How hard to change majors?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>Is it difficult to change majors at the u of Chicago? Are you binded to the major you put on your application until the day you graduate or is there some freedom to do something else?</p>

2

<p>While other universities may have several colleges for undergraduate students like Arts and Sciences, Engineering UChicago only has one academic entity for all undergraduate students - the College.</p>

<p>A Chicago undergraduate can declare her major by the end of the third year.</p>

<p><a href=“https://college.uchicago.edu/academics/declaring-majors”>https://college.uchicago.edu/academics/declaring-majors&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>To be clear: The major you put on your application is completely irrelevant as far as the University of Chicago is concerned. No first-year student has any major, as far as the university is concerned – it will not recognize a student as majoring in something until the second year. (That doesn’t mean that you and your advisor won’t think about the most likely majors for you when planning your first-year courses, but you won’t be “bound” to anything at all.) Most students pick a major in the second or third quarter of their second year, and many change majors or add a second major during their third years. </p>

4

<p>You technically don’t need to declare your major until the end of your third year, but I think it’s better if you do it sooner. That way you can plan better. </p>

5

<p>An estimated 70 percent of students in a liberal arts college program change majors once they get to college. That’s the whole point of a liberal arts education in the US – exposure to a wide range of disciplines so that the student can discover what they love.</p>

6

<p>You can infer from the Registrar’s detailed quarterly enrollment reports that over half of the students declare a first major during spring quarter of their second year. Most of the rest declare their first majors in the preceding quarters, and about 10% wait until sometime during their third year. It also looks like students can declare a major at the end of their first year if they want, but not very many do.</p>

7

<p>Oh okay I see, thanks for the clarification!</p>