Major choice and strategic positioning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Encouraging my son to major in Latin at a top school. He’s a 4.0 UW gpa at a rigorous school, but a white male with very meh ECs. Hes going to do a dig in the Middle East over the summer, and is volunteering at a museum to try to boost this faux niche interest. He’s going to end up in graduate school, likely for law, anyway so his undergrad major (if it was not going to be science regardless) does not matter.

This. The kids interested in classics are doing A LOT of classics work in high school. It is essentially their sport and their research.

A lot of kids try to get in with classics, not as unique a move as you think.

My friend's son got into Brown as a Classics major (plus was a legacy). He'd also taken Latin all through school, studied Greek independently, participated in competitions/conventions all 4 years, and did, in fact, graduate as a Classics major (and went on to work in IB). I don't think you get much benefit applying as a Classics major if you don't have the transcript and activities to back it up.

Just a Classics major, or a double major in Classics and, say, Econ? This is a crucial distinction. If the first, he should have gotten in and all the power to him (and the legacy or like connections that got him into IB anyhow). If the latter, the school made a mistake: a double major in Econ and Classics, from a school resource standpoint, is the same as yet another Econ major.

But what’s wrong with this? If your kid wants to study two things, where one will be practical, and the other will be a passion, what’s wrong with going for the passion major in your application, assuming you can back it up?

At some schools it’s very easy to double major because of the quarter system. But they only allow you to pick one major. Ex: Northwestern.

So why wouldn’t this kid pick classics if they have extracurriculars, coursework, a narrative that supports classics? I don’t think that’s being deceitful at all if the kid actually is planning to double major and knows this is a more strategic path to admission?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None, if my kid can't get into his desired major at whatever school then that school isn't for us, I'm not going to put him in a position to try to transfer in. The gamesmanship these people go through for bragging rights, you really have problems. Let your kid be a kid and stop trying to work the system.

Yes, I would only do it if it’s absolutely certain there will be no issues getting into the desired major. That has gotten more complicated recently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I see underwater basket weaving a lot, too. What is that a reference to? A meme?

From Wikipedia:

The phrase in its pejorative sense has been used since at least the mid-1950s. According to a 1953 article in the Boston Globe on "Hepster Lingo", "Any snap course in school is 'underwater basket weaving.'" In a letter to the editor of the Los Angeles Times in 1956, a correspondent bemoaned an alleged decline in academic standards among college football programs and mentioned "majoring in underwater basket weaving, or the preparation and serving of smorgasbord, or, particularly at Berkeley, the combined course of anatomy and panty-raiding". The following year, an article in the National Review mentioned that "the bored students in the educationists' courses call those dreary subjects 'underwater basket-weaving courses'", and another year on a newspaper column noted that "One seaside university is bowing to the stern educational demands of the times by eliminating its popular course in underwater basket weaving". An article in the Daily Collegian at Penn State University in 1961 refers to a parody in which "a typical Miami coed majoring in underwater basket weaving was interviewed". An article from 1976 refers to football players so dumb that they had to take underwater basket weaving, and another 1976 article refers to underwater basket-weaving as "an old old family joke".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Encouraging my son to major in Latin at a top school. He’s a 4.0 UW gpa at a rigorous school, but a white male with very meh ECs. Hes going to do a dig in the Middle East over the summer, and is volunteering at a museum to try to boost this faux niche interest. He’s going to end up in graduate school, likely for law, anyway so his undergrad major (if it was not going to be science regardless) does not matter.

This. The kids interested in classics are doing A LOT of classics work in high school. It is essentially their sport and their research.

A lot of kids try to get in with classics, not as unique a move as you think.

My friend's son got into Brown as a Classics major (plus was a legacy). He'd also taken Latin all through school, studied Greek independently, participated in competitions/conventions all 4 years, and did, in fact, graduate as a Classics major (and went on to work in IB). I don't think you get much benefit applying as a Classics major if you don't have the transcript and activities to back it up.

Just a Classics major, or a double major in Classics and, say, Econ? This is a crucial distinction. If the first, he should have gotten in and all the power to him (and the legacy or like connections that got him into IB anyhow). If the latter, the school made a mistake: a double major in Econ and Classics, from a school resource standpoint, is the same as yet another Econ major.

But what’s wrong with this? If your kid wants to study two things, where one will be practical, and the other will be a passion, what’s wrong with going for the passion major in your application, assuming you can back it up?

At some schools it’s very easy to double major because of the quarter system. But they only allow you to pick one major. Ex: Northwestern.

So why wouldn’t this kid pick classics if they have extracurriculars, coursework, a narrative that supports classics? I don’t think that’s being deceitful at all if the kid actually is planning to double major and knows this is a more strategic path to admission?

If passion is authentic, nothing wrong with this plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Encouraging my son to major in Latin at a top school. He’s a 4.0 UW gpa at a rigorous school, but a white male with very meh ECs. Hes going to do a dig in the Middle East over the summer, and is volunteering at a museum to try to boost this faux niche interest. He’s going to end up in graduate school, likely for law, anyway so his undergrad major (if it was not going to be science regardless) does not matter.

This. The kids interested in classics are doing A LOT of classics work in high school. It is essentially their sport and their research.

