How Late is Too Late to Change Majors?

By Danielle Wirsansky on February 4, 2018

As a time and place for self-discovery, it has always seemed a little odd that you must start college with a declared major. How can you decide what you want to do with your whole life when you do not even know yourself or what you want yet? You are still forming your own opinions and ideas on what you want your future to look like so that you can lead a happy and fulfilling life. No one wants to choose poorly and then live a life in a career field they are not passionate about, working a job they do not enjoy.

Often when you are in the midst of the college experience, you learn something about yourself that makes you think your major is not quite the right fit. Psychology is not what you thought it would be, or really you are more passionate about theatre then business, or the career options that major leads to just do not seem like the right fit. Whatever the issue, you have to contemplate changing your major, which of course begs the next question: How late is too late to change majors?

This is a very personal question, and the answer to each student’s situation is unique. However, there are several different points you can consider in your quest to decide whether you feel it is too late to change your major.

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General Education Courses

The first thing you should consider when deciding whether or not to change majors is how far you have gotten into your schooling. Have you completed your general education courses that every student is required to take, no matter their major? This is your basic English, math, science, and civics courses and whatever else your university might require, like a computer literacy course for example. Many students tackle their course load by finishing their general education courses first so that they can later focus only on their major courses after that.

If you are still in the process of your general education courses, or have only taken a few classes towards your major before you realized that it was not the right fit for you, then you most likely have enough time to change majors without losing too much progress towards completing your degree.

Unfortunately, if you have taken all of your general education courses and several classes towards your major, you might find that switching majors would delay you and make you take more than the usual four years to complete an undergraduate degree. At that point, you have to decide which is more important—finishing in four years and having a degree in a topic you do not enjoy or want to work in, or taking a little bit more time and ending your undergraduate career with a degree in a subject you will actually use.

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Majors Offered By Your School

Another point to consider is what you want to change your major to—and whether or not your school offers that major (or offers a decent enough program in that area). Most schools offer basic and broad degrees like business and biology, but what if you want to focus on a specific concentration within those areas that your school does not offer? Or maybe you are interested in a degree in a less common area like Creative Writing, but your school does not offer that program of study. So then what? What do you do?

It is up to you to decide if the options your school offers align with the direction you want to take for your future studies. Do you want to transfer schools? Is it even a possibility for you at this juncture in your life? There are many factors you have to consider before making a decision.

Do You Have to Apply?

Another factor to consider is how easy it is to get into the major you would like to switch to. It is all great and good to decide you want to switch to an advertising major—but is that a major you can simply switch into, or do you have to apply and then wait and see if you were accepted? How long is the application process and how quickly will you know? If you are turned down, can you apply again? If accepted, can you start in the major your very next semester or can you only start courses in a Fall semester?

You have to decide with all these other questions in mind and see if the risks are worth taking—waiting and delaying your program of study or pushing forward with what you are already studying. You do not want to get stalled. If your intended major does not have an application system, you should consider many of these questions still to make sure that you will not be delayed overmuch.

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