Why isn't zoology a major choice at top tier schools?

Answered

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Zoology is both a broad and specific context depending on which way you look at. Because Biology is the broadest of life sciences, that would make zoology an “ecologically branched” field of biology. Meanwhile, zoology can be considered broad as well and we can go deeper into other subjects. But the point of this matter is that Zoology is a specific field of biology; and ALMOST all schools (actually is it even a school if doesn’t offer this) offers biology. Therefore, some schools will take biology majors and, because it’s “broad”, you can either choose a concentration such as zoology or you can choose your own courses when preparing for undergraduate years.

A large reason for this being just Biology is because there is an array of many different subject fields for everyone. For example, just like biology, there are many sub-studies for chemistry (organic chem., biochem., etc.); many sub-studies for the arts; many sub-studies for physics, engineering; sub-studies for law and justice; etc., etc. One very prestigious school that has broadly depicted majors (but all the while an AMAZING abundance of interdisciplinary classes) is Duke University. They don’t even have a Biochemistry major option, but it’s up to you to choose what you want.

In essence, yes, prestigious schools offer zoology, whether it’s SPECIFICALLY stated in their major/minor listing or not, it’s more than likely there. If you are still unsure, you can always contact the admissions offices for clarification or you can view a course catalog to see their abundance of courses. It’s all about choosing a starting point and going deeper. And biology, like physics, may be the broadest of the sciences. So you’ll certainly have opportunities to go deeper and to choose your path. Hope this helps!!