Competitive Majors vs. Less Competitive Ones

At a growing number of universities, getting into the computer science major is harder than getting into the university itself, sometimes dramatically harder. At Illinois, the CS admit rate has been around 7% while the university's overall rate is over 35%. At the University of Washington, out-of-state CS applicants have been admitted at roughly 2%.

This chapter explains which majors are "capped," how direct admission works, whether applying to a less competitive major and switching is a good idea (usually not), and how to build a smart list if you want a high-demand major...