Welcome back to “Deep Dive,” our blog series investigating the reputation certain schools have acquired for particular excellence in one program or another. Sometimes those front-running specializations far outrank the school’s general standing — as with Texas A&M’s agricultural science offerings — or they are simply stand-out departments at holistically competitive universities — like Business at Penn or Neuroscience at UMich.
Management Extracurricular Activity Strategy for Juniors
Students who are interested in studying management in college often do it through a major in Business Administration and Management. This entails courses in business, economics, accounting, marketing, and more. Colleges don’t expect you to arrive dialed in on business management. To prepare for it, though, you can’t just do what is available through the course options at your school and call it a day. Admission to a top-tier business management program requires exceptional grades and equally strong scores, of course. It also demands going above and beyond in your activities and extracurricular engagements, with a special attention to linking what you do outside of the classroom to your future management major.
Philosophy Extracurricular Activity Strategy for Juniors
We don’t hear very often that a student is dead set on a philosophy major in college. And yet, philosophy is a classic major at the core of a liberal arts or humanities-focused education. It is also less competitive than english, history, and economics. We absolutely love working with philosophy or philosophy-curious students.
Political Science Extracurricular Activity Strategy for Juniors
Political science is the study of politics, government, policy, and political behavior in the United States and beyond through the lens of scientific methods. Students who major in political science go on to careers in politics and policy through advocacy, lobbying, non-profits, think tanks, consulting, law, and more. The top political science programs in the country are also at many of the most popular and competitive colleges. Think Harvard, Georgetown, Tufts, Stanford, Williams, and the like. Getting into these schools is hard, obviously, so you have to put in the work far ahead of writing applications. That means a strong transcript, amazing SAT and ACT scores, and outstanding activities.
Agricultural Science at Texas A&M: Deep Dive
Stern (New York University) Undergrad Admissions Strategy
NYU’s Stern School of Business is one of the most competitive undergraduate business programs in the country – and one of the most sought-after among our clients and applicants nationwide. With its location in the heart of New York City, Stern attracts students who are ambitious, globally minded, and laser-focused on business from day one. That makes the admissions process especially intense.
Marketing Extracurricular Activity Strategy for Sophomores
An undergraduate major in marketing is industry agnostic. This means that you can apply the degree to any industry or field, pairing your passion in marketing with a passion for fashion or business or design or bringing people together. As a marketing major, you can move laterally, from one industry to another, and vertically, rising up the ranks of a company or marketing firm until you are truly an expert in your craft.
McCombs (University of Texas) Undergrad Admissions Strategy
The McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin is one of the most popular business schools at one of the most popular public universities – not just with our clients, but with students across the board. This mix means McCombs is competitive, especially for out-of-state students.
Entrepreneurship Extracurricular Activity Strategy for Sophomores
Entrepreneurship is a fairly rare major for the percentage of the popular conversation that the career path dominates. It’s only in recent years, really, that to be an ‘entrepreneur’ is recognized not simply as a title earned over many business experiences, but as a career path. Once upon a time, one became an entrepreneur only after succeeding (or, more often, not succeeding) in something else. Today, it’s more common than ever for us to meet high school students for whom entrepreneurship is the goal, though, and they want to start on that path early.
Chemical Engineering Extracurricular Activity Strategy for Juniors
If you are a junior interested in pursuing a major in chemical engineering you undoubtedly know what it is, but for the sake of redundancy let’s break it down a bit. Chemical engineering is a field within engineering that works on and develops chemical products and processes using chemistry, physics, and mathematics. Students who go into chemical engineering tend to be wicked smart, detail-oriented, and deeply curious. As a junior, it can feel like college is right around the corner, but also so far away that it’s hard to wrap your mind around the idea. But as a prospective chemical engineering major you need to increase the sense of urgency in the name of building a strong application.
Early Action Strategy for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) 2025-2026
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is one of the most sought-after public universities in the country, and one of the most popular schools among our clients, for good reason. Founded in 1789, UNC is one of the oldest public universities in the United States and is known for academic excellence, a strong community, and a pretty solid basketball program. Whether you’re drawn to their fantastic undergrad business school or the top-notch public health programs, UNC is a top choice for students across the country.
