<p>Hi, I am a prospective freshman. How does choosing/declaring a major work? Do you have to apply to the major, or can you major in anything you like? For example, do I need to apply to the economics major and space is limited, or can all the students who are interested participate?</p>
<p>Completely up to you. UChicago operates as a liberal arts college. That is, you don’t need to apply to departments or majors. There are no quotas or space limitations. You can essentially change your major at your will.</p>
<p>@Sarquois That is amazing! If I wanted to be a math major, would they look at my high school math grades first (they are good, but not excellent)?</p>
<p>Check the catalog for majors you are interested in. </p>
<p>There are a few majors where it is optimal to get started with the required courses in the first quarter (bio, physics), but you don’t have to declare a major formally then. I know of one (Fundamentals) that requires an application which is submitted at the end of the first year–not to limit the number of students–but to make sure that the student is a good fit for the (unusual) major. For econ, you need to have taken some particular math courses before you can start taking the econ courses. I’m pretty sure that the math department would care a lot more about the courses you have taken at UChicago than what you did in high school–so if you want to be a math major, take the highest level math course you can place into (placement test during o-week) and see how you do.</p>
<p>Yep, motherbear332 is correct. Fundamentals (where the student proposes a question of focus to study for 2nd-4th year) is the only major requiring an application. The rest are up to you, just make sure you get on track early for those majors requiring certain prerequisites or tracks (e.g., biology, chemistry, etc). Once you get in, it’s all fair game! The math major is open to absolutely anyone who wants to pursue it. </p>
<p>Fundamentals isn’t the only major requiring an application. Law, Letters & Society does, too (the folklore is that Dennis Hutchinson wanted to be able to exclude anyone who seemed like he or she might go to law school), and Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities as well. There may be others. And I believe minors (or most of them) require explicit departmental approval.</p>