<p>I was just wondering how easy would it be to switch majors. I just got accepted and I'm going in on a Pre-Law Political Science major but I was just wondering what if I decide to no longer pursue Law School and a career in law. How easy would it be to switch majors within my first year (but still be in LAS).</p>
<p>Switching majors within a college like LAS is not too difficult. However, they highly prefer that you wait until after the first year -- which really does not make much difference since much of the first year in LAS is consumed by taking courses toward the gen ed requirement which all students must do and you can usually take freshman courses that fall within another major in LAS because many of those can also meet a gen ed requirement. More difficult is switching colleges, such as from LAS to business or engineering. To do so you will have to have a fairly high GPA, you will have to have taken courses that meet requirements of those other colleges, and then they generally do not take transfers until after sophomore year.</p>
<p>agreed. it is quite easy to switch from a different major within the same college. seen people do it. the only pain is having to go to your advisor and taking all the paper work to the different buildings.</p>
<p>ok so what do you gotta do to switch to a different school?</p>
<p>For competitive colleges, or maybe for all colleges, you have to apply all over again. essay, application, etc.</p>
<p>I think the question goes to switching colleges within UIUC. Generally, you have to submit a petition to transfer to the college and department into which you want to transfer which will include an essay as to why you want a transfer. Then you also have to meet minimum requirements for a transfer which vary from college to college (and departements within a college) and usually include having completed certain coursework that students in that college would usually take and a minimum GPA; meeting the minimums does not assure the transfer, e.g., transfer from another college into electrical engineering usually requires, just to apply, a minimum GPA through first or second year of about 3.0, but you really need higher to get it granted. Also, whether you can apply for transfer after freshman or instead after sophomore year depends on the college. To give an example: to transfer into business see the following for requirements which includes that you have completed at least 60 hours (two years) and have taken numerous courses: <a href="http://www.oar.uiuc.edu/future/pdf/transfer/handbook/bus.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.oar.uiuc.edu/future/pdf/transfer/handbook/bus.pdf</a></p>
<p>Transfer into engineering can be done earlier but it highly prefers those who have completed 60 hours (and some of the departments require 60 hours) and also has minimum course requirements in math, science, writing, and others. What you will find is that it is easier to transfer from business or engineering to LAS but more difficult to transfer from LAS to business or engineering. The hardest one to transfer into is business. As long as you have high GPA, are doing it after sophomore year, and have course requirements, transfering into engineering is actually easier -- reason: by end of second year engineering has usually lost 40% or more of those who started as freshman and thus has a lot of openings to fill; business loses a much smaller percentage and the number of openings is significantly fewer.</p>