YesLetter: Applications: Choosing A Major: Articles

A "Major" Decision

“What are you planning on majoring in?” It's one of the most common questions asked of high school seniors. Guidance counselors ask it to determine which schools may suit you best. Parents ask it to assure themselves that their children are thinking about the future. Friends ask it out of curiosity. But one of the most important sources of this heavy question is the college admissions committee. Whether on an application or in an interview, this question usually does—and perhaps should—get much more thought and cause a bit more anxiety than in any other scenario.

So what should you tell them? Usually the truth. Your genuine interest will probably have shown in your experience and performance in the subject during high school—unless you’re set on conquering a subject in which you have shown inadequacy in the past, in which case you should either be certain your determination and ability to persevere is abundantly apparent, or simply say you’re undecided and will major in “whatever seems the most interesting” after having taken a variety of courses.

Be wary about marking a major on your application simply because the major seems to be “underpopulated” at the school to which you’re applying. Statistics that break down how many undergraduates major in each of its academic departments are readily available from most colleges and universities, and some parents and applicants use those numbers to assess which departments need more students; the applicant then marks on the application that he or she wants to major in a particularly small department, regardless of whether or not he or she feels any interest at all in actually selecting such a major. This “strategy” can backfire in a couple ways. First, a department that seems underpopulated relative to other departments may not truly suffer from a disproportionate lack of interest that deviates from the school’s own expectations and emphasis.

So, a superficial glance at the numbers says nothing about which departments are or are not truly underpopulated. But even if those numbers could be trusted, the logic behind using them generally can’t. This is because admissions officers at selective schools are not simply looking to fill needy departments with any students—they are looking to fill them with qualified students. Merely marking interest says nothing for a student’s capacity to enrich a department. In fact, it may even smack of insincerity if your previous academic courses and activities do not support the selection, which is usually the case for obscure and underpopulated departments; not many high schoolers have a strong background in women’s studies unless they actively sought to learn more about the subject and became involved in related organizations.

Instead, you should select a major that genuinely interests you and in which you have a solid background as a result. If you love politics, have served as a Boy’s State representative, been elected student government president, and assisted in a re-election campaign for your local congressman, don’t shy away from marking political science just because 30% of the school’s current undergraduates are already majoring in the subject. If you’ve excelled in your chemistry courses, participated in summer research, and have included a letter of recommendation from your chemistry teacher who glows about your intellectual curiosity, don’t be afraid to say you’d like to major in chemistry simply because you’re afraid that other applicants who state the same may have higher SAT II scores. And so, of course, if you’re an excellent writer whose work as a high schooler has been syndicated in national publications, don’t try to give admissions offers the impression that you’ll beef up their “underpopulated” molecular biology department; they’ll know you’re much more suited for fiction.