Major Selection at UT Austin

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas at Austin
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Hi! I have a few questions on UT Austin’s major selection/changing process. I’m aware that technically some of these can be answered on their admissions website (which I checked out already), but I wanted to hear from actual student experiences and anecdotes rather than just facts and figures. Here are the questions:

If I’m not wrong, you choose both an intended school and an intended major when applying to UT Austin. After you’re accepted to UT Austin with the intended major and school you picked on your application, does UT Austin expect you to follow through? For instance, if a student picked “College of Business: Agribusiness” will UT Austin funnel that student into an business department and expect him/her to take only business courses and activities, or does UT Austin really treat everyone the same way no matter what they picked for intended major/school (at least until they declare)?

Can you take classes outside of your intended school/major? How about after you declare?

Is there a limiting of options in regards to classes, activities, etc. for certain majors, even unintentionally? For instance, many schools I’ve looked into unintentionally limits STEM or Engineering students because their prerequisites are stricter/heavier, so many students with these intended majors tend to feel more restricted in their class choice.

When does UT Austin expect students to declare their majors by? Can a student be truly “Undeclared” up until the point of declaring their majors?

And lastly, based on your opinion, does intended major/school affect admissions? A lot of colleges I’ve looked into have stated publicly that the intended major does not affect admissions, but we also know diversity in ideologies (and thus major) is also important. This, of course, is a very touchy subject and I’m definitely not expecting the absolute, objective truth for this question; just wanted to hear your thoughts.

Other than these questions, if you have any other comments you could share about how students are pressured to take certain majors over others at UT Austin, and any reason they would change their major: they would be appreciated!
Thanks so much for your help :slight_smile:

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It is much more difficult to get accepted into some colleges than others, e.g. Business and Engineering or two of the most difficult for admissions.

If you get accepted into Business, then Business is your major. You will take primary core classes no matter what your major: Math, English, History, etc., but you will be focusing primarily on Business courses.

UT allows little to no transferring in between colleges once admitted. It is virtually impossible to switch from Undergraduate Studies to Business, however, you can switch from Business to Undergraduate Studies or Liberal Arts.

I do not like the way UT forces 18-year-old students to make a decision about their future before they even step foot on campus. I believe there is value in taking different classes and declaring a major AFTER having had experience in the college classroom…but alas, I am not on the UT Board of Regents, so my opinion is just an opinion.