Class of 2024 declares majors
40% of first-years in computing, Courses 10 and 20 see enrollment surge
William Xu–The Tech
Arun Wongprommoon–The Tech
The Class of 2024 major declaration form was due April 30. The first, second, and third most popular major choices were consistent with last year’s class’s choices: 201 first-year students (18.8%) declared Course 6-3, Computer Science and Engineering; 92 (8.6%) declared Course 6-2 (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science); and 78 (7.3%) declared 2-A (Engineering as recommended by the Department of Mechanical Engineering).
Course 20 (Biological Engineering) and Course 18 (Mathematics) were fourth and fifth in popularity; 74 students (6.9%) declared Biological Engineering, while 60 students (5.6%) declared Mathematics. They were fifth and fourth last year, respectively. Course 20 also saw the largest absolute increase in first-year enrollment; its share increased two full percentage points from last year (4.9%).
Courses 10 (Chemical Engineering) and 10-B (Chemical Biological Engineering) saw the largest absolute increases after Course 20, as well as two of the largest relative increases in first-year major declarations. Course 10’s share tripled from just under 0.6% of first years (7 students) last year to almost 2.0% of first years (21 students). Similarly, Course 10B’s share doubled from 0.9% (10 students) to 1.9% (20 students).
Other majors with large relative increases in enrollment include Course 17 (Political Science) which was only declared by one first year last spring but three students this spring; and Course 12 (Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences) which saw first-year enrollment jump from three last year to seven this year. Course 21A (Anthropology), Course 24-1 (Philosophy), and Course 2-OE (Mechanical and Ocean Engineering) saw no new students last year, but had one or, in the case of 2-OE, two new students each this year.
Courses 2 (Mechanical Engineering) and 6-2 each decreased by over one percentage point in popularity from last year: 3.1% (33 students) compared to 4.6% (51 students) and 8.6% compared to 9.9% (110 students). Courses 6-1 (Electrical Engineering) and 6-3 also saw smaller numbers; for Course 6-1, this represented a 40% reduction from 15 first years (1.4% of the class) to nine (0.8% of the class), Course 6-3 remained the most popular major with a 0.6 percentage point reduction from 19.4% (215 students) to 18.8% of first years.
Courses 9 (Brain and Cognitive Sciences) and 4-B (Art and Design) were declared by a third as many students this year as last year, four (0.4% of students) compared to 12 (1.1% of students) for Course 9, and one compared to three for 4-B.
Four majors saw no new first-year students this year but one (Course 21, Humanities), two (Courses 21M-1, Music, and 24-2, Linguistics), or three (Course 21S, Humanities and Science) first years last year. Courses 10-C (Bachelor of Science as recommended by the department of Chemical Engineering), 21G (Global Languages), 21H (History), 21L (Literature), 21M-2 (Theater Arts), and CMS (Comparative Media Studies) had no first-year students either this year or last year, although all of them have upper-year students enrolled.
The School of Engineering retained its first place in terms of first-year enrollment, with its share increasing from 67.9% (751 students) to 69.5% (744 students). The School of Science captured 20.4% of this class’s major declarations (218), slightly more than those of the last, at 19.3% (214 students). The Sloan School of Management was chosen by fewer first-years: 2.8% (30 students) compared to 3.0% (34 students) last year. The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and the School of Architecture and Planning each saw substantial decreases in enrollment, from 22 (2.0%) to 15 (1.4%) first years and from 15 (1.4%) to 11 first years, respectively, although these numbers tend to fluctuate significantly across years.
First-year students in Courses 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, 6-7, 6-9, 6-14, and 11-6 are also enrolled in the Schwarzman College of Computing and together comprise 39.7% of this year’s major declarations (421 students) and 40.7% of last year’s (449 students).
Eight first-years (0.7% of the class) designated no major, a decrease from 20 (1.8% of the class) last year. 44 students (4.1% of the class) did not submit a major declaration form, a decrease from last year’s 50 students (5.0% of the class).
The Class of 2024, with 1070 students, is slightly smaller than the Class of 2023, with 1106 students.