<p>I recently posted in the college majors thread about me having conflicted interests when it comes to me deciding on a major (I’m looking into both Physics and Linguistics). In short, I’m thinking of entering as an undecided, taking prereq classes for both, then deciding on one before the second semester begins. I have a couple of questions regarding this…</p>
<p>Firstly, would this put me behind schedule for either major? Graduating in four years is a must (money is tight, despite the financial aid and scholarship cash I’ll hopefully qualify for), and I can’t afford to waste time if it’ll push me back a semester.</p>
<p>Second, I’m a little confused about entering OSU as an undecided major. I’ve been informed that if you enter as an undecided, you aren’t actually accepted by a particular school, just by the university itself, and then you end up applying later to the school that offers your major. But since both Physics and Linguistics are offered by the same college (College of Arts and Sciences), can I enter as an undecided for that particular college and not have to mess with applying the college later on?</p>
<p>My guess is that would would enter OSU as “Arts & Sciences - Undecided”. First semester all freshmen take a “survey” class (1 credit) that helps guide you to decide on your major. They typically have speakers come in (I’d assume from different areas of study in Arts & Sciences) so you have a chance to explore the different options. I’m not positive what it would take to then declare a major with the school, but it’s usually not too difficult to do (except in Engineering, Business, etc).</p>
<p>When you schedule during orientation, you actually have an advisor to work with. For any major you are required to take Gen Ed courses too, so if you schedule your intro classes carefully, one can meet a Gen Ed requirement of the other. For example, let’s say you schedule English 1110 (all majors require this), Physics 1200, Linguistics 2000 and 2 other courses. If you decide to major in Linguistics, the physics class will count as your Physical science gen ed requirement. If you major in physics, the linguistics will count as an Arts & Humanities gen ed. So, it doesn’t put you behind schedule at all.</p>
<p>You’ll just need to be cautious and not schedule a low-level course (say Physics 1103) which meets the gen ed requirement, but is too low to count toward a physics major. The advisor can help you with this, but I’d research both majors on the OSU website and have all of that info handy, so you know what you’re talking about.</p>