History Major Advantages for URMs?

Applying to College
1

<p>Alright, I’m looking at a graph displaying ethnicity/race of students receiving bachelor’s degrees in history in 2004-05. Almost 85% are white, with around 4.5% Asian, 6% Latino, and 5% black. Even though for example Asians are typically overrepresented in colleges, would it be easier for asians to get in at some schools if applying as a history major? Seeing as how the national percentage of asians is 4.4%, and typically a lot higher than that in universities, would this have any impact on college admissions? I’m interested because the typical URMs in Black and Latino populations are even lower for history, and most significantly, the percentage of asians is dramatically lower? Would URM history major applicants enjoy any degree of advantage? Are there any schools that do racial quota/affirmative actions stuff specifically looking at a particular department or major? I heard engineering schools are easier to get into for girls for similar reasons. And before anyone says that it isn’t a <em>major</em> factor, I fully understand that it won’t make or break an app, just curious as to how affirmative action stuff like this works.</p>

<p><a href=“http://blog.historians.org/images/125.jpg[/url]”>http://blog.historians.org/images/125.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

2

<p>lol! No. Majors like history are too easily changed. An average college student changes his or her major several times during the four years of college. This is not like England where your major is your life during college. You get no advantage whatsoever.</p>

3

<p>While that certainly is true, I would imagine that an adcom could discern genuine passion for a certain major?</p>

4

<p>

Yes, they could. While typically anticipated majors have no bearing at all on an applicant’s admissions, for the reason Reddune stated, if the applicant can support a genuine interest in the major (e.g. through independent research projects, ECs, etc.) then it could help the applicant get in, especially if the school is known for that particular major.</p>