I was just accepted into UCSB as a pre-sociology major. I was wondering if it would be hard to attend and change my major to biopsychology. Is it even possible? Thanks.
Of course its possible; many people change their major, often a few times. Changing majors within the College of Letters and Science is easy before you are a junior; you just fill out a form and voila! You might be able to do it at orientation, or you can wait until you’re a student in the fall. There is absolutely no need to do anything prior to enrolling.
Your listed major doesn’t matter as a frosh. Just look at the classes required for the biopsychology major at https://my.sa.ucsb.edu/catalog/Current/Documents/2015_Majors/LS/Psy/Biopsychology-BS-2015.pdf and the sample schedule at https://www.psych.ucsb.edu/sites/www.psych.ucsb.edu/files/docs/C%29%20Biopsychology%20Freshmen%20Plan.pdf then sign up for the 1st quarter of those at orientation. There is no rule that says if you are listed as sociology you need to sign up for their pre-major classes; you can enroll in any classes you want that aren’t restricted to majors only (stuff like engineering and fine arts).
@mikemac how hard would it be to change my major from undeclared to computer science in letters and sciences? I am already in the college of letters and sciences.
ucsb doesn’t have a CS major listed at http://www.ltsc.ucsb.edu/about/academic-departments The only one I see is in engineering and its quite hard to change into it once enrolled at ucsb. See https://www.cs.ucsb.edu/education/undergrad/admissions The only alternative I can think of is to contact the dept and see if they would consider you for the CS major right now before you accept the offer of admission, although I have no idea if they’ll do that or not.
From UCSB website:
Current UCSB students in a non-engineering major, as well as students wishing to change from one engineering major to another, are welcome to apply after the satisfactory completion of a pre-defined set of coursework. However, due to the current demand for engineering majors, students are cautioned that it is a very competitive process and not all applicants will be able to change their majors due to limited space availability.
Notwithstanding any of the major-specific requirements described below, we caution that the capacity of any given program to accept new students changes, sometimes substantially, from year to year. It is incumbent upon students to continue to make progress in a backup major while pursuing a new major in the College of Engineering, and to periodically consult academic advisors in both the desired major as well as the backup major regarding the viability of pursuing the change of major.
Computer Science
Students may petition to enter the Computer Science major when the following requirements are met:
A cumulative GPA of at least 3.0
Satisfactory completion of Computer Science 16 and 24 with a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher; First takes only.
Satisfactory completion of Math 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B and Computer Science 40 with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher; First takes only.
In addition, petitions are required to have
Never been placed on academic probation,
Fewer than 105 total units, and
Demonstrable evidence (via a study plan submitted with the petition) that the CS degree can be completed without exceeding 200 units or five total years of post-secondary study, including time enrolled at other institutions.
The selection process is highly competitive and these milestones are minimum requirements for consideration, achieving them does not guarantee admission to the Computer Science major. Any petitions denied will be automatically considered a second time in the next quarter. Petitions denied a second time will not be reconsidered. More information can be found at http://cs.ucsb.edu/education/undergrad/admissions.
You can change it right now if you want. (I did) Just go to http://admissions.sa.ucsb.edu/major-changes
All the instructions are there. It’s literally just sending an email with certain information.
@tmendelson
Hey! I’m in the same situation. And really want to change into computer science, when you emailed admissions, did they accept your request???
You were able to switch?? What major did you originally have?
I got accepted as a pre-communications major transfer, gonna change my major to biopsych or regular psych also!
Do you have to email them for the major change before you submit the SIR, or can you email them after you send it in? Thanks