Why some majors are harder to get into than the college itself

Every spring, headlines flash the same grim statistics: Harvard admits 3.6 percent. Stanford drops below four. UCLA breaks another record. Parents are panting, students are desperate, and counselors are taking aspirin.

But here’s what few people realize: these famous figures often hide an even harsher reality. Acceptance rates vary not only by college but also by “specialty,” sometimes dramatically. Getting into a computer science or nursing program at a university can be much more difficult than getting into the university itself.

So why don’t universities publish these figures? And how can families find out about them?

The data problem

Most universities prefer to advertise a single acceptance rate, partly because it’s simple and partly because it protects departments from unflattering comparisons. Many institutions don’t even admit by specialty.

Students apply to a broad division – “Arts and Sciences,” for example – and then declare a major. This makes it impossible to assign an admissions rate to, say, economics versus English.

Others admit by major but treat the details as internal. Ministerial candidate pools may be small, and disclosing the data could expose individuals or confuse outsiders who do not understand capacity limits.

Universities also fear that publishing this data could lead to tactical applications: students choose “easier” specializations to get into them, then change once enrolled.

Yet some large public universities – particularly the University of California system – are refreshingly transparent. UCLA publishes a “detailed profile of freshmen and transfers by major,” showing the number of applicants, admissions and average GPAs. A quick examination reveals a truth that many families already suspect: it is much easier to enroll in sociology or history than as a future engineer.

Looking for hidden numbers

For students applying this fall, the search for reliable data begins with three resources: the college’s “admissions site,” the “Common Data Set” and its “Institutional Research Office.”

1. Admissions Websites

Research “[College Name] admission profile by specialty. Universities sometimes hide gold mines behind boring bureaucratic titles like “Statistical Summary” or “Enrollment Management Report.” Public systems such as California, Texas, and Virginia frequently have division-level acceptance rates (engineering vs. liberal arts vs. business).

2. The common dataset

Almost all major American universities file this standardized report each year. It lists the total number of applicants, admissions, and enrolled students – usually broken down by undergraduate “school” rather than by major. It’s not perfect, but it often shows which divisions are more selective. If a college’s overall admission rate is 15 percent but its engineering school admits only 7 percent, you’ve already learned something valuable.

3. Institutional Search Pages

Hidden in the University’s back pages are internal dashboards – downloadable PDFs and spreadsheets used by administrators and faculty planners. Google searches such as > “site:duke.edu admissions by major institutional research” can yield surprisingly detailed reports.

What the numbers reveal

At some institutions, a major can change your chances more than test scores. 2024 data from UC San Diego, for example, shows that computer science admits about 9% of applicants, while psychology admits 34%.

Purdue’s College of Engineering operates in the low teens, while liberal arts tops out at 60 percent. Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, ranked among the top 10 undergraduate business programs, is much more selective than the university’s more than 80 percent admissions rate suggests.

The same is true at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Grainger College of Engineering admits about 15 percent of applicants, while the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences can accommodate triple that number. Even within engineering, computer science is extremely competitive.

Among private universities just below the Ivy League, similar trends hold true.

Northeastern University, now a national power, admits about 15 percent overall, but only about 7 percent in computer science. Boston University, with an overall admission rate of 14 percent, is closer to 5 percent for its most popular programs in engineering and health sciences.

Cornell’s data tells the same story at the graduate level: The College of Engineering admits about 6 percent, while the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and Hotel Administration hovers between 10 and 17 percent. The point is clear: selectivity is a moving target, depending on what you plan to study.

Majors impacted and “in high demand”

California adds another difficulty with its concept of “impacted majors” — programs so crowded that they require higher GPAs or separate applications even after you are admitted to campus. Nursing, business and IT top the list. The state publishes these lists annually, a rare gesture of transparency that other systems would do well to copy.

In the Midwest, Indiana, Purdue and Illinois have similar bottlenecks. In the Northeast, Northeastern’s combined engineering and computer science programs have become more difficult to master than many Ivy divisions. Even the University of Wisconsin, once known for its broad access, now reports significantly lower admission rates in engineering and data science.

For parents and students, the message is sobering: The real competition may not be “between” colleges, but “within” them.

Make sense of it all

Should students “game” the system by applying to an easier major? Not necessarily. Admissions officers know this trick and often review applications holistically. A student with extensive experience in robotics competitions suddenly applying to major in philosophy will raise eyebrows.

A better approach is “enlightened realism.” Understand that majors differ in popularity and ability. Explore related or interdisciplinary fields – data science, information systems or applied mathematics – where interest is high but space is slightly more flexible.

Families can also apply directly to institutional admissions or research offices. A polite email asking if the college can share application data by major often yields helpful tips or a link to an obscure public record.

Universities appreciate surveys based on genuine interest rather than statistics alone.

The essentials

The hunt for admission rates by specialty is part research project, part scavenger hunt. There is no single database: just fragments scattered across university websites, public dashboards and national education archives.

However, the reward is real. Understanding where competition is fiercest allows families to plan more strategically and avoid unpleasant surprises come April.

As with many things in education, information is power. The student who digs a little deeper – beyond the glossy brochures and headlines – learns not only how selective a university is, but also “why.” And this knowledge can make all the difference between a dream deferred and a door opened.

Gerald Bradshaw is an international college admissions consultant with Bradshaw College Consulting in Crown Point.