<p>This is a hypothetical situation based on something that happened to a friend of mine's child:</p>
<p>Senior in HS researches colleges during senior year, 2006-2007. During that time, receives a college catalog from college A dated 2006-2008. Matriculates to that college in September 2007.</p>
<p>Upon matriculation, finds that the course of study that he was interested in has been revamped completely, adding 18 credits of required courses in a field related to the major, and eliminating 18 credits of elective spaces that the student was looking forward to using to explore other subjects. This is done for the 2007-2008 year, before the "expiration" of the current catalog. The area in which the courses are added holds no interest for him, and he has to change majors, even though he picked the school based on the major requirements as "advertised".</p>
<p>I an wondering if I need to get in writing from my (current) senior son's prospective college (not the same one)that they are not reworking his intended major to a point where it no longer fits him.</p>
<p>It’s a good cautionary story; if your heart is that set on a certain program it would be good to get reassurances from the department that it isn’t going to be redesigned. I don’t think a college would give you the type of writing you propose. There are a lot of issues beyond their control, changes in the field, changes in faculty, changes in budget. Those 18 credits may have been added for the reason that people in that field are now expected to have whatever knowledge is encompassed by those credits.</p>
<p>Back in the dinosaur ages when I was in school, the major requirements (and even the majors offered) changed from year to year. Each student was “grandfathered” under the rules at the time they entered college or declared their major.</p>
<p>It’s too bad this happened to your friend’s kid. If you are concerned about your son’s major, he should contact (email is probably best) the department of the major he’s interested in and talk to the head of the department. </p>
<p>I cautioned D about looking too specifically at course offerings at schools, as there’s no guarantee that specific courses would be offered every semester, or even if the same courses would be available to her a couple of years down the track. We focused on the sizes the department(s) she was interested in, looked at the course catalog, looked at the course offerings online (to see at the time what was offered fall vs. spring the year she was a hs sr). In her case, I was concerned about schools that offered a small number of courses (i.e. very small choices) in her major areas of interest. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>I guess this goes to show that anything can happen! I know that Tulane revamped itself after Katrina, but that seems understandable.</p>
<p>I would use the college’s website rather than a printed course catalog, assuming that the online information would be current. Also, just to be on the safe side, I e-mailed a professor in my daughter’s intended major, asking him various things. It wouldn’t hurt for your son to do that too, to start a dialogue. I think professors are happy to communicate with a prospective student. This way if big changes are afoot, the professor would have an opportunity to mention that.</p>
<p>At one school my son applied to last year, a new Dean was hired during the course of the year, and by spring an entire engineering major had been eliminated. My son got a “letter of apology” from the new dean, explaining the elimination of the major, a course of study he had worked his scholarship application around, and one of the two majors that had been featured the previous summer during “prospective engineering student days”.</p>
<p>Wow, I never thought of this (add it to the list of things I never thought of). My son is still in such an exploratory mode that he picked his school for general academic excellence and social comfort. However, if the history department suddenly imploded, he’d probably be bummed out. In a <em>major</em> way.</p>
<p>I don’t think it happens often, but it certainly happens occasionally. If you’ve got very specific interests it’s probably worth asking specific questions before making any final decisions. I know Harvard is in the midst of revamping its general education requirements. We were interested when they’d kick in when my son was applying as I hate the current system, but no one seemed to know exactly how far along they were in the process, but it seemed clear not far enough to make my son happy. I only knew what was afloat there because I’m an alum. </p>
<p>That said it is worth looking at catalogs - there were two main approaches to foundation courses in computer science - my son didn’t think it was too much of an issue, but one uses a language many kids are familiar with, while the other uses one most aren’t.</p>
<p>Bethie, I don’t think a history department is likely to implode but Big Wig Professor X might get enticed to go to another university.</p>
<p>When I was a university faculty member, we were told that the catalogue curriculum was a contract for a student beginning while it was the most current catalogue. Your friend might double check this issue with academic affairs at the school. Obviously when they make changes, they think they have improved things and want students to enter into that version of the program, but there might be a way around this. Good luck to your friend’s son. Lorelei</p>
<p>What was fun last semester (his first) was that he found history (kinda-sorta) courses to take in 4 different departments. A favorite was in the religion department and another in French. Aren’t most things kinda-sorta history?</p>
<p>Friend’s son explored the idea of an appeal, based on the fact that no supplements, etc. were handed out. The old course requirements actually remained on the website throughout student’s freshman year! However, he didn’t want to be the kid who cut a fit and be the exception.</p>
<p>The college’s response was that since the student never went to an advisor (didn’t feel he had to, was just taking core classes to that point and he’s a real independent kid-doesn’t like to ask for advice), that was why he wasn’t informed of the change in requirements! He only found out about the revamped curriculum by chance. I wonder how many kids are going to apply for graduation at that college in 2 more years and find out that they have done everything wrong?</p>
<p>I’m sure that it is always good to see an advisor, but I went through 4 years of undergrad and a master’s degree relying on the college catalog, and NEVER seeing an advisor. This story scares me. I’m going to make sure that I get something from my son’s college choice before he enrolls.</p>
<p>Interesting about never seeing the advisor. At DS’ school, advisor needs to sign off on planned registration each semester. This is a major research University, medium-small, not a small “nurturing” LAC. But the requirement to have your advisor in the loop seems wise, given the above post.</p>
<p>I agree with lorelei that the common practice is that the catalog you come in on is a contract. This is why it wouldn’t be useful to use the online version as most updated–it may or may not apply to you. However, from the OP’s added post, it sounds like he had not formerly declared that major yet. In the school I work at, your general education requirements follow the catalog you enter on, but your major requirements follow the catalog in effect when you declare your major–sounds like they’re using that as a loophole.</p>
<p>As far as seeing advisors–my S does not have to get a sign off on registration–he does it online.</p>
<p>Although is seems unfair, at least your son was fortunate to have found out early enough to avoid an extended stay at school. A young woman I know is in a Masters program for some type of early childhood social services thing … and the state completely changed the rules of the game for the program. She will finish her degree this spring, but she will not be qualified for the position she went to school for in the first place. It really seems unfair.</p>
<p>Apparantly this young man declared his major shortly after beginning his freshman year, when (I would have thought) the 06-08 catalog was still in effect. It didn’t matter–</p>
<p>Like I said, I thought these catalogs were nearly legally binding, or at least reliable. It’s certainly been a learning experience for me!</p>
Online registration with my S also. But there is some time frame in which the advisor has to “sign off” on it. I don’t even know how that is done - probably an electronic thing, as well.</p>
<p>A similar situation happens with music majors, who choose their school specifically to study with a certain teacher, and then that teacher leaves during the course of study. Sometimes when this happens the teacher “takes” a few kids from his/her studio along to the new school.</p>
<p>As some of you may know, my S’s teacher passed away recently. He has only one semester left, but a handful of his classmates are now in tough positions, deciding whether to stay at the school and study with a different teacher, or try to make alternate plans. While all the other teachers may be “good” in a certain way, teachers are chosen for very personal reasons, and it’s hard to switch to just anyone.</p>
<p>Obviously this is not something anyone could inquire about in advance. It’s just hard to plan for every eventuality.</p>