Читать книгу Accepted!. Secrets to Gaining Admission to the World's Top Universities онлайн

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You, however, need to be a champion of the convoluted system, not another victim, so here are some clear steps you need to take.

First, research what majors a school has a core competency in that may not necessarily be well known by prospective applicants. For example, Harvard has a folklore and mythology major).ssss1 Hardly any universities offer an undergraduate major in this area. If you have some vague interest in this field, you could build a very compelling application for Harvard by developing a set of persuasive extracurriculars and academic pursuits based on this theme. Harvard knows it has a brilliant department in this area, so is likely to be excited to find prospective applicants who have done their research, want to study this area, and submit it in their application. This is great if it could relate to you. It is super niche, but it is a compelling way to distinguish yourself from the tsunami of economics applicants.

Second, take your academic interests one level deeper. I meet many students who like economics or computer science. If you like economics, explore one of the subfields—game theory, behavioral economics, development economics. If you genuinely explore economics, you will quickly find out there are many niches you could devote your entire career to if you wanted to. A small amount of focused online coursework, summer research, independent studies, or clubs focused on these subfields helps to build your credibility as someone who knows what they are talking about in a given discipline.