How interdisciplinary interests can help in college admissions

Interdisciplinary interests give some students an edge in college admissions. Although many shun interests outside their intended major. The coder double-downs on coding projects. The writer publishes more poems in lit mags.

We’re guilty of giving this advice to some of our students. Pick a lane. Narrow your focus. Go deep instead of broad.

I’d push slightly on the conventional wisdom. Students who hold two (or more) interests can come out ahead, especially if these interests converge. Not always. But often enough that it’s worth mentioning.

First, what do we mean by interdisciplinary interests? Simple: you care (and, more importantly, can demonstrate you care) about more than one thing. Think: the CS kid who writes science fiction in his spare time. The accomplished pianist who’s deep into statistics. The debater who can’t seem to stay away from shop class.

Now the second question: what difference does it make to admissions?

Admissions reads a whole bunch of applications that blur together. In crowded fields, that’s a problem. 

If you’re applying as a computer science or engineering major, you’re one of thousands of applicants who look identical on paper. Scored a 5 in AP Computer Science? Check. President of your Computer Club? Double check.

A second, genuine interest breaks the pattern. You come across as a person instead of a category.

It also shows something else: you have more than a single skill. A technical mind paired with the ability to write a clear sentence is rarer than you think. When an admissions reader sees both, they’re usually impressed. Your activities list looks less like a checklist and more like a flesh-and-blood human wrote it.

I recommend students think hard about how their list reads: our piece on extracurriculars that actually move the needle is a great starting point.

But there’s a deeper reason still to flex different intellectual (or actual) muscles: interdisciplinary thinkers see the whole board. When you spend real time in two different fields, you start to notice where they touch. You make connections others miss. Most people work from one frame. You might have two or three.

And that’s the part that lasts long after the application is forgotten. You’ve developed a habit of looking at a problem from different angles. That’s the part that shows up in classes, in your future career, and just about everything.

Careers change whether we want them to or not. The field you trained for might shrink, and occupations appear out of nowhere. Who would have predicted AI engineers would be in high demand five years ago?

Students who can only do one thing are exposed when that happens. Meanwhile, the student who double-majored in CS and Spanish lands a job in government when Information Technology freezes over.

Call it job security if you want. It comes down to having more than one door you can walk through after college.

There’s a simpler argument, too. Students who chase down more than one interest tend to enjoy life more. While this might sound like self-actualization mumbo jumbo, trust me: spending your time on things you actually care about is fun. It’s what this whole life business is all about.

And, as a former admissions officer, given the choice, I’ll take the student with an intentional interest in two things over the student perfectly optimized for one.

Then again, I spent the bulk of my career at a school that values interdisciplinary interests.

This matters more at some colleges than others. A handful of schools have built their entire undergraduate experience around academic exploration — and they read applications with that in mind.

They want students who will actually use this freedom, not let their interests wither on the vine. If ranging widely is who you are, then these are the places that reward it.

They split into two camps, arriving at breadth as a value from opposite directions.

Open-curriculum schools strip away the requirements and hand you the wheel.

• Brown University is probably the best-known example. Its Open Curriculum has no requirements. In its words, Brown wants you to “architect your education.” To graduate, you complete 30 courses, finish a concentration, and demonstrate writing competence. Brown also lets you take most courses pass/fail and offers close to 80 concentrations — many interdisciplinary by design.

• Amherst has a similar model. Its open curriculum has no distribution or general-ed requirements beyond a first-year seminar and your major.
• Vasser also has an open curriculum with no core or distribution requirements and an explicit emphasis on multidisciplinary work, including interdepartmental and student-designed independent programs.

Core-curriculum schools work a little differently. Instead of letting you take whatever you want, they require a shared foundation that includes students across every discipline.

• Columbia has had its Core Curriculum for more than a century now. It's a common sequence built around major works in literature, philosophy, history, science, and the arts, specifically designed to cut across disciplines.
• The University of Chicago is also famous for its Core, a shared program that explicitly teaches students to approach problems from multiple disciplinary perspectives, with sequences spanning the humanities, social sciences, arts, and sciences.

And Duke University sits somewhere between the two. Starting in 2025, undergrads at Trinity College follow a new Arts & Sciences Curriculum built to balance structure with choice. Students use a primary major as a lens for exploring other fields, and options like Program II let you design your own interdisciplinary course of study.

Two opposite designs, one shared belief. Whether a school hands you total freedom or a rigorous common core, it's betting that students do their best work when they're pushed outside the box. If that's you, the fit is worth taking seriously when you build your list.

Frankly, not much. If you already have a second passion, pursue it. Don’t drop the thing you really love because it doesn’t match your intended major. Or because your parents think it’s a waste of time. In fact, send them this blog. We’ll take the blame when you’re admitted to Brown.

Just remember to write about it honestly where your application allows, and pick a major that leaves room to explore, rather than one that locks you in from Day One.

If you’re genuinely torn between fields, that’s a real consideration. You might decide to apply undecided. 

Next, take a hard look at your school list. Prioritize places built for exploration and the world’s undecideds. Admissions officers are looking for fit. If I’m honest, some selective schools still expect a student to be certain about their direction, while others reward academic exploration.

Finally, you don’t need to manufacture a second interest to look, well, interesting. Plenty of schools still want coders who eat, sleep, and drink ones and zeros. If that’s you, no harm done. Just don’t talk yourself out of your passion because someone told you to pick a lane. Trust me, you’ll regret it later — maybe even for the rest of your life.

We’re interested in your interests — and, of course, helping you get into a great school.

Let’s talk

Yes, especially in crowded fields. A second genuine interest makes you more readable as a person, rather than just another applicant who looks like everyone else.

An open curriculum drops the general requirements and lets you build your own path, like at Brown, Amherst, and Vassar. A core curriculum requires a shared foundation that pushes every student across disciplines, like at Columbia and the University of Chicago. Both aim at breadth. They just start from opposite ends.

Brown, Amherst, and Vassar are well-known examples among selective schools. Each drops distribution requirements and asks you to take charge of your own course of study.

Daniel Mark is a Lead Counselor at Empowerly with five years of experience as a former Senior Admissions Officer at Brown University and Assistant Director of Admissions at Connecticut College. Having reviewed over 5,000 applications and served on 50+ committees across all major academic disciplines, he leverages his insider knowledge to help students successfully navigate the highly selective admissions process.