Stanford is one of the most coveted acceptances among top students in America, and it’s a supremely difficult nut to crack. The acceptance rate is not released in a timely manner anymore — they’ve said to reduce student stress — but it is around . At the same time that the acceptance rate has been dropping, the interests of the student body have been concentrating.
, the number of degrees conferred to students majoring in Computer Science and Symbolic Systems rose over 90% and over 100%, respectively. The number of students majoring in History or Public Policy each fell 40% over that time period, and the number of students graduating with degrees in most of the sciences fell drastically too. For Stanford, this poses a problem. They have a few academic departments that are making them a lot of money, and a bunch that are ticking time bombs. They are paying faculty, maintaining learning environments, and financially supporting programs that are not, to be blunt, carrying their own weight. But Stanford doesn’t want to be a computer science school, and they know that if they let all their other offerings wither, they will risk the collapse of their brand and institution.
So, they need students who will bolster the ranks of their less popular programs. This doesn’t mean it is easier to get into Stanford based on simply checking off a different major on your application, but it is easier if you invest the time and effort into building an application that truly supports the less-popular major you’ve chosen. In this post, we offer 5 alternatives to the most popular majors at Stanford to help you put together the most compelling application possible for a Stanford admission. Remember that you need to pair a good strategy, though, with strong action.
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In order to get into Stanford, you need to stand out. Right now, it is hard to stand out as an applicant interested in one of their most popular majors. You are up against a pool of students that is seriously stacked, and even having outstanding credentials just puts you alongside hundreds, if not thousands, of other students with similarly strong resumes. It is easier, ultimately, to stand out if you switch to a less competitive major with a less stacked pool, and build a resume around that course of study that is equally deep.
We don’t recommend pursuing something just to get into Stanford. The degree is worth a lot, but not so much that you should completely change what you care about. However, emphasizing what would otherwise be a secondary area of interest is fair game as long as you are admitted through a school within Stanford that will let you still major in what you think you ultimately want to end up with on your degree.
Instead of Computer Science, do Atmosphere/Energy
One of the most popular majors at Stanford — and one that has increased in popularity massively over the past 15 years — is Computer Science. We get that a lot of people want to study computer science in college, but putting it down as your prospective major on your application can seriously work against your chances of getting in. This isn’t because you aren’t good at computer science. Truly, it’s a numbers game. There are so many people vying for spots in the first-year class who are listing computer science as their top interest that it’s hard to stand out. This is why we recommend shifting your focus for your application to a major in Atmosphere/Energy.
Emphasizing Atmosphere/Energy as your primary academic interest does require exceptional grades in your physics, chemistry, and biology courses, as well as an environmental elective if possible. You don’t need to be super interested in studying climate change or green initiatives, but you should also be engaging in extracurriculars that are relevant to the sciences, like Science Olympiad. This doesn’t mean that you should scale back your computer science work, either. Instead, the pairing of a prospective major in Atmosphere/Energy plus your computer science interests will give you an edge.
Instead of Economics, do Public Policy
Economics is another of the BIG majors at Stanford, and it’s extremely hard to stand out as a prospective student. A big part of this is because the same students who are applying to Stanford for econ are also applying to schools like Harvard, Yale, Penn, and the University of Chicago. It’s the same group of students aiming for a seat at the same schools, and doing much of the same things to prepare for college admissions: the same clubs, the same competitions, the same summer programs, and even the same internships.
In order to shift the narrative on your application to something substantially more interesting to application readers, we recommend focusing instead on a major in with a minor in Economics. As Economics and Public Policy are through the same school within Stanford, the School of Humanities and Sciences, this isn’t a hard switch in focus once you are on campus. In order to get there, though, you need to prepare to stand out as a Public Policy applicant. That means adding on an internship or long-term volunteer position with a local political campaign, representative, or initiative. This role should be human-facing, meaning that you are interacting directly with constituents, and so can write about the experience of serving and shaping your community while deepening your understanding of the process of policy.
While there are plenty of students applying for public policy at Stanford as well, the more personal approach that you can taking to writing about engaging with policy while in high school is what will make your application stand out.
