Anonymous wrote:How much do colleges care about the major you declare when they admit you? Any real intel on this?

NP. I am curious about this too. On 4th one hand, as a parent I hear that highest rigor in math and science is more important when applying for STEM majors (within Arts and Sciences) or for Engineering. On the other hand, folks on DCUM often say that the declared major of interest is not important in the admissions decision. So, if DC declares history vs declaring Chemistry, will it not matter what the training in high school has emphasized. Intuitively, I would think that AOs would care more about science rigor if the student was interest in science/engg. Is this not the case? Should those declaring history be taking highest rigor courses too?

Spend your time visiting safety schools or others with an ED advantage. Narrow in based on school size and location (north/south/urban/rural).

Anonymous wrote:How much do colleges care about the major you declare when they admit you? Any real intel on this?

It only matters if one is applying to a specific program within a college or university.

For example, if you are applying to Ross or Wharton as an undergrad, then you will be evaluated differently than applying to Arts and Sciences at the same school.

OP, you have received some good advice in this thread. Let me add to it. Based on record, there are not any schools that should be taken out of consideration in terms of grades and score and rigor.

Obviously there are a ton of highly competitive schools which have single digit admission rates. So the key is to not fall in love with those schools at the expense of other fantastic schools that may share similar attributes.

For example, we see a lot of people apply to "all" of the Ivys. But this is crazy because those schools can be wildly different in their curriculum (Brown- open to Colombia's core) or setting - rural (Dartmouth) urban (harvard/columbia/penn) or Suburban (Princeton)

So the more important questions are things like:

Urban versus rural
Big versus medium or small
What part of the country?


If you can get through those three questions, you can narrow a list pretty quickly from those common attributes.

You also want to look at whether the school is on a Semester or "quarter" system, because different kids can handle those experiences differently.

She has a high GPA but it's not the highest rigor. That matters a lot. Be careful where you ED.

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Anonymous wrote:Any major or career in mind ?

Economics/Environmental studies

Sorry did not notice this before. That’s one stereotypical female major and one cliche, high in demand major. Go down a level.

Thanks. The problem is, of course, in aligning ECs with intended majors. There isn't too much flexibility there. If ECs are enviro/econ based, signaling English as intended major would appear deceptive, no??

I think so. Don’t get me wrong, plenty of great options with those interests. She should get into Middlebury, which is great for those majors, though the question would be if it should be ED1 or ED2. Probably would not ED1 to Brown as a female. Dartmouth, ED1 is maybe OK…

Middlebury is quite an easier admit from the Big3--like down to a 3.6 at our school. A 3.9 can get you into a top 20
for sure. It just depends on who else is applying from your class.

Barnard ED will definitely get in. Lot of Big 3s there of late.

Anonymous wrote:How much do colleges care about the major you declare when they admit you? Any real intel on this?

In general, admissions officers will say they do not consider major in admissions (except when applying to separate schools of engineering, business etc.) In general, I don’t believe them. Reps from individual schools have “unofficially” said it matters, though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any major or career in mind ?

Economics/Environmental studies

Sorry did not notice this before. That’s one stereotypical female major and one cliche, high in demand major. Go down a level.

Thanks. The problem is, of course, in aligning ECs with intended majors. There isn't too much flexibility there. If ECs are enviro/econ based, signaling English as intended major would appear deceptive, no??

I think so. Don’t get me wrong, plenty of great options with those interests. She should get into Middlebury, which is great for those majors, though the question would be if it should be ED1 or ED2. Probably would not ED1 to Brown as a female. Dartmouth, ED1 is maybe OK…

How much do colleges care about the major you declare when they admit you? Any real intel on this?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any major or career in mind ?

Economics/Environmental studies

Sorry did not notice this before. That’s one stereotypical female major and one cliche, high in demand major. Go down a level.

Thanks. The problem is, of course, in aligning ECs with intended majors. There isn't too much flexibility there. If ECs are enviro/econ based, signaling English as intended major would appear deceptive, no??

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any major or career in mind ?

Economics/Environmental studies

Sorry did not notice this before. That’s one stereotypical female major and one cliche, high in demand major. Go down a level.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again. We don't have access to Naviance/SCOIR data yet. Assuming that HYPSM's are generally super top (close to 4.0 kids) and folks with solid academics and legacy/donor and/or URM type status? If so, is it best for DC to just forget about HYPSM?

Would not waste time with HYPSM. MIT is not happening. And without a significant hook, neither is HYPS.

But the stats are good enough for anywhere else. Make sure those ECs also demonstrate leadership. Sounds like she is more inclined to go to a university rather than a LAC. Spend spring break visiting campuses to get a better sense of fit and what she might like. Maybe go South - Duke, Vanderbilt, WashU. Or to the Midwest - Northwestern, Chicago, Michigan, Notre Dame. Schools in PA - Penn - and NY - Columbia, NYU - can be done over weekends. I think schools in NE like Dartmouth and Cornell should only be visited in winter. The April visits are very deceptive.

It does tend to be advantageous to apply ED. But only do so to a school where you really want to go. Often it just clicks when you visit. And look at where this year's seniors are getting in. That will give you sense of patterns and possibilities.

Op here. Thanks. This is the kind of straightforward (blunt!) advice I needed.

Everyone should take this advice. Unhooked kids should mean don’t even think about HYPSM. Do not blow a potential ED1 card on an SCEA pipe dream. Apply ED1 somewhere. What does she want to study? Stereotypical female major (biology, psychology, environmental studies, neuroscience), go down another level. Computer science and business, stereotypical or not, go down a level due to high overall demand.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again. We don't have access to Naviance/SCOIR data yet. Assuming that HYPSM's are generally super top (close to 4.0 kids) and folks with solid academics and legacy/donor and/or URM type status? If so, is it best for DC to just forget about HYPSM?

Would not waste time with HYPSM. MIT is not happening. And without a significant hook, neither is HYPS.

But the stats are good enough for anywhere else. Make sure those ECs also demonstrate leadership. Sounds like she is more inclined to go to a university rather than a LAC. Spend spring break visiting campuses to get a better sense of fit and what she might like. Maybe go South - Duke, Vanderbilt, WashU. Or to the Midwest - Northwestern, Chicago, Michigan, Notre Dame. Schools in PA - Penn - and NY - Columbia, NYU - can be done over weekends. I think schools in NE like Dartmouth and Cornell should only be visited in winter. The April visits are very deceptive.

It does tend to be advantageous to apply ED. But only do so to a school where you really want to go. Often it just clicks when you visit. And look at where this year's seniors are getting in. That will give you sense of patterns and possibilities.

Op here. Thanks. This is the kind of straightforward (blunt!) advice I needed.

Anonymous wrote:HYPSM generally needs extraordinary kids (read national math olympiad winner) or very strong kids with truly excellent hooks. The next tier of schools: Remaining Ivies + others in the top 20 should all be good targets with this record. Nothing is a given, of course. For college tours, I would recommend a mix for junior year. Check out some cold locations (Chicago/Michigan/Cornell/Dartmouth), some small campuses (Swarthmore/Brown) and some city campuses (Columbia?Penn). Maybe one each. Go deeper in the summer.

OP's DC looks pretty strong. HYPSM may be worth a try but without much expectation at all. For the rest, everything is possible. In the end, outside the HYPSM category (which I think have a different cachet), the T-20+ are about all the same. Let DC get a good education and have some fun and maintain some joy of life. Too many kids at top schools are in a mad race to get into I-banking/finance jobs and they grind themselves into complete joylessness. It is simply not worth it. A few years after graduation, does anyone in New York care if you want to Columbia or NYU? I don't think so.