How do I change major in the UCs?

College Majors Science Majors
1

I want to apply for a neuroscience major in college ( specifically the UCs) but I was advised to choose a less STEM-like major such as psychology since it aligns with my extracurriculars more. I am wondering if I apply for a psychology major in the UCs and want to change it to neuroscience, when would be the best time to do so? Also, I know the first two years are mainly lower division classes and general requirements… but if I go into college as a psychology major, can I still take lower division classes from the neuroscience major and declare my major as neuroscience after sophomore year? Thank you for your help!

2

Depends on the campus; look up “change major neuroscience [campus]”.

However, it is possible that, at some campuses, psychology is a more capacity-limited major than neuroscience, so applying to the psychology major, if the campus or division admits by major, may reduce the chance of admission.

Extracurriculars that do not match the intended major are common. For example, sports is a common extracurricular, but most college students are not athletes or academically studying athletics or exercise related subjects. Scouting is another common extracurricular, but most scouting participants may find only a minor at most overlap between scouting activities and their intended college majors.

3

At some schools such as Berkeley, for many classes a certain number of seats are reserved for students for a particular major. So depending on luck and circumstances if you are a declared psychology major (or undeclared) you may have some problems registering for neuroscience classes.

4

Major in L&S for most UCs has no bearing in acceptance. This policy stands at Cal and UCLA. So you can’t “game” the system and get in to those particular schools because major isn’t a factor unless you’re applying to a professional school. Your chances are equal since you aren’t in the major yet. You’ll have to complete pre reqs to declare because you’ll be admitted as pre-_____. You’ll have to check which other UCs do not admit by major. But UCSD does admit by major.