As a spinoff of another thread here I’m curious as to what the top students seem to be majoring in. As I mentioned on the top colleges chosen thread there seems to be very few opting for a Williams or Amherst. At my S’s school top 2 were pre law(Georgetown) and Engineering(UF).
I know the top ten kids from my DDs class in 2006. Most of them switched majors multiple times in college. Most entered college as undeclared. There were two engineering majors…who entered as engineering majors. One didn’t make it In college a full year.
@moscott just curious…what exactly is “prelaw”?
Sorry should have been a hyphen:
@thumper1 So what would be your guess as to why most of the top graduating students aren’t choosing the likes of Williams, Amherst etal?
Like @thumper1 stated, many kids change majors. During my daughter’s first year she must have stated at least 5 times what she was going to major in (english, History, psychology, neuropsych, government) and would change her mind and consider something as she took classes. Pre-law is not a major because you can essentially major in anything and and go to law school
The 2 most biggest factors are LSAT and GPA (D, who was accepted at both Williams and Amherst but went elsewhere ultimately was a religion major who went to law school and is now working as an attorney). Her roommate at Law school , was an english major at Amherst and she has friends from Williams who have majored in a variety of things who are now doctors, lawyers, teachers, working at non-profits, etc.
I’ve heard admission officer say that about half of the students apply undecided and about half of those coming in with a major end up switching it while they are at college.
Why are you asking me about top students not attending Amherst and Williams from my area?
Did I say no one ever matriculated there? No. I said no one in the top 10 from my DDs class matriculated there…in 2006.
Yes of course they change majors…frequently. However I’m curious what their intended major was/is for most top 10 students and why so few are choosing top LA colleges. And yes pre-law is not a major but that is what he intends to major in graduate school. That said being from Florida I’m not sure why he chose Georgetown since his undergrad school doesn’t matter as much imo.
We live in a tiny and small New England town. Many students from our HS want to go to either larger colleges like ou flagship, or places in larger cities…our town is 5000 or less. So…many of or top students apply further afield, because they can. And they want larger colleges…and towns than where Williams be Amherst are located (and yes, I know that Amherst is near a lot of other colleges…but really…it’s a small college).
Adding…a lot of our top 10 students also apply where they cannget merit aid…and that is NOT a happening at Amherst or Williams.
@thumper1 Not your area…across the US. In reading where the top 10 students are attending from the other post almost none listed Williams or Amherst. the vast majority was HYPSM, top state schools and top privates. I don’t recall mentioning anything about from “your” area.
While LSAT and GPA are king when it comes to law school admissions and most say that undergrad/major does not matter for law school admissions, undergrad can and at some firms does matter in the hiring process.
@sybbie719 Interesting to know. I fell into the first category and didn’t realize that was the case. Same for Med school or not so much?
Med school not so much
If CC is any indication, the answer is computer science, computer science, and more computer science. Makes a change from everyone deciding their passions are economics and business, I suppose.
Some Ivies and similar schools make their major distributions publicly available. Examples:
https://oir.yale.edu/sites/default/files/w084_maj_yc_degrees.pdf
https://www.brown.edu/about/administration/institutional-research/factbook/degrees-and-completions
https://studentaffairs.jhu.edu/registrar/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2016/12/Fall_2016-2017_MajorFieldStudy_ASEN_UG_CombinedMajors.pdf
https://oir.harvard.edu/fact-book/degrees-awarded-college
Some interesting trends. For example, note the slumps in majors like history and art history at Brown and the concomitant soaring interest in CS.
@warblersrule That would explain the lack of LAC to an extent for sure.
To further your point…https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/top-ten-college-majors
@moscott most LACs offer comp sci majors.
@OHMomof2 …well yes they do but none ranked in the top 25 which is where top students would be looking to attend.
??? I think most all the top 25 LACs have CS majors. Or maybe you mean some ranking of CS programs? Which one?
@OHMomof2 No the ranking of the top CS programs. Typically MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, CMU, UW, Harvard etc…