in.

So if you get into one of these schools as a Latin major, you'd better be prepared for four years deciphering the ablative.

devrybound

Why are we all of a sudden talking about switching majors? That wasn't the point of the thread. You should understand that these questions do come up when you're first deciding what you want to major in.

exultationsy

As there are fewer applicants intending to major in Latin than biochemistry, there are also fewer places available for students intending to major in Latin than in biochemistry. OP's idea comes about because some hypothetical college, say, accepted 20 out of 100 students who said they wanted to major in biochemistry. They turned 80 prospective biochemists away!? It must be really hard to get in in biochemistry. They only turned 8 classicists (with proven interest in high school). Everyone should apply as classicists! Yes well, in this hypothetical, only 10 classicists applied, and both interests had a 20% acceptance rate. It's gonna be a wash. This may be different in schools where you are accepted to a major (UW comes to mind), but that's not how most universities in America work.

M's Mom

While exaultationsy's analysis has validity, the fact remains that the rare applicant who is potentially a classics major is likely to stand out from the many applicants who are potential future biochemists. It's human nature to notice and be curious about someone who is taking an uncommon path. So yes, there is an advantage, albeit not a big one.

GLOBALTRAVELER

As far as software engineering....

The "back door" way would be to major in Math or Physics....taking the bare minimum of requirements and using most of your electives in computer science, making sure you take the core CS courses, etc.

BECAUSE....at least for now (and the past 20 years) in the software employer's eyes...

CS major = Math/CS major

Math programs usually do not have enrollment limits plus you will be given first priority to take CS courses that are closed off to CS-only majors. On top of that, some CS courses are cross-listed with math courses so you don't even need permission to take those courses.

I am "exhibit A" when it comes to using the math program to "sneak" into the CS curriculum.

ucbalumnus

It depends on the school.

At UCLA, physics and computer science are in different divisions (Letters and Science and Engineering respectively). According to Freshman Admission Process - UCLA Undergraduate Admissions , Letters and Science freshman are admitted without regard to major, but Engineering freshman are admitted by major.

It does not say how selective various Engineering majors are relative to each other or to Letters and Science at the freshman level, but Engineering overall is more selective at the junior transfer level, according to Profile of Admitted Transfer Students - UCLA Undergraduate Admissions .

To change major into an Engineering major, you would have to apply to do so: Change of Major — UCLA Engineering Office of Academic and Student Affairs

exultationsy

M's Mom's correction to my post is fair. I'd like to point out to OP, though, that all this is based on demonstrated interest in such a major. Listing classics as your major will not get you that slight advantage for being unusual if your resume is full of biology extracurriculars and your other language was 4 years of Spanish. Resumes strong in an unusual subject: slight advantage. Conventional resume, listing a strange major as your intended: zero benefit, and maybe a "??" from an adcom for your intended major seeming to come from out of the blue.

cortana431

For some schools: yes. At Carnegie Mellon for example, when you apply to the Carnegie Institute of Technology, you must declare your intended engineering major. It does not matter which engineering discipline you choose in terms of selectivity except for ECE: Electrical and Computer Engineering. Applicants with that intended major have considerably tougher competition in getting accepted then say an applicant who chose Chemical engineering.

Tygolfs94

No....
Schools generally have a certain number of spots allocated to each major. So less popular majors have less spots, and when kids start applying to those majors, it actually makes it harder to get in.

Dad2

Yes, colleges and universities have to justify their departments. If you apply as a German or Greek major (and have cred, i.e. are taking and doing well in German/Greek), you are significantly more likely to be accepted (with similar stats) than an applicant declaring intentions to major in a more poplulated major (e.g. Biology or Economics).

bclintonk

Agree with ucbalumnus, it all depends on the school. At many larger universities you need to apply to a particular school or college within the university, and some of those will admit without regard to major while others, e.g., engineering or music, will work very hard to match their incoming class to the number of majors they need and can accommodate in each field. This may make it easier to get admitted into certain majors, or it may not; the less popular majors will also probably have fewer seats to fill, so they may not be the easiest to get into.

Many LACs and smaller universities say they admit without regard to major, period. Others will be quite upfront about wanting to fill certain majors. I recall visiting Wesleyan around the time they were just completing a major expansion of their science faculty, and their director of admissions just flatly told our info session that they were looking to add science students so it would be a definite "plus" in admissions to apply with a strong science background, evidence of an interest in science (ECs, essays, Subject Tests, etc) and indicating an interest in majoring in a science.

Bottom line, though, the popularity of a major won't necessarily correlate with how strongly a school is looking for people in that particular major. Sometimes they're looking to expand something that's already quite large, or just to maintain a field where they've already made big investments and now have a lot of seats to fill and not many applicants. And this happens all the time, because the fields that are "hot," i.e., popular with students, come and go in waves, so that often by the time a school has built up its faculty in an area that's "hot," applicants will be on to the "next big thing," which may be a small field with a small faculty that is suddenly generating a lot of applicants, while applications are starting to fall off in the larger area the school has just finished building up. It's very hard to predict, and it varies by school. You could try asking someone in admissions when you interview or attend an info session; my guess is you'll get a range of responses.