<p>JHS,</p>
<p>"…but even taking that into account the chances that any particular applicant will be admitted remain horrible."</p>
<p>This is why I said, “… there might be a small edge to those who credibly declare a humanities field.” I see it as something on the order of a tie-breaker in the admissions process, not as something that dramatically boosts one’s chances from around 5% to, say, even 10% (which is still a 90% rejection rate).</p>
<p>But, I know that some schools are looking for strong humanities kids. My older son was interested in both classics and engineering. Sometimes, the difference in reception by each department at the same school was striking. </p>
<p>“But in recent years, Harvard seems to have been content graduating about 10-15 Classics concentrators per year,…”</p>
<p>I don’t know that they’re content with the number of classics concentrators they have. I know that they have enough faculty to substantially increase their enrollment. I think there are some constraints on the supply side of the equation. It’s great for my son and his fellow concentrators, as few of his classes have had as many as 10 or more students (and they were all classes that could fulfill gen ed requirements), and he’s had a few classes where he was the only undergrad. Last semester, he took a class with two students - him and a grad student. But I sorta wonder whether Harvard might not have wished to have had maybe four or six students in that class.</p>
<p>I think Harvard views the current number of concentrators as the minimum to keep the department viable, and maintain its place in the academic world.</p>
<p>I think that there are not only much larger numbers of STEM kids out there than humanities kids, but I think that often, the STEM kids are better prepped in their respective areas of interest in high school. There are hundreds of high schools in the metro area in which I live. At least a dozen of those schools regularly offer math courses beyond AP Calculus BC. But not a single school in the region regularly offers anything beyond AP Latin, and nearly none offer any Greek at all.</p>
<p>My older son eventually dropped the engineering side of the equation, and is strictly doing classics. It’s his strength, and he loves it. His academic advisor told him, do what you do best and love. That’s the best advice for students as they apply to college. But, if what you love and do best happens to be a humanities field, and you have a history of very high achievement in the field, at least at some colleges, it may give a slight advantage.</p>