College Acceptance Rates by Major: What Official Data Shows at UCLA, Purdue, Georgia Tech and More

Does your intended major affect your chances of admission?

It depends on how each university admits students. At some schools that admit to the whole institution, the major plays no formal part: MIT says students “apply to MIT for general admission” and that the choice of major does not affect admission decisions (MIT admissions FAQ). Princeton says “Students apply to Princeton University, not to individual departments, programs or schools” (Princeton degrees and departments). Others admit to the whole institution but still weigh the intended major, as Georgia Tech does. Other universities admit to a college or school, and some admit directly to a major, where each program has its own limit on places. UCLA uses both models at once: “For The College, the applicant’s major is not considered during the review process,” while its professional schools admit by major (UCLA First-Year Profile by major, Fall 2025).

Which universities publish acceptance rates by major or college?

On the official pages we reviewed, these selective universities publish a rate below the institution level: UCLA by major and division, Purdue by college and for three competitive majors, Georgia Tech by college in its Fact Book, Illinois by college for first-choice applicants, Michigan for its College of Engineering, and the University of Washington for its Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering. Others we checked, including Cornell, publish only university-wide admission figures (Cornell University Factbook).

What are UCLA acceptance rates by major?

UCLA publishes the most detailed official data we found. Its overall first-year rate for fall 2025 was 9.4% (13,659 of 145,085 applicants), by our calculation from its first-year profile (UCLA First-Year Profile, Fall 2025). The table shows applicants and the published admit rate for every division and major on its fall 2025 profile by major.

By UCLA’s figures, Nursing, Film and Television, Design Media Arts, Art and Mechanical Engineering admitted fewer than 4% of applicants, while Computer Science admitted 7.3% of 6,806 applicants. For The College, these are results reported by division, since the major is not considered. Two small music programs, Ethnomusicology and Musicology, admitted more than half of their applicants, but each received fewer than 40 applications.

How do college-level acceptance rates compare at other universities?

Georgia Tech does not admit to a college: “When you apply to Georgia Tech as a first-year applicant, you do not apply to a specific major or college,” although “consideration of your major is an important part of our application review process” (Georgia Tech major selection). Its Fact Book does not define how applicants are grouped by college. Purdue lists seven other colleges and programs with rates from 52.5% (Polytechnic Institute) to 81.3% (College of Pharmacy). Applicant pools differ from one program to another, so a lower rate does not by itself show that a program is harder for a given student.

Should you list a less popular major to improve your odds?

In our view, rarely, and the published rules show why. Where the major is not considered, as at MIT, Princeton and UCLA’s College, a less popular major gains nothing. Where it is considered, switching later can be hard: Illinois says its computer science majors in Grainger Engineering are direct admit only and closed to on-campus transfer (Siebel School), the University of Washington considers only applicants who list an Allen School major first for Direct to Major admission (Allen School), and Georgia Tech allows one unrestricted change of major until a student has earned sixty credit hours but says it “reserves the right to limit access to programs due to capacity or other issues” (Georgia Tech catalog). Cornell warns that “Students applying to a particular Cornell college or school solely on the basis of its acceptance rate may find that the selection process works against them” (Cornell admissions FAQ). An application built around one interest and then filed under another can also read as inconsistent.

Which majors have the lowest published acceptance rates?

In the official data we found, the lowest rates are at UCLA for fall 2025: Nursing (0.5%), Film and Television (1.3%), Design Media Arts (3.1%), Art (3.3%), Mechanical Engineering (3.9%), and Aerospace and Computer Engineering (4.7% each). At Purdue, the lowest rate on its 2026 class profile is Professional Flight Technology (7.5%). UCLA and Purdue admit students to each of these programs as a major. In our experience, the same programs tend to be among the most selective at other universities that admit by major, even where no rate is published.

How should you use acceptance rates by major when building a college list?

The view of Oriel Admissions is that the admission model matters more than any single rate. For each school, check whether it admits to the institution, to a college or to a major, whether the major can be changed later, and whether the program publishes its own figures. Students set on a capacity-limited field such as nursing, computer science or film should apply where the route into that program is clear. Our guides to the best colleges for computer science, the best colleges for engineering, direct admit nursing programs and best colleges by major cover those choices.

Frequently Asked Questions About College Acceptance Rates by Major

Sources: UCLA First-Year Profile by major, Fall 2025, UCLA First-Year Profile, Fall 2025, Georgia Tech Fact Book 2025, Georgia Tech major selection, Georgia Tech catalog, change of major, Purdue class profile, Allen School Direct to Major statistics, Illinois admit rates, Siebel School transfer rules, Michigan Engineering facts and figures, Michigan Common Data Set 2025-2026, MIT admissions FAQ, majors, Princeton degrees and departments, Cornell admissions FAQ, Cornell University Factbook. All read October 26 and 27, 2026.

About Oriel Admissions

Oriel Admissions is a college admissions consulting firm advising families nationwide on elite university admissions strategy, with offices in Princeton, New Jersey and New York. Our team pairs deep admissions expertise with a distinctive 360 approach spanning academic planning, extracurricular strategy, essays and application execution. To discuss your strategy, schedule a consultation.