How important is a hook?

Colleges & Universities University of Chicago
3

<p>I would say no, if only because your intended major is highly subject to change, and Chicago’s old application didn’t even ask you to list a major. (I think common app has you declare). Because we have a core curriculum that carries you through most of first and second year, it would be foolish for Chicago to admit people solely based on what major they said they wanted to do at the outset, because so many kids are going to change their minds.</p>

<p>However, say you are interested in this field for your four years, we <em>do</em> have a lot of research going on in behavioral economics, which sounds right up your alley.</p>

<p>You should know that we have a design-your-own-major program that would fit for you, I think:
<a href=“http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/pdf_09/ISHU.pdf[/url]”>http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/pdf_09/ISHU.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I have four friends who are doing it, and all of them are doing wildly different projects. The one pitfall they’ve found is that they have to explain their project every time somebody asks about their major, so they feel like a major in economics/ISHUM or poly sci/ISHUM is more intelligible to the cocktail party crowd.</p>