- Career Center: For exploration and identifying a new major.
- Student Success Center: For academic planning.
- Faculty Advisors: For academic planning and formal submission of the change of major request.
Did you know that three out of every four college students change their major at least once during their undergraduate career?
Our goal is to ensure you choose a major that aligns with your strengths, values, and career goals. This process is supported by three key campus partners:
If you have been admitted but have not yet started your first semester and would like to change your major, you may change your major up to the first day of classes using the designated major change link in your admissions application portal to update your intended program. This can be accessed using the same credentials you created when you first applied to the University. Once the term begins, if you wish to change your major, you will follow the instructions listed below for Current Students.
Other Important Items to Consider:
- Changes at this stage may affect your first-semester schedule.
- Transfer Student-Athlete: All athletes must be a Bachelor degree seeking student as their primary pursuit. Student athletes may not pursue an Associates degree as a primary program but can pursue an AA, AAS or AS as a secondary curriculum. In most cases, full-time enrollment is required to be eligible to compete; however, there are some graduation term exceptions that could apply. Please reach out to your Athletic Compliance office for additional information.
If you are an enrolled student and wish to change your major, consider the following options based on whether you know your intended major.
The Career Center offers a variety of resources to help you explore and identify a major and career that fits your interests and strengths.
- Exploration Tools: Use self-guided resources like What Can I Do with This Major and the Focus 2 assessment to help you identify majors and careers of interest based on your personality, values, and skills.
- View Job and Salary Data: Learn about job titles, salaries, required skills, and educational requirements for careers of interest using the Job and Salary Data tool on the Career Center website.
- Meet with your Career Coach: Your Career Coach is trained to help you use and interpret your Focus 2 results and discuss suitable major and career pathways related to your interests. They can also help you learn how to conduct informational interviews and job shadows with alumni/professionals and make connections to career-related clubs/organizations. Your career coach is assigned based on your major or future major of interest. Learn who they are and how to schedule an appointment.
Speaking with your faculty advisor is another great way to help clarify classes to take, how majors connect to various careers, and learn which departments chairs to connect with to learn more. Login to Starfish through myPennWest to view your Faculty Advisor and their contact information.
If you have decided on a major, your first step is to meet with a faculty advisor, or department chair or assistant chair in the new major to discuss and complete the following:
- Review a What If Audit for your new major(s) to see how your current credits apply, what courses remain, and if any additional time is needed to complete the new program.
- Review any major-specific admission criteria (such as a competitive admission process or a minimum GPA requirement) as outlined in Academic Policy AC038: Change of Major.
- Discuss why it’s important to meet with a Financial Aid counselor to assess if changing your major will impact your aid (see FAQ for details).
- Once you’ve filled out the Curriculum Change Form (if needed, with assistance from your current advisor), submit it to the Chairperson of the academic department for the major you are changing to. If approved, the Chair will then forward the form to the Office of the Registrar for processing. You will receive confirmation of your program change via your PennWest email once it has been processed. Please note: Major/program changes submitted after the add/drop period of a term take effect in the next future term.
- Connect with the new academic department for an updated Faculty Advisor once the change is approved.
Login to Starfish through myPennWest, identify your Faculty Advisor and Success Coach and their contact information, and schedule a meeting.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Students should meet with a Financial Aid counselor to review any financial aid impact changing majors may have before submitting your formal change of major request.
- Review Credit Transfer with Advisor: Meet with your faculty advisor to officially determine how many of your completed credits will transfer to the requirements of your new major. This impacts your timely progress.
- Contact the Financial Aid Office: Schedule an appointment to discuss your potential change.
- Scholarship Eligibility: Switching majors could make you ineligible for existing funding, or conversely, open new opportunities. They can review scholarships contingent upon your current major.
- Federal Aid Limits: Federal student aid has limits, such as Pell lifetime eligibility used (LEU) and federal direct student loan aggregate limits. Changing majors could extend your time to graduation, potentially increasing your loan debt or causing you to lose eligibility if you exceed these lifetime limits.
- Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP): Federal Student Aid mandates schools to have SAP polices that require students to maintain a certain GPA and make timely progress toward a degree, such as the 150% rule which means you have a maximum number of credits you can attempt to complete a program. For a typical 120-credit bachelor’s degree, you can use up to 180 credits. Changing majors can affect this progress and your eligibility for federal aid. For additional SAP information review PennWest’s SAP Policy.
All athletes must be a Bachelor degree seeking student as their primary pursuit. Student athletes may not pursue an Associates degree as a primary program but can pursue an AA, AAS or AS as a secondary curriculum. In most cases, full-time enrollment is required to be eligible to compete; however, there are some graduation term exceptions that could apply. Please reach out to your Athletic Compliance office for additional information.
Graduate level students must apply for and be formally admitted to a new graduate level program rather than using the undergraduate change of major form. Please contact the Office of Graduate Admissions for the application process.
Login to Starfish through myPennWest to identify your Faculty Advisor and Success Coach and their contact information.
Your Career Coach is assigned based on your major. If you are exploring majors, you are welcome to meet with either