an unpopular fieldAnswered
Heyy I have pretty good stats, GPA, and ranking. the thing is, my spike/theme and intended major is pretty "unpopular". I am thinking abt applying as a religious study major (not theology) and I'm not religious. I can barely find any statistics about applicants in this field and calculate chances. ps, I'm an international student. will this actually affect my application (well this is a bit pointless bc my ECs are already based around religious study and global affairs)?
note: I am thinking of applying to top 30 unis and liberal arts colleges like Colby, Smith, and others.
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Your intended major plays little to no role in the admissions process (for most schools). Colleges are well aware that students frequently opt to change their majors, especially in their sophomore year. Statistics indicate that one in every three students end up changing their majors.
But again, it depends on the school. In the case of large public universities (such as the UCs), they want to meet a certain number annually so they will take the intended major into consideration. If you want to switch your major though, that is where the problem comes in. Also, some schools have more competitive majors (especially highly ranked schools). It is harder to get into Upenn as a business major than let's say chemistry.
Look at it this way. If a less popular major would increase admissions odds, then most students would apply to these majors as a way to game the system and get accepted into the school.
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hi! thanks for ur info! but my question is will the intended major be too "unpopular" and thus negatively affect my application? thx again!