I am a student from India. I am interested in applied science especially the computing part. I have a nice profile for Basic Sciences including Computer Science but I am confused with choosing my majors on the applications. I am making this point in my essays but I still want to be clear to choose the best suited majors at the colleges I am applying to. I am fascinated by Computational Biology, Bioengineering-genetics, Electrical engineering, Applied Physics, Material Engineering and Geological and environmental computation & modelling. Can anyone suggest courses which match my interests to the most without adding unnecessary workload on me (because I want to do research at college)? Also if you could tell me the colleges which are liberal to me exploring programs to make my final choices. I need aid for college as well. How do these decisions of choosing multiple things affect my career prospects? Does putting up so many areas of interests have any negative? Also there are colleges and universities which don’t give enough space to mention all of this and so I need to choose a major that is closest and best passing.
I have interest and experience in web development and am one of the best students in Earth science and physics in my country. (olympiad)
Most colleges in the U.S. will allow you to explore programs before you make your final choice, although engineering departments will give you less. That’s because you usually have to apply to engineering programs AND because they are so strictly sequenced, you have to begin them your freshman year unless you can take 5+ years to graduate.
So the first question is whether or not you really have to major in engineering or whether a regular physical or natural sciences major can satisfy your needs.
The second thing is that some of the topic areas are too specific. There are few places in the U.S. you can major in computational biology at the undergrad level, but you CAN just major in biology and minor in CS or math, or major in computer science and minor in biology (or double). Similarly, “geological and environmental computation and modeling” is too specific for an undergrad major. Some places will have geology or geosciences majors, and some places will have environmental sciences majors, and some of those places will have good coursework and training in computation and modeling. But again, you’ll probably have to major + minor or take some additional coursework in other departments to fulfill those needs (which is a good thing!). Many universities don’t even have applied physics - they have physics, and it’s up to you to decide which classes are better for “applied.”
You can also just apply undecided. At the vast majority of American schools, which major you specify on your application has zero impact on your chances of admission.
@juillet Thank You for your advice. Just as you said that these are programs are too specific for an undergraduate study can I ask you if I have chances of going into these later with a major in geological sciences or computer science or biology. Are you sure that the choices on the applications have zero impact on the decisions because I am medal winner in IESO 2013 and attended the section camp for IOAA and IChO and I thought that if I am able to cite my interests and strengths together on the application choices it would be better. I don’t have a lot of CS activities on my profile though. Does it make it difficult for me to join a computer science program?
Yes, you do have a chance. If you wanted to do computational biology for an MS or PhD, for example, you could major in biology and take some CS classes or vice versa. If you wanted to do environmental science or geological sciences, a geoscience major or environmental science major or even a chemistry or physics major could be sufficient.
The exception is probably engineering - most people with engineering graduate degrees do engineering on the undergrad level. It’s sometimes possible to segue from physics to engineering, but I don’t know much about that (@xraymancs may know more). Also, switching broad disciplines is harder - majoring in physics and then trying to go to computational biology is going to require a lot more work/time/extra coursework than narrowing from biology into comp bio.
Your choice of major, at most colleges, has zero impact.* However, being able to tie together your interests and intelligently discuss them in your essay will have a major impact. Your major doesn’t necessarily have to match up perfectly with that - colleges understand that most 17-year-olds have multiple interests and are exploring different areas.
And no, college, doesn’t presuppose any background knowledge in CS (or really, anything other than the basic HS curriculum). You can certainly start a major in computer science without having taken any CS courses or having a lot of CS activities on your profile.
*If you are applying to an engineering school/program or a specialized college, this may not be true, and you should check to be sure. Also, at some large public universities some popular majors are impacted, and you can get rejected if you are not competitive for that major even if you would’ve gotten in applying for a different one. But at a general liberal arts university - which are the majority of colleges in the States - you don’t even have to specify your major on your app if you don’t want to.
I agree with @juillet you seem to be fairly conflicted as to a major and so it is in your best interests to apply as undecided. From what you say, you should probably not go into engineering as those majors give very little flexibility in terms of elective courses and it seems like you have a broad range of interests. Also, a CS major will have a minimal science component so if you are interested in applied science and computation, then your best bet is to start in a physical science and then add a lot of elective courses in computation.
Personally i favor physics as it is very broad and touches on a lot of areas of engineering making it possible to move into a graduate engineering program with some remedial coursework. My biophysicist colleagues tell me that they prefer having graduate students who start out in physics because their mathematics foundation is solid and they can pick up the biology they need as graduate students. This is not the same if your interest is on the biochemistry or molecular biology fields where your best bet is to start in biology or chemistry.
Since you are from India, you will have to look carefully for universities which offer financial aid to international students. Not all universities do.
@xraymancs and @juillet I have a problem. I recently got my ACT report and I have received a 30. How adversely does it impact a chance at the top schools. This score was because I had a fever on the testing day but it was still expected to be a 34. While I have submitted a hand-scoring request, I don’t think much is going to change. Please help! I have written very good essays for my selections. What should I now? Have I lost the game?
So your ACT is a 30 composite. How about your Math score? If you have a significantly higher score there you might be a reasonable candidate for some of the less selective [url="<a href=“http://theaitu.org%22%5DAITU%5B/url”>http://theaitu.org"]AITU[/url] schools who are always interested in students with high Mathematics ability. You might even get some merit aid from some of them. As for MIT and Stanford, it is probably not worth applying there as they have very high selectivity and plenty of applicants with higher test scores. My guess is that you would probably be admitted at my university, Illinois Tech with a math score higher than 30.
If you do choose physics, please realize that you can get an excellent physics education with research experience at many universities. If you are planning for a graduate degree, then it does not really matter where you go for your undergraduate degree in physics as long as you take a rigorous curriculum. If you are looking for a job after graduation, then being at a school which has a lot of recruiting contacts helps and the AITU schools are known for engineering and science although, being an international student will restrict your options.
Uhhhhh a 30 ACT score puts you in the 95th percentile of test-takers across the nation. It is an excellent ACT score.
For the relative handful of hypercompetitive universities and colleges in the U.S. - the Harvards, Amhersts, and Berkeleys - a 30 is a bit lowish. For other elite universities and colleges - a group that includes Tufts, Georgetown, Boston College, and USC - you fall right in the middle 50% of accepted applicants. And at the vast majority of American colleges and universities a 30 puts you in the top quarter of applicants.
My advice is to apply to a range of universities; don’t focus only on the top. Make sure you have some good matches and safety schools in the mix. Selecting some excellent safeties should be pretty easy given your high scores.