90star09

Hi everyone,
haha. i did not know how to redirect my post on the other forum here..so I am just going to post it again. I am currently a junior at a magnet high school and I am looking to apply to Harvard...and if I am fortunate enough-get accepted.:/.

A lot of my friends applied to Harvard and the people that were mostly rejected had applied for pre-med.

I aspire to become a neurosurgeon and I am not sure if I could withstand the competition that comes along with applying for pre-med to Harvard, so I am thinking about applying as a neurobiology and neurophysiology and I have a very strong background in neuroscience. Then, I am thinking I will switch to Pre-med.

So...here's my question(s): Does it make a difference with acceptance/rejection rates dependent upon what major you apply for?In other words: Is it easier to get into a school applying for one major vs. the other and by how much? And does anybody know what these acceptance rates are for individual majors that people apply for?

Your help is greatly appreciated...Watching all the seniors going through this process has me a "tad bit" freaked out to say the least.

Jen98

Take my opinions here with a grain of salt; I've been admitted, but I'm not yet a Harvard student.

But as I understand it, pre-med isn't a major (or concentration, in Harvard lingo), it's just a program on the side of your major. Neurobiology is a prospective major, but neurophysiology isn't. So in this regard, your best bet is to list a concentration that they actually offer so that they know you care enough about the school to at least make sure they offer the major that you want. I had to compromise on my application. I started out wanting to go into computer engineering, but the closest that they offer is computer science. However, after looking deeper into the differentiations between the two, I think computer science is more for me, anyway!

Since you say that you have a strong neuroscience background, my guess would be that it would be in your best interest to apply to neurobiology. They'll see that you have an already established interest that you want to continue. You'd probably have a better chance than if you applied to a less competitive concentration that you weren't as well prepared for.

Again, just my take on things. I have no idea if they establish quotas for majors or what.

Hamman

I don't think you can look at it as trying to find the major that they're most likely to accept. I just wanted to do chemistry/biochem and go on a become a dentist. I extensively explained how I wanted to work with Project Smile and volunteer in disadvantaged areas like Vietnam (my native country) where cleft lips and palates are prevalent. You have to show passion and interest in your field of study. That is the best way for them to take notice of your passion and make them more likely to take you seriously.

90star09

thank you for those comments! I recently was looking on a website for their majors and it said that pre-med and neurobiology/physiology were two options... but I guess not! I do have a passion already, which is neuroscience, so i guess that's a good thing.

moralityjustice

Not at all. Six out of the seven folks from my state that got into harvard are all pursuing pre-med. Harvard has a lot of pre-med and they are very diverse. For example, more and more athletes are MCB these days rather than economics or government. One of my classmate will be done with three years of Chinese by the end of this summer (fall intensive, spring intensive, and harvard beijing academy summer school). He's also a chem major and currently taking a graduate level chem class. Harvard looks for people who will contribute in a variety of activities and have a definite passion for the things they do (newspaper, intramurals, band, orchestra, debate team, dance, choir, a capella, etc.) I guess a Harvard application consists of showing 1) you can succeed academically 2) you make Harvard a more interesting and diverse place-through your activities. Major is secondary because departments vary in size. Harvard wants you to have the flexibility to choose majors. And many people change their mind after arriving. Not all majors have equal numbers in enrollment. Only 30-50 people declare physics as their concentration. Other concentrations have several hundred like economics. If you put down e.g. classics-an area that you think you might be interested in, make sure you show interest and ask yourself if your application would fare well with other people who are similarly interested. Personally, I repeated the fact that I was pre-med in my essay.

harvard09

Harvard wants to enroll a diverse class. If 50% of students applying want to do pre-med, then what do you think will happen? The acceptance rate for pre-med applicants will be lower because Harvard doesn't want everyone studying pre-med.

Hamman

instead of pre-med, choose a real concentration. Pre-med is just a pathway that requires you to take all the prereqs to get into med school. Which one interests you the most: Bio/Chem/Physics? You could chooce one of those and branch off, like Microbio and stuff like that. I wouldn't declare myself as a pre-med major, since you can pretty much major in anything and still get into med school. With that said, I don't think you should be stressing out so much about diversifying yourself to get into harvard. They specificially look for the personal characteristics, so they will look much deeper than what kind of major you want to study. After all, diversity stresses much more heavily on different socio-economic backgrounds, life experiences, and the obstacles you've been able to overcome in your life.

compmom

Express interest in what you are genuinely passionate about, in your applications, and you will end up in the right school. It's not healthy to gear your application to getting in to one school like this. Harvard is just a school.