How Your Choice Of Major Can Impact Your Ivy League Admissions Odds

Forbes

5 hours ago

Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA - July 18, 2023: Lehman Hall is a Georgian-revival building by Charles ... More Coolidge completed in 1925. Lehman Hall, located in Harvard Yard, is the student center of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS).
Choosing a major is one of the most exciting and consequential decisions in the college admissions process. Not only can a student's choice of program impact their future career path, but it can also have an immediate impact on their college admissions prospects.
While your intended major isn't a binding commitment to a specific academic path, it can play a critical role in shaping how admissions officers evaluate your application. An applicant's intended major tells a story about how they foresee using their background, skillset, and core passions on their college campus and in their future profession. Thus, students shouldn't just apply to a major that initially appeals to their interests or a field they assume is exciting or lucrative; instead, students should devote time to researching their selection strategically.
As applicants weigh their options, here are three key insights to consider about how an intended major can impact a student's odds of admission at top schools:
A Student's Intended Major Should Align with Their Hook
For many students, college is a time to reinvent themselves and try new things. While you might dream of trying new clubs, joining an intramural sports league, or learning a new language, your intended course of study should be a natural continuation of the coursework, extracurricular activities, and independent learning you completed during your high school years.
Starting freshman and sophomore years, students should begin intentionally exploring their interests and narrowing their involvements based on their guiding passions. The foundational interest(s) that students pursue constitute their hook—from the leadership positions they assume in clubs and organizations to the advanced courses they take and summer programs they participate in, a student's applicant profile should clearly demonstrate their hands-on experience with and genuine enthusiasm for their intended area of study.
This does not mean that a student should pursue activities related to only one subject; in fact, some of the most eye-catching and dynamic hooks are those that demonstrate a student's creative, interdisciplinary perspective by bringing together two or more distinct disciplines.
Admissions officers at top schools don't just want to see that a student has a passing fancy for a particular subject—they want to see the demonstrable ways in which they have already engaged with that discipline through hands-on experiences in and outside of the classroom. It is not enough to take a couple of classes or join a school club related to the major you choose during your junior year—top schools expect students to have interned in the profession, conducted independent research with a professor, developed a passion project to use their discipline to better their communities, won competitions, or participated in a related, prestigious, merit-based summer program. Choosing a major that clearly and compellingly corresponds to your hook will show admissions officers that you are knowledgeable about your field and prepared to dive into challenging coursework when you arrive on campus.
Students' interests will likely change and develop throughout high school; some will reach senior year unsure about which major to choose. In these cases, students should focus on telling a clear story through their application so that it doesn't appear as though they have arbitrarily chosen a major in a field in which they lack experience. For instance, a student with an extensive resume of robotics competitions, clubs, and summer programs who initially intended to pursue engineering might discover they are more interested in medicine after taking Anatomy and Physiology. These students might choose to study biomedical engineering, which bridges the gap between their interests in medicine and engineering. Alternatively, they can strategically use their essays to show how the problem-solving skills, detail-oriented mentality, and technical skills they gained have uniquely prepared them for medical study.
Less Popular Majors Can Boost Your Chances—But Only If You've Done Your Research
Given the popularity of majors such as business, psychology, and political science, many students assume that applying to an obscure or unpopular major will boost their odds of admission, as they will be competing against fewer applicants. To a certain extent, this is true—the admissions pool for popular areas of study is often highly saturated. This can make it more challenging for students to catch admissions officers' eyes, whereas it can be easier to stand out in the smaller pool for underenrolled majors.
But this doesn't mean that applying to study Egyptology will guarantee you a spot at your dream school.
Admissions officers can clearly identify a student who has applied to a major solely because of its higher admissions rate. Not only should applicants' major selection clearly align with their hook (meaning that a student with coursework and activities related to physics will make for a poor Egyptology applicant), but they should also demonstrate a depth of knowledge about the nuances of the major to which they are applying (for instance, why they want to pursue Egyptology rather than archaeology or classical studies).
Instead of opting for a lesser-known major because you think it might give you a competitive edge, consider this path only if it makes sense within the broader narrative of your application. A student with years of independent Latin study, a summer internship with a museum of antiquities, and a passion project in the digital humanities diagramming Egyptian papyri is a strong candidate for Egyptology—a student who has spent their high school career preparing for a major in political science who happens to like reading about Egypt in their free time is not.
Look for Niche Programs Within More General Fields
Finally, while students shouldn't pursue a niche or obscure major simply to leverage their chances of acceptance, one of the most effective strategies for major selection is to look at majors offered in subdisciplines of your broader field. For instance, business is a highly saturated major, but if you have a keen interest in music, you might apply to music management or production. Comparative literature is a broad field, but if you know you enjoy Afrocaribbean literature, you might consider applying to Latinx studies. Likewise, Politics, Philosophy, and Economics might offer you a more specific and tailored experience than political science. Finding and educating yourself about these programs requires time, effort, and introspection—students should explore the options available to them, consider the specific niche they hope to fill within their given field, and choose the degree path that most closely aligns with their particular interest within the discipline. Of course, the same program might not be offered at each of the schools to which they are applying, so applicants should research offerings at each school on their list and tailor their applications accordingly.
Choosing a major involves more than simply identifying a topic of interest—it requires students to consider why they are interested in a particular subject and how they hope to uniquely contribute to their field. Starting early, prioritizing introspection, and conducting extensive research will help students not only identify the right program for them, but also maximize their chances of success in the competitive admissions process.