Switching to undeclared

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

I have been recently admitted to Stanford and I have a question regarding my major. On my application, I chose Biology as my primary program of interest. Does this mean that I’m officially a bio major ? Bc I’ve heard that at Stanford and some other colleges in the US, you choose your major at the end of your first year, so I’m really confused. While I’m 90% sure that I would like to study biology in college, I would also like to take courses like Feminist Studies, Spanish etc my freshman year in order to explore other subject areas and see if I change my mind about what I want to study. Now I regret not choosing ‘undeclared’ when I was applying. So my question is: would it be possible to switch to ‘undeclared’ before September? If yes, how do i do that?

( please forgive me for sounding so ignorant, I’m am int’l, and I have no idea how this system works )

2

You are free to pursue any major you want. You do not have to declare one until the end of your sophomore year so you don’t need to switch anything because you haven’t declared anything.

3

@pacnwmomof2 thank you!

4

pacnwmomof2’s advice is on point.

You won’t have a major when you start and can choose any major. You’re supposed to declare by the end of sophomore year and you’re also welcome to change your major after declaring. All that’s required is a few pages of paperwork. Most people who are pre-med start on that track and then switch off of it if they don’t like it (not the other way around) because there are a lot of pre-med requirements and it’s hard to graduate on time if you don’t start the track right away. If you’re planning on bio but not premed then feel free to ignore that premed advice.