When it comes to college admissions, everyone wants a new angle. But we’ve found one truth in the admissions process: there’s no substitute for good grades. We work with our students to stand out from the stacks of applications through unique and thoughtful essays and resumes that impress, but ultimately, if you’re trying to get into an Ivy League school like Columbia, you must have the GPA to cut it. That said, if you’re a top-caliber high schooler itching to get ahead of the competition, there are a few other tricks you can keep in mind. Honing in on the right college major is one of them.
The Major
We help our students develop resumes that present them as experts in a particular academic area. We find that colleges want to build freshman classes with students who have various academic niches. Throughout high school, you should be cultivating an academic brand that’s reflected in the classes you take, as well as the clubs and activities you participate in. We believe the basis of any “why x school” essay is connecting the dots between a student’s academic area and a corresponding major offered at their choice school. But not all majors are created equally. Some majors are far more popular than others and therefore, will have more students applying with that major in mind. We find it might help to know which majors at hyper-competitive schools like Columbia have fewer students interested in them.
Columbia College (the liberal arts school within Columbia) publishes an annual list of degrees conferred. Among them for the 2020-2021 school year, Political Science was the most popular major with 113 degrees. This list was easy. 14 majors (not including interdisciplinary majors or concentrations) offered at the school had NO students graduate with degrees.
Art History & Visual Arts (0)
Astrophysics (0)
Biochemistry (0)
Biophysics (0)
Computer Science & Mathematics (0)
Data Science (0)
Economics-Philosophy (0)
Economics-Political Science (0)
Economics-Statistics (0)
Environmental Science (0)
Mathematics Statistics (0)
Neuroscience and Behavior (0)
Political Science-Statistics (0)
Portuguese (0)
Honorable mentions for majors with low participation include Dance, Russian Languages and Culture, Russian Literature and Culture, German Literature and Cultural, History, French, and Francophone Studies.
What we’ve discovered is that students may be able to have a leg up on the competition by honing in on a major that fits within their academic area of expertise and have fewer graduates (and thus applicants) in a normal year. In theory, you should be competing with fewer students for open positions. As we mentioned at the top, there is no substitute for hard work and solid grades, but there are some things a strong candidate can do to stand out.
Need help identifying an academic area of interest? Call us. We’re great at helping students build a unique brand.