Doe major matter at top schools?

[Anonymous]

I understand some areas are super competitive. Like engineering or CS.

But let's say you're a humanities kid who is equally interested in Econ and English and have EC in both areas. Does applying as an English major over Econ increase your odds?

if so, is this true even at schools like HYP that admit by college, not major?

[Anonymous]

It matters, as you say, if you are applying to engineering or CS, or other direct admit programs, like Wharton. You can otherwise try to game it, but (1) a smaller major might have a corresponding smaller faculty, not a student shortfall, and (2) many colleges ask you to list more than one "potential major" choice, even when they say something like, ".... knowing that many students will change their intended major...."

[Anonymous]

English vs econ, doesn't matter for admission to top schools.

Note that econ requires calculus. Econ can, and should for most, be a quantitative major.

[Anonymous]

it depends upon the school. GMU, for example, has an econ department that OOS students come to VA for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it depends upon the school. GMU, for example, has an econ department that OOS students come to VA for.

It's funny because GMU has one economist who is often quoted about how useless college has become...can't remember his name, but a pretty famous guy.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it matters in terms of outcomes and job placement. If your kid is going on to grad school straightaway, it does not matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it depends upon the school. GMU, for example, has an econ department that OOS students come to VA for.

It's funny because GMU has one economist who is often quoted about how useless college has become...can't remember his name, but a pretty famous guy.

GMU is not composed of the best and brightest, PP, I hope you realize that. Not even in their Econ department. Of course students cross states lines to get into college. That does not mean the GMU Econ is excellent. It means their other choices are even worse.

[Anonymous]

I think it does matter because schools, while recognizing many kids will change major, want to ensure they have kids for all their departments. The Ivys could fill their classes with all very top stem kids but they won’t do that. The schools will see through some CS kid claiming to be an aspiring English major but they are aiming to have a balanced group of students among the disciplines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it depends upon the school. GMU, for example, has an econ department that OOS students come to VA for.

It's funny because GMU has one economist who is often quoted about how useless college has become...can't remember his name, but a pretty famous guy.

profound comment.

[Anonymous]

It’s ranked #74 in economics. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it depends upon the school. GMU, for example, has an econ department that OOS students come to VA for.

It's funny because GMU has one economist who is often quoted about how useless college has become...can't remember his name, but a pretty famous guy.

GMU is not composed of the best and brightest, PP, I hope you realize that. Not even in their Econ department. Of course students cross states lines to get into college. That does not mean the GMU Econ is excellent. It means their other choices are even worse.

Try again. What GMU has done is brilliant. It HAS taken the best and brightest from the DMV regtion to teach there - Econ, Law, business. THAT's why students get the internships that no other university can. https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/gmu-economics-professors-stand-up-for-academic-freedom-and-merit/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it does matter because schools, while recognizing many kids will change major, want to ensure they have kids for all their departments. The Ivys could fill their classes with all very top stem kids but they won’t do that. The schools will see through some CS kid claiming to be an aspiring English major but they are aiming to have a balanced group of students among the disciplines.

And Econ is another very competitive field with lots of interest these days. Not only does a school probably have too many Econ applicants, they will likely be evaluated differently because they’ll need to show math ability. But again, a school can probably tell if you’re an Econ business bro masquerading as an English major. But if you have plenty to support English major, yeah, I’d apply that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it depends upon the school. GMU, for example, has an econ department that OOS students come to VA for.

It's funny because GMU has one economist who is often quoted about how useless college has become...can't remember his name, but a pretty famous guy.

profound comment.

Bryan Caplan…he’s famous for an economist…which means he’s not famous at all.

[Anonymous]

I'm working with an admissions consultant from an elite school, and YES it does matter. In fact, it's one of the most important components of the application.

Elite colleges lie when they say "major choice doesn't factor into admissions." No college will admit 70% of their students as engineering/CS/pre-med/Econ.

They need students to study humanities, arts, etc. There is a considerable admissions bump for very humanities-oriented students, because those departments are starving for interest right now.

Stanford even created a summer program to recruit and identify humanities-oriented high schoolers. https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/14/stanfords-summer-humanities-institute-brings-talented-humanities-students-to-campus/

[Anonymous]

Both of my kids were kind of like this-- multiple interests and equally likely to go various directions.

For the purpose of the app, I told them to commit to one of them (any one of their choosing) for the purposes of applications, knowing they can switch once they get there.

They ended up kind of homing in on their preferred major while writing essays-- one major was much better linked to their activities, easier to justify as a passion, etc.

One actually chose engineering for these purposes and switched almost immediately to econ. The point wasn't to game the system but to write a coherent story in the application.

At top schools, unless applying to a separate engineering or business school, I don't think choice of major matters, since students can switch majors instantaneously. But passion for their intended studies does matter (I think).