When applying to UF, my son selected “Psychology” as the major. Its my understanding this is not a factor in the decision nor is he committed to that major/accepted to that “college”. He has been also mentioning things like architecture and engineering. So, how does that work? We went on UF’s catalog and seems like very specific classes start for specific majors Semester 1. I told him you can’t just necessarily switch your major, you would have to be accepted - example Engineering. We are going to call the school so he knows how this works. You always hear you don’t have to select your major in the first 2 years but I am wondering if you need to be on a path with specific pre-reqs or else you 1) won’t be accepted to that college 2) add more time to your college time because you have to back-track with classes. Would welcome some recent experience. Thanks!
I think your line of thinking is correct. At UF, you typically don’t have to “declare” a major until you apply for an upper division college. However, each college has different prerequisites for admission. To be in engineering, you need to take math and chemistry pre-reqs during your first two years. To be in journalism, you don’t. At a minimum, they will help you choose freshman classes appropriate for the desired major at Preview, UF’s freshman orientation program.
Theoretically, you could take pre-reqs for “liberal arts” and not choose a major within that college until after acceptance into the upper division liberal arts college.
Where things get tricky is when you change paths after taking specific pre-reqs. If you have three semesters of chemistry classes and then change your major to History, you have “wasted” time and money.
UF doesn’t require you to declare a major right away, but to get through on time, it helps to have a plan.
Agree with @GatorDad305. I would recommend taking the “Engineering” versions of the science and math courses even if your son doesn’t start out as an engineering major.
The nice thing about engineering is that the prerequisite math and science classes usually cover more material than the general courses required by non-science/non-math majors. For example, if your son takes Engineering Statistics (STA-3032) and decides to major in Psychology, he will probably not have to take the Intro to Stats courses that are required for the Psychology major (STA-2023, STA-3024). If he takes the latter courses and then decides to major in Engineering, he will probably still have to take the Engineering Stats course.
Keep in mind that UF’s Architecture program is a 4-year Bachelor of Design program (BDes). He will need to complete a Master’s program (MArch) in order to be certified and licensed as an architect.
I spent my first two years as an Architecture major at a school with a 5-yr BArch program before switching to Civil Engineering. I ended up graduating after 2.5 years, so about a semester “lost”, although it was a semester ahead of when I would have graduated if I had completed the BArch program. I was able to get an Architecture History minor.
Architecture is centered around the Design Studio course (every semester), along with 3 semesters of Architecture History courses during the first two years. You don’t get much credit for these courses if you switch majors,
Thank you for your kind responses. I also learned about UF’s exploratory track. So for the first 3 semesters they will help match up his interests on his schedule to help select classes that would keep in on track for the possibilities of majors. I guess you sign up for this during Preview. https://www.advising.ufl.edu/exploratory/sample-exploratory-schedule/
Yep, but make sure he tells the adviser that he may be interested in engineering. The adviser will make sure they take at least 1 engineering critical tracking courses each semester. Usually they will take two, one of the math courses (Calc 1, 2, 3, or Differential Equations) and one of the science classes (Chem, Physics 1 and 2). These classes would also go toward any other major (they all require some math and science credits).
It doesn’t hurt to look up a few major curriculum and have some sense of which classes you may want to take, before you meet with the adviser.
Here is a typical engineering curriculum.
https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/engineering/majors/mechanical-engineering.aspx
Here is Psychology:
https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/liberalarts/majors/psychology.aspx
Note that Psychology recommends a math class the first semester which could be the engineering Calc 1 class (which is more advanced than MAC1140, MAC1147) or MAC1114). In the 2nd semester they recommend PSY 2012.
Your son should have a rough idea of some of the classes that are required (in the first year) for majors he may be interested in. It will make his advising session much more productive. 
Good Luck!
Quick note. The advisers during preview are very helpful. However, sometimes you have to push for your preferred courses. Your son does have a voice in picking his classes…
Thank you so much for the guidance. I love the contributions from crowd sourcing on College Confidential. You are most kind!