A lot of kids try to get in with classics, not as unique a move as you think.

My friend's son got into Brown as a Classics major (plus was a legacy). He'd also taken Latin all through school, studied Greek independently, participated in competitions/conventions all 4 years, and did, in fact, graduate as a Classics major (and went on to work in IB). I don't think you get much benefit applying as a Classics major if you don't have the transcript and activities to back it up.

Just a Classics major, or a double major in Classics and, say, Econ? This is a crucial distinction. If the first, he should have gotten in and all the power to him (and the legacy or like connections that got him into IB anyhow). If the latter, the school made a mistake: a double major in Econ and Classics, from a school resource standpoint, is the same as yet another Econ major.

But what’s wrong with this? If your kid wants to study two things, where one will be practical, and the other will be a passion, what’s wrong with going for the passion major in your application, assuming you can back it up?

At some schools it’s very easy to double major because of the quarter system. But they only allow you to pick one major. Ex: Northwestern.

So why wouldn’t this kid pick classics if they have extracurriculars, coursework, a narrative that supports classics? I don’t think that’s being deceitful at all if the kid actually is planning to double major and knows this is a more strategic path to admission?

This has good advice and a reminder that you are a Classics applicant, not a Classics major.
https://www.saraharberson.com/blog/determine-...on-your-applications

[Anonymous]

bumping up for the poster looking for details on philosophy as an undersubscribed major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this why on the Instagram posts the private school kids have majors like English or anthropology or migration studies and all the public school students have math or science majors, computer science or engineering?

Yikes. But so true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this why on the Instagram posts the private school kids have majors like English or anthropology or migration studies and all the public school students have math or science majors, computer science or engineering?

Yikes. But so true.

Yes. College counseling at privates is so much better, obviously, and starts early. And many of those kids also have private counselors, some starting in middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this why on the Instagram posts the private school kids have majors like English or anthropology or migration studies and all the public school students have math or science majors, computer science or engineering?

Yikes. But so true.

Yes. College counseling at privates is so much better, obviously, and starts early. And many of those kids also have private counselors, some starting in middle school.

At a private. No one has counselors in middle school. That's a striver thing that public school parents do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this why on the Instagram posts the private school kids have majors like English or anthropology or migration studies and all the public school students have math or science majors, computer science or engineering?

Yikes. But so true.

Yes. College counseling at privates is so much better, obviously, and starts early. And many of those kids also have private counselors, some starting in middle school.

No, our family is at a private HS that is well known nationally and our college counseling doesn't start until 11th grade. Our private school CCs are adamant that starting in 10th grade or earlier puts the emphasis on college entry and not HS itself and it burns kids out too early on the college application process. They say our kids should be engaged and focused on their HS courses and experience until mid-way through 11th grade. That's when they start 1:1 meetings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this why on the Instagram posts the private school kids have majors like English or anthropology or migration studies and all the public school students have math or science majors, computer science or engineering?

Yikes. But so true.

Yes. College counseling at privates is so much better, obviously, and starts early. And many of those kids also have private counselors, some starting in middle school.

No, our family is at a private HS that is well known nationally and our college counseling doesn't start until 11th grade. Our private school CCs are adamant that starting in 10th grade or earlier puts the emphasis on college entry and not HS itself and it burns kids out too early on the college application process. They say our kids should be engaged and focused on their HS courses and experience until mid-way through 11th grade. That's when they start 1:1 meetings.

Same at our non-DMV private. They JUST started doing meetings in the 2nd semester, 10th to focus on summer programming and curriculum. Not so much college counseling, but people want to plan college trips in 10th and 11th, do impactful things over the summer.
But they do not focus on college lists etc until Jan of junior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Several podcasts discuss “strategic positioning”.

Search apple?

From YCBK today about Duke and institutional priorities in admissions (recorded in Jan I think:

“But even so, there's some things I couldn't share, because if Duke indicates that, you know, we have this under-subscribed major and we might have to lay some faculty off because we're only getting four to six kids in this class, unless we get more interest here, then they're going to have people lining up to pretend they're interested in that major.

Right, yeah, of course, of course, yeah.

So there's some things you really can't do, because people will just try to game the system.

Yeah.

Or if it's a school that's trying to get more full-pay, not that Duke could have this problem, but trying to get more full-pay families or more people that have donor potential. How does that sound to say that in front of a group of people that need financial aid? Like they'll get out and walk out on you.”

From Your College Bound Kid | Admission Tips, Admission Trends & Admission Interviews: Is It Ever A Bad Idea To Submit A Test Score That Is Too High, Feb 26, 2025

The million-dollar question:
how do you find out what these departments are that need more students/majors?

[Anonymous]

What is the most niche academic interest you've heard about this year?

I've seen Russian Lit & Language mentioned by my senior a few times regarding someone else in the class.

Also, Viking/Norse studies/Medieval Studies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the most niche academic interest you've heard about this year?

I've seen Russian Lit & Language mentioned by my senior a few times regarding someone else in the class.

Also, Viking/Norse studies/Medieval Studies.

A few years ago my neighbor's kid went to the University of Oklahoma to study entomology with a specific professor.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know anyone who has done this IRL at our suburban public.

I do know kids who have more niche interests and majors but the interests are completely organic.