I am currently interested in the Astronomy & Astrophysics major. I have heard that it is one year at a commonwealth campus, if not directly accepted into UP and then get sent up there sophomore year. My main question is has anyone on here gone through the change of campus in this same major and successfully were able to change their major
What do you mean 'change your major '?
You’d likely be admitted to pre-major status, like all Penn State students.
You need to take your 'entrance to major ’ classes and get the requisite classes then you automatically move to University Park. However the major you chose is very demanding so you need to have a Plan B.
If you are thinking that you can go in Astronomy and then change your major to something else when you get to UP campus, you can…but they will send you right back to the commonwealth campus. They are aware that some people will attempt to choose a major simply to get to the UP campus quicker. To bar that from happening, if you get to UP and then change your major, they will send you back to the commonwealth campus until your junior year.
So, don’t pick a major simply because it gets you to UP campus faster. They know all about that. And if you are thinking you can stay in Astronomy and Astrophysics and then change only after 2 years…you can do that too (depending on major, ETM and credit windows)…but you will be behind and will likely have to go summers or a 5th year.
In another thread you were interested in Political Science. Both majors are very different and require different backgrounds. For Political Science, a strong background in English and Social Science would be expected, optimally some from AP Euro/World/US, AP Foreign Language, AP Language, AP Literature, AP CompGov, AP US Gov, AP Econ. For Astronomy, a strong background in math and science would be expected, optimally calculus honors or AB and/or BC, physics honors or AP Physics1, if possible Physics C - all of those with good grades (B and higher).
You could switch from Astronomy to Planetary Science but it’d still be tough.
For the record, your Entrance to Major courses are:
Physics 211-212
Calculus 140-141
Chem 110, 111, 112
= all of these are very hard and weedout
Plus Astro 20 (Astro science first year seminar), English 15/30, one arts class, and one social science class and, in all likelihood, one from Astro 001, 005, or 006.
For planetary science:
http://rap.psu.edu/planetary-science-and-astronomy-example-1-maximum-science-credits
Would I be able to do a double major at a commonwealth? Also, I never heard that they send you back after changing the major. How can they send you back to a previous campus if you already moved in at UP,and got it all switched,then they make you repack everything basically,like it never happened.
Yes…they will make you go back. This is so that you don’t intentionally mislead them as to what major you want just to get up to UP campus. Consider going to UP conditional in that case. The condition being that you are in a major that you NEEDED to be there for. If you aren’t, they will send you back to the commonwealth campus at the start of the next semester and you won’t be able to find housing etc…
It won’t work. Believe me, they’ve made it impossible for it to work. Because of the ETM requirements, you won’t be able to take other classes from your major towards your “real” intended major so if you don’t change your major, you are working towards a degree that you don’t want. If you wait to change your major until the end of your sophomore year, you are very limited by credit windows and ETM requirements. With 600,000 living alumni, they have seen, heard and had it all tried on them. They are pretty adept at making it pretty darn hard to game the system.
Even true transfer students can’t get to UP sophomore year. If you go to another University and wish to transfer to UP your sophomore year, you can’t. You have to transfer to a commonwealth and then go up in your junior year. Penn State UP campus is freshmen or junior admit. That’s it. With the exception of the very few majors that require you to go to UP early.
And yes…you can double major at any 4 year commonwealth campus if they have that major, or you can work towards a double major in the 2+2.