D26 interested in biology as a major. Does this increase, decrease, or have no impact on her admission chances at schools that require applicants to declare a major? We’ve heard that business, bio, and nursing are top three hot and most competitive majors. Knowing our D, she may change to another major after discovering options in college. Any suggestions on how to navigate?
Depends on the school. Can you share what schools is she looking at?
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It depends on the school.
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It really varies widely. Some schools admit by major and, in a subset of those, Biology might be impacted or have higher bar/lower admission rate. Many admit into specific colleges within the university instead of by major - but Biology is sometimes in a lower admission-rate STEM college and sometimes it is in a more general L&S pool (like UCLA) etc
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Thanks for your reply! University of North Carolina, Georgetown, and University of Wisconsin.
UNC was not an issue for my D.
Are you in state or OOS?
OOS. Did your D apply declaring bio at UNC? Thanks!
For Biology - I believe Wisconsin-Madison just admits to the University overall and you officially declare once there.
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She initially applied as a nutritional sciences major, which is actually a more competitive major than bio as it is in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, which has a competitive entry process.
All students apply for their major during sophomore year…so even though she applied as nutritional sciences she was not yet in Gillings- that was a separate application process sophomore year.
She was accepted to Gillings- nutritional sciences- and decided she didn’t like it. She switched to biology and it wasn’t a problem at all. Maybe it changed (IDK) but at that time anybody was able to be a bio major.
IMO the bigger hurdle is applying OOS. My D was OOS if you have any questions.
Agree with that….8% OOS acceptance rate. Thanks for your help!
Will take any and all advice about GU and UW-Madison too.
If you have any questions about being OOS or being a bio major please ask.
At Georgetown, Biology isn’t regarded as a highly competitive major compared to say Business or International Relations. Still a tough admit.
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Thank you! We are looking for any way to stand out and know that’s a tall order OOS. She’s applied EA and sending her first semester grades Jan 15. Not sure there is anything more she can do but wait until March…..
Good luck with all of the schools on the list. It looks like she will be ok as a bio major. Has she applied already to UNC?
Yes….she did EA (which I think means we’ll actually hear in Feb.)
Good luck!
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Depends on the school.
Note that if the desired major is more selective, that is because it is filled to departmental capacity. Enrolling as undeclared or another major and then switching to the more selective major would require another admission process, usually based on college grades.
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If I understand correctly, it looks like a major is declared at a later date at all of the schools you listed. This will give her time to decide and should not impact admissions, imo.
Schools know that it is common for students to change their major.
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Ideally would be good to hear of any first-hand experience or knowledge about how a major impacted admission at UW-Madison or Georgetown (thanks to @twogirls for the UNC-Chapel Hill intel). Thanks!
Based on what I have read, applying to Wisconsin as a biology major will not impact admissions, and it is not a restricted major. There is a possibility that it might impact admissions slightly at Georgetown. Somebody else might be able to elaborate.
Did your daughter apply to other schools? Did she apply as a biology major to all of them?
As far as navigating the process, imo she should put the major she wants. She might change her mind, she might not.