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Most high school students seeking admission to top colleges know that course rigor is valued by these schools. They often load up on AP classes so that they will appear competitive relative to other kids at their high school. And while highly selective colleges do measure the rigor of your schedule and the number of advanced courses you took relative to the total offered by your high school, there is something that they consider even more: did you take the right advanced courses.
What we find that students are not as familiar with is the desire by top colleges for you to have taken courses in all five major areas of study for all four years of high school. The five majors are: Math, English, Science, History and Foreign Language. We’ve seen that kids who take a rigorous course load that include all of these subjects every year consistently do better in the admissions process. Why? Because it shows top colleges that no matter what you want to study in college, you have respect for, and interest in, every other important subject as well. Almost all of the top colleges consider themselves grounded in the liberal arts - even if they are not liberal arts schools. They value the interplay between the subjects. They want their mathematicians to write well and their humanities majors to crunch data. Grounding yourself in these five majors in high school, rather than starting to specialize is important and many families don’t realize it.
Almost all of the top colleges consider themselves grounded in the liberal arts - even if they are not liberal arts schools.
This advice can seem counterintuitive for students who know what they want to pursue in college and want to start doubling up on courses to prove it. And while we do agree that taking an extra math or science class can show commitment to your field, that extra class should not come at the expense of any of the other majors. That may seem like painful advice for kids who can’t wait to be done with their French class. Or the future History major that never wants to sit through another science class again. But don’t take our word for it. Look at what Harvard puts on their own website about course selection:
“There is no single academic path we expect all students to follow, but the strongest applicants take the most rigorous secondary school curricula available to them. An ideal four-year preparatory program includes four years of English, with extensive practice in writing; four years of math; four years of science: biology, chemistry, physics, and an advanced course in one of these subjects; three years of history, including American and European history; and four years of one foreign language.”
We love that Harvard actually put this on their website instead of making kids guess as to what they want to see. Expect every other top school will want to see the same profile. Don’t be the kid who demonstrated how much they didn’t like one of the major subjects by taking the bare minimum to satisfy their high school requirement (e.g., two years of foreign language). Be the renaissance student who sees value in each of the five majors and makes sure their foundation is strong.
By the way, Harvard practices what they preach. A recent study found that 93% of Harvard undergraduates had taken Calculus in high school. That’s 93% of all students - not just STEM students. Top colleges like Harvard want kids who are good at all five major subjects.
Thinking about the five majors is also beneficial when considering electives. Unless you have a strong interest in an area outside of these five majors, like music, art or computer science, it’s beneficial to choose electives that fall into one of the five core subjects. If you don’t want to show a concentration in the arts, for example, don’t take art classes beyond your art requirement. Take another science elective instead, or double-up on math. Take AP Calc and AP Stats. However, if art or music or computer science is going to figure prominently in your personal narrative, by all means focus on these electives - just not at the expense of the five major areas. Admissions officers love kids who show passion for both sides of the brain and have a genuine commitment to both. What they don’t love is kids who collect random AP classes just to up the AP total. So be thoughtful about the courses you choose and remember to always ensure you’ve got the five major subjects covered every year.
