Hi Parents
How does a choice of major on an application affect a student’s chances of getting into a particular school please? I understand that for the most popular majors (like CS), this might matter. But beyond that do schools really consider what the student says they want to major in? And especially so for schools that allow a choice of major say until sophomore year. TIA !
Generally, schools may have particularly impacted majors; for these students applying to these schools, their admissions may be looked at as its own group, and admissions numbers will be limited.
In most cases, however, we generally think of students’ intended majors as part of the holistic review process. It helps admissions officers understand the students’ goals and intention, and it helps admissions officers understand if there is a good fit! They generally understand that students priorities and goals may shift, so it’s more so a get-to-know-you thing.
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Depends on the school. Some schools absolutely admit by major. Some admit to the particular college. Some admit to the school as a whole.
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Note also that if a student enters undeclared or in another major, changing into a major that is full may require another admission process.
Also some majors at some schools always require another admission process after the first few semesters at the school.
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Well said
And I’d add - some don’t admit by major at all - I guess you said that by saying the school as a whole.
My current senior has been successful this year after acceptances but she only asked to go from Criminal Justice to Social Work.
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“It depends” is obviously the correct answer.
But I will add that a high level, I am skeptical there are many if any “back doors” into capacity-limited majors or specialty schools. Because one way or another, the college has to limit access to those programs.
So, it may limit first-year admission into those programs. Or it may not even have first-year admission into those programs, but have competitive secondary admissions. Either way, it can’t then just let in anyone who bypasses that first opportunity to get admitted into that program to transfer in later. Maybe if some people drop out and such it can let in a few transfers. But that will have to be a limited and competitive process as well.
So I think almost always, if you really want to do some particular major or specialty school that is capacity-limited, your best shot is going to be the first time they admit anyone, and not as a transfer after that point.
Then otherwise–I tend to think honest applications are the safest and easiest applications to write well. You may think you can fake an interest in something you think will get you a strategic advantage, but these readers are basically professional detectors of dishonesty in applications. And so you might fool them, but you might not, which is a lot of risk to take.
Conversely, all the AOs I have seen address this issue totally get that some kids are undecided, some kids have gotten interested in something new toward the end of HS such that they don’t have much of a “resume” for that thing, and so on. So it just isn’t a requirement you need to align your interests going forward with all the things you did in the past.
So I really think you should just play this straight. If you think you might want to do some capacity-restricted program, apply for that program first chance you get, including if it is possible during first-year admissions. Otherwise, just tell them where you really are in terms of your current interests, don’t risk being dishonest.
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Every school is interested in supplying quality students across all their departments, so to some extent it matters. But they are looking beyond what you declare to see if what you are saying makes sense. They are not going to buy that someone who has all their ECs around invest clubs and Wall Street internships is all of a sudden super interested in classics.
Some made the case for my CS student to apply as Undeclared, but my argument against it was that if he did that all of his HS had zero meaning or they’d assume he was trying to game the system, and that is unlikely to be helpful. His CS teacher pointed out that for every CS application there is 10 more undecided ones and he’d actually been differentiating himself by declaring.
Now, if your student spends equal time writing poetry as volunteering as an EMT, go with the humanities option. Whatever you go with, has to be part of the story (which includes ECs and coursework) you tell in your application. The way I look at it, when the AO reads that box you want them to go “Of course!” and not “huh?”
This came up in a podcast recently and they basically said “undecided is the biggest mistake!” Their argument being they are not looking for you to know what you will with your life, in fact, LACs want you to be open minded and flexible. But by selecting undecided, you miss an opportunity to differentiate yourself by saying “this is what I am really interested in right now/this is a topic I really enjoy” and letting the AO find out a little more about yourself.
Thank you so very much for your time and input. This has been very helpful to understand how major choices are looked at-much appreciated!
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