FAQs
Level 1 - Baby Steps
Welcome back! Over the last several weeks, we have received a number of questions over some of the articles that have recently been written. While some questions are one-offs, some questions kept coming up.
Below are the top five most frequently asked questions and a response to them.
What is the difference between an accredited school and accredited program?
The first thing to note is that some people will use these terms interchangeably. For definitional purposes:
An accredited school is a college or university that has gone through a formal accreditation process. This is often referred to as institutional accreditation.
An accredited program is a specific program offered by a college or university that has met accreditation standards.
It is possible for a program to be accredited but not the entire institution. If you find yourself in that situation, it does not necessarily mean you should avoid applying to the college. Sometimes, colleges will not bother with the cost associated with the entire college being accredited due to cost.
It is important to note that some accrediting bodies will not accredit a program if it is housed in an institution that is not accredited.
Do double majors take extra time?
The short answer is, it depends.
When answering this question, we are assuming your goal is to graduate in 4 years. But there are several factors that will drive how long it takes to graduate:
How many AP/IB/College Courses you took prior to college and what credit the institution provides
The interrelatedness between the two majors (e.g., history and government will have more in common than computer science and music)
When you decide to start a second major (the earlier you know you want to double major, the easier it is to build a schedule around that)
Your pain tolerance (are you willing to take 5 or more classes in a semester?)
Does your college or university have a formal double major program - some colleges or universities will have a formal process that cuts the required courses across both majors to accommodate a double major, while others will require you to meet the requirements of each degree separately
All of this adds up to decide how long or how slow the process will be.
How do double majors differ from a major and a minor?
The key difference here is:
Double majoring effectively gives you two degrees, while a minor only confers an area of interest.
Practically speaking, the impact will be different depending on what you try to study
If you want to show an industry recognized knowledge, the double major is probably better. But again, this is going to be specific to you.
For a general rule of thumb, the more technical your field, the more likely getting a double major will benefit for you. For example, a double major in chemistry and mechanical engineering is probably more useful from a marketability standpoint than majoring in one and minoring in the other.
But if you were double majoring in history and government, there is probably marginal utility in a double major than a simple major and minor.
How do you find a college’s legacy admissions policies?
Some schools will outright tell you what their legacy admissions policies are on their website. You can also email the admissions department and ask what their legacy policies are.
But usually, that will only tell you if they consider legacy status, but now what their specific legacy review is.
If you want to know more than that, you could try to find the college’s common data set, which is a published profile from participating colleges that shows what factors go into an admissions decision, but even that may only show you how much they weigh the factor, not what their process actually is.
To know that, you will need to work with an admissions officer or someone who knows the admissions process fairly well. Remember, there is no single way to consider legacy admissions.
Do legacy admissions differ from graduate to undergraduate schools?
Yes, they do.
A few key things to note:
Legacy status typically only applies if you apply to a college and your family went to the same college - meaning if you apply to UT undergrad, legacy matters if your family went to UT undergrad as well, not if someone went to UT grad school
Legacy usually matters less in graduate admissions than in undergraduate admissions
Legacy status can also be restricted more, but that varies from school to school. For some, an uncle will count, but for others, only someone you are directly descendent from will count, and there may be a generational cutoff (no one before Grandma)
Hopefully that helps! Let us know if you have any questions.