Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the college does not admit by major, then understand that the claimed intended major might not impact admissions chances at all.

Naive uneducated view of what happens in the room

💯 agree. Read some articles on “strategic positioning” and listen to some podcasts

our college counselor called admissions at our dc’s ed slac and was told to put undecided in all 3 slots since dc doesn’t know their exact field of interest, likely stem. I was nervous about this strategy but they got in so maybe it helped that admissions could imagine them potentially in an undersubscribed major. Obviously this doesn’t work for the schools where you need to indicate a choice

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the college does not admit by major, then understand that the claimed intended major might not impact admissions chances at all.

Naive uneducated view of what happens in the room

+1

From a former AO at Ivy:
Admissions officers look at the student’s major before reading the application (remember how an AO reads the app; order matters). They are trained to look for evidence in the application to back up that major choice.

Probably not as big a deal at a LAC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the college does not admit by major, then understand that the claimed intended major might not impact admissions chances at all.

Naive uneducated view of what happens in the room

+1

From a former AO at Ivy:
Admissions officers look at the student’s major before reading the application (remember how an AO reads the app; order matters). They are trained to look for evidence in the application to back up that major choice.

Anonymous wrote:If the college does not admit by major, then understand that the claimed intended major might not impact admissions chances at all.

Naive uneducated view of what happens in the room

at least at vandy, you can then do the ole switcheroo to HOD (their version of a mgmt major) very very easily

best example is a male applying as an education major to UVA or Vandy. Almost impossible NOT to get in..

If the college does not admit by major, then understand that the claimed intended major might not impact admissions chances at all.

Education

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oversubscribed = stem (including enviro sciences and math); business; engineering; CS

Disagree on the environmental science. This is definitely an under-subscribed major.

Looking through pages of instagrams posted here, private schools or public schools, I have not seen many kids declaring environmental science. Math, yes, there are quite a number of kids going for that major.

I would think it varies somewhat by school. DD is an environmental science major and only applied to schools (mainly LACs) where ES was one of their largest programs. It seems a very popular major among the kids I know in her grade (she's now a college sophomore) but that probably just reflects our common interests. Those kids generally are not at super-selective colleges but are at schools where ES is a strength.

I do wonder, given the political/funding trends, if there is a pull back this year on kids declaring that as a major.

Looking at the data on degrees conferred in College Navigator could help you see if a certain major is popular or not at a particular college.

Environmental science is tricky, and I can see why it's not popular. It's still a stem major that excludes out humanities kids. Then you need ECs demonstrating genuine interest in ES. Kids declaring ES in their application without corresponding ECs will not get through.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oversubscribed = stem (including enviro sciences and math); business; engineering; CS

Disagree on the environmental science. This is definitely an under-subscribed major.

Looking through pages of instagrams posted here, private schools or public schools, I have not seen many kids declaring environmental science. Math, yes, there are quite a number of kids going for that major.

I would think it varies somewhat by school. DD is an environmental science major and only applied to schools (mainly LACs) where ES was one of their largest programs. It seems a very popular major among the kids I know in her grade (she's now a college sophomore) but that probably just reflects our common interests. Those kids generally are not at super-selective colleges but are at schools where ES is a strength.

I do wonder, given the political/funding trends, if there is a pull back this year on kids declaring that as a major.

Looking at the data on degrees conferred in College Navigator could help you see if a certain major is popular or not at a particular college.

At an LAC? The research funding wouldn’t be an issue. Most of it is self funded. The issue comes that you can only afford so many students in lab courses and summer research projects.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oversubscribed = stem (including enviro sciences and math); business; engineering; CS

Disagree on the environmental science. This is definitely an under-subscribed major.

Looking through pages of instagrams posted here, private schools or public schools, I have not seen many kids declaring environmental science. Math, yes, there are quite a number of kids going for that major.

I would think it varies somewhat by school. DD is an environmental science major and only applied to schools (mainly LACs) where ES was one of their largest programs. It seems a very popular major among the kids I know in her grade (she's now a college sophomore) but that probably just reflects our common interests. Those kids generally are not at super-selective colleges but are at schools where ES is a strength.

I do wonder, given the political/funding trends, if there is a pull back this year on kids declaring that as a major.

Looking at the data on degrees conferred in College Navigator could help you see if a certain major is popular or not at a particular college.

Weird I thought people take those undersubscribed majors to aim for medical schools?

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately in today's economy, undersubscribed majors are being eliminated.

This. The recommendation of applying to undersubscribed majors to stand out can backfire if a year or two down the road the school drops that major for lack of interest.

If your kid is truly interested in a niche subject that is undersubscribed at their schools of interest, definitely ask questions about recent eliminations of majors, how that process was handled, what they did with students currently in that major, etc. You could try asking if the undersubscribed major is on the chopping block for the future, but they aren’t likely to admit to it (if they even know).

For a very niche interest, the best option is to research colleges where that interest is NOT undersubscribed.

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