Classics Extracurricular Activtiy Strategy for Sophomores
A major in classics is about as old-school as majors come after, maybe, Latin. We can’t say that we hear from a lot of high school students who are dreaming of a degree in classics. We wish more would, though. While there aren’t many obvious jobs outside of education and academia that come from a degree in classics, a degree steeped in the humanities is actually a bit of a superpower these days.
Marshall (USC) Undergrad Admissions Strategy
The University of Southern California Marshall School of Business has become one of the most popular colleges among our clients and business-hopeful students writ large over the last few years. While many parents think of USC as the safety school of their generation, we can tell you this is far from true these days – USC has a sub-10% acceptance rate, and it’s getting lower and lower every single year.
English Extracurricular Activity Strategy for Sophomores
A major in English attracts students interested in writing, teaching, communications, and media. It is a classic liberal arts major, although not limited to liberal arts schools, and every top school has a strong English major. Particularly notable universities with strong English departments include Harvard, Williams, Vassar, Columbia, and Amherst (discover more). An English major is so classic, in fact, that it is easy to take it for granted. You take English and speak English and that’s enough as long as your games are great, right? That is a big mistake.
The Business of Music at NYU: Deep Dive
In the next installment of our “Deep Dive” series, where we share how certain schools gained their reputation for excellence in a particular discipline, we’re looking into New York University’s renowned music programs.
Computer Science Extracurricular Activity Strategy for Juniors
The first computer science degree was introduced in the 1950s, and the first Computer Science Department in the United States was created in 1962 at Purdue University. This is very recent in the world of college majors, but computer science went on to take the world by storm. Before too long, it became one of the most popular majors in the country and attracted hundreds of thousands of students to an opportunity to gain a degree that offered almost certain employment with outstanding starting salaries.
Data Science Extracurricular Activity Strategy for Juniors
First, let’s break down what data science even is as it isn’t common area of interest that we hear from high schoolers. Data science is a field that brings together math, statistics, and computer science to distill data and extract insights from the results. The best colleges for data science are also many of the best colleges for STEM, but it’s worth noting that not every school has an undergraduate Data Science major. Instead, schools like Harvard offer a variety of courses in data science that can be layered onto another major. If you want to attend a top-tier school with a data science major, consider Yale, UC Berkeley, MIT, or UChicago. Those aren’t the only options, though, so definitely get in touch if you want a personalized college strategy calibrated for your interests and experiences.
Wharton (UPenn) Undergrad Admissions Strategy
The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania is probably the most famous business school in the world. Not only was it the first business school, but it has also produced more billionaires than any of the other business schools out there. It’s an extremely popular school for students who want to study business, but it’s also one of the most competitive schools to get into. Last cycle, UPenn had a 5% acceptance rate, and Wharton itself was slightly lower at 4.5%.
Business Extracurricular Activity Strategy for Juniors
Business is one of the most popular majors for undergraduate students in the United States, with nearly 20% of all undergraduates graduating with a business degree in hand. It makes sense. A major in business can be used in so many more ways than simply knowing how to start a business (although you can do it with that, too). A business degree empowers graduates to enter the corporate world or join a growing business. Business graduates can launch into impressive, fast-paced careers, or choose to take their education somewhere that lets them savor life more slowly. Unlike many other tracks, like pre-med or pre-law, graduating with a business degree doesn’t mean you are lining yourself up for many more years of schooling before the big paychecks roll in. Instead, you have the option to get right into it.
Chemistry Extracurricular Activity Strategy for Sophomores
Chemistry is a classic science major, and a cornerstone of STEM, but high school students are often stumped as to how to stand out as chemistry-focused college applicants. There aren’t, often, chemistry clubs in the same where that there are robotics clubs. You can’t build an app like with coding, and it can be hard to stand out beyond having strong grades and matching test scores. At the same time, standing out is critically important. Relying solely on your grades and scores isn’t a good strategy.