Instead of Mathematics, do Data Science & Social Systems
is a popular major at top schools like Stanford because if you are going to study math, you really need to do it somewhere exceptional if you want the degree to deliver the return on investment you want. The math major at Stanford is particularly popular because of the Computer Science Theory/Discrete Mathematics Subplan.
For students interested in a math major, we advise considering actually putting down on your application, which pulls you out of the straight STEM pool of applicants and broadens the lens through which your application will be reviewed. Instead of primarily assessing you on your STEM credentials, they’ll be looking for humanities chops to go with them, which makes those exceptional grades that you worked for in English and history actually work for you beyond contributing to your sky high GPA.
We also love that the Data Science & Social Systems major requires students in the program to focus on a social issue as part of their studies, which opens up the door to talk about advocacy work and service-oriented activities you have already been doing to address a cause you are passionate about. Instead of being a student who does things for the sake of their own education, if frames you as a student who does things in service to their community — which is a much stronger pitch.
Instead of Human Biology, do Data Science for Artistic and Cultural Analysis
This one is a bit wild, but please hear us out. is one of the most popular majors at Stanford, so putting it down is like throwing yourself into an ocean of an applicant pool and hoping someone spots you in the crowd. Even as an exceptional applicant, you are facing enormously long odds.
This is why we recommend that students interested in Human Biology actually apply as prospective majors. Where is the overlap? Honestly, there isn’t much of one. Only math, really. But biology applicants risk being undifferentiated from each other. They tend to do the same activities, take the same classes, and prioritize the same opportunities. The thing that doesn’t often make it into their Stanford applications, though, are the things they do around the arts.
The means that there are often very interesting things about prospective Human Biology majors that don’t make their way onto the Stanford application at all, or are only whispered about in the activities section. This massively undercuts the strength of the application, and ultimately leads — for most students — to a rejection.
The Data Science for Artistic and Cultural Analysis major speaks to your STEM skills, but allows you to amplify the arts credentials on your resume. To make this swap work, of course, you need to have some arts credentials to point toward. But if you do, run with it (and have fun with it).
Instead of Symbolic Systems, do Psychology
Symbolic Systems is a rapidly growing program at Stanford, and the demand for the major is massive. This is because the program is cool, and it’s extremely timely. Students taking courses in computer programming, artificial intelligence, statistics and probability, and psychology. This last point is what drives us to recommend listing as your prospective major over Symbolic Systems.
As we mentioned at the start, the demand for STEM majors at Stanford has skyrocketed and the demand for humanities majors has drop significantly. Listing Symbolic Systems as your prospective major is basically setting the odds of the college admissions gods against you. Psychology requires much of the same strengths to stand out, but the hunger for the major is lower. That means less competition for a program for which you will already be a strong applicant — especially because most high schools don’t offer psychology courses, so the applicant readers won’t be wondering why such classes aren’t on your resume.
To pull this off, you will need to add an extracurricular, like a club, that leans into something adjacent to psychology if there isn’t one at your school that is psychology-centric. Adding one club to your calendar and gaining access to a significant boost in your admissions odds is, by our estimation, completely worth it.
If you are set on applying with one of the most competitive majors at Stanford as your first-choice academic path, you need to know that you are fighting an uphill battle and must enter prepared. That means building a rock solid resume well in advance of applying, with evidence of independent study, internships, and research that go far beyond what a ‘typical’ high school student would have access to. The way to do this is not to sign up for summer programs, even quite selective ones. Even summer programs that brag about being selective ultimately serve a large pool of student who are all interested in the same small number of schools. That means that your application will be assessed head-to-head with that other student who was there the same year you were. For us, this basically cancels out the value of the summer program — unless you are able to layer it on top of the types of independent work and opportunities that we work with our students to put in place.
One of our specialties is helping great kids do more than just write strong essays. Exceptional essays are necessary for impressive admissions outcomes, but they actually aren’t enough. Great writing needs to be paired with a strong strategy that makes it easy for admissions officers to say yes. Picking the right prospective major is a crucial piece of pulling off a Stanford acceptance.
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