Students need to select both a primary and secondary area of interest.  Leaving these blank may mean that your application does not get reviewed. The selected areas of interest are used to determine which faculty groups will review your application.  Your application will be first reviewed by faculty in the primary area, and then in a second round, the application will be reviewed by faculty in the secondary area. The selected areas of interest are not binding decisions on your graduate studies, but simply indicate how your application will be routed for review. Each application will be reviewed by at least three faculty, with usually at least two in their primary area of interest.