First off, Harvard doesn’t call majors “majors.” Instead, they like the term “concentrations.” This is one really obvious example of how Harvard likes to differentiate themselves from the thousands of colleges and universities in the United States. They don’t really need to do much to sound different, though. Harvard is undeniably an iconic university with outstanding Ivy League pedigree. It’s also one of the hardest schools to gain admission to in the country. The for the Class of 2029 was only .
Given the miniscule acceptance rate, it’s extremely important that students approach any application to Harvard with a strong strategy that prioritizes differentiating yourself from the tens of thousands of other applicants. A key piece of this is the way you choose to spotlight your academic interests, and what you write about as a prospective concentration.
The easy thing is to choose to put down whatever you are most passionate about as a prospective concentration. That often isn’t, though, your strongest strategy. Picking the wrong concentration for your Harvard application could actually greatly reduce your chances of admission. We definitely don’t want that, and that’s what this post is for.
Below, we’ll break down five of the most popular concentrations at Harvard and the concentrations you should consider picking on your application instead. Ideally, you are able to make this switch a year or more before applying, and we often start working with our students as early as sophomore year. If you don’t have that much time, though, there are still choices you can make today that will greatly increase your chances of admission. Let’s get into them.
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There aren’t concentrations at Harvard that make it easy to get into. There are a few concentrations, though, that make it harder to achieve an acceptance. Five concentrations graduating undergraduates, and these concentrations are subsequently extremely competitive to get into. Yes, they can accommodate a lot of students, but they can’t possibly fit the number who aim for them in their applications. The three most challenging concentrations are, in order of size, economics, computer science, government. Based on the number of recent graduates who pursued psychology and history, we add them to round out the top 5 most tricky concentrations at Harvard for applicants aiming to get in.
Instead of Economics, do Sociology
Like many of the top colleges in the US, and most of the Ivy League, economics is one of the most popular areas of academic focus. At Harvard, this is especially true. It by Harvard researchers that economics accounts for of undergraduate student concentrations. If you are interested in studying economics at Harvard, that’s awesome. However, we do not recommend putting economics down as your prospective major on your application. Instead, select .
Sociology has a lot in common with economics, but instead of being a quantitative social science its position as a qualitative social science has kept it less competitive. This may be because there isn’t as clear of a career trajectory laid out after graduation as with economics.
First, we’ll address that misconception. Yes, economics is a quick pipeline into finance, but sociology can play that role to, along with setting students up for careers in law, public administration, marketing, banking, and business. You don’t have to do much to strengthen your application for sociology as an economics-minded student, but definitely consider adding a humanities elective, pursuing an elective that is humanities minded, and perhaps a summer course that develops your sociology credentials.
Instead of Government, do Social Studies
Like economics, government at Harvard is the Quantitative Social Sciences field cluster. And, like with economics, we recommend selecting a qualitative social science course instead: .
Now, Social Studies is not a better selection because it is a smaller program. It is a very large program. However, not as many high school students know about it. Fewer students think to select Social Studies when applying, which makes it a strong selection as a first-year applicant.
Social Studies is also a great option because the things that make you a strong applicant for Government also make you a great Social Studies candidate. Continue pursuing your academic passions, especially leaning into history, political science, economics, sociology, and anthropology when courses and extracurriculars are available. If courses aren’t available — or you don’t have time before applying to take them — consider pursuing either independent humanities research, taking courses outside of school, or both.
Instead of Computer Science, do Engineering Sciences
Computer Science is the concentration in the n field cluster. It’s so competitive that applying to Harvard as a prospective Computer Science major is a bit silly if you don’t have exceptional independent work that shows your skills already being implemented in the ‘real’ world.
There are so many tens of thousands of applicants and so few spots that even extremely strong students, but who don’t have a packed resume of independent work, tend struggle to stand out. So, we advise that students interested in Computer Science instead select a first-choice concentration in .
Selecting Engineering Sciences does not lessen the load on you as a Harvard applicant. What it does instead is to shift you into a pool of applicants where you may have an easier time standing out. Through selecting a focus on Engineering Sciences, you open the door for talking about how you want to impact the world in ways that don’t necessarily resonate as strongly when put through a computer science filter. This can be a powerful tool — if you use it right. That’s where we can help.
Instead of Psychology, do Sociology
Yes, this one is a bit of a repeat. is one of the most popular majors at Harvard. Obviously, those who study psychology can go on to become psychologists and counselors, but they can also go into business, marketing, consulting, and more. To avoid having your application be overlooked, you need to consider picking something else, though, to center your application on academically.
Psychology is part of the qualitative social sciences, so we recommend that first-year applicants stick to the same area of study but select something different as a prospective future degree. Again, we counsel our students that this switch should be towards sociology.
Everything you have been working on to stand out and dig deep as a psychology major will also support your sociology application, and you won’t be held back from making psychology your primary focus once you are on campus. The goal here is to get you in, and picking sociology makes that more possible than listing psychology on your application.
Instead of History, do History and Literature/Science
From 2014 to 2020, English and social studies an up to 30% drop in student commitment. Harvard researchers attribute the drop, potentially, to students focusing on courses of study that have clear paths to high-pay employment — such as the STEM fields or the qualitative social sciences (like psychology). This also explains why the quantitative social studies, including Economics and Government, are growing while the non-quantitative (or qualitative) social studies are shrinking.
Despite this, the History program has remained a strong and popular concentration at Harvard, so we advise our students to focus instead on history with a twist. Rather than simply stating History, selecting History and Literature or History and Sciences. This keeps you in the social studies realm as an applicant, and squarely within history. Every activity you’ve already been investing in that is relevant to history will still strengthen your application with a prospective concentration in just with a bit of a new bend.
To really stand out, layer extracurriculars into your schedule, including independent reading you can cite in your application, that ties back to the literature or science theme.
As we said at the top, there are no easy ways into Harvard. Ultimately, you’re going to have to do the hard work and still it’s a roll of the dice. What selecting the correct concentration can do, though, is to put you in a pool where you are more likely to shine.
When we are assessing a high school student and the strength of their applicant profile for Harvard, we look for ways to ensure that they stand out beyond the standard transcript and activities list. A key piece of this is selecting a prospective area of study and tuning their courses, activities, and extracurriculars to amplify the impact of their application when it is read. The more time we have to work with a student, the better. When we don’t have much time to work together, it’s even more important, then, that a student picks a less competitive program of study to strengthen their Harvard application.
Whether you are a sophomore thinking ahead or a rising senior, there are clear actions you can take now to create massive impacts when it comes time to submit. Reach out for your custom Harvard strategy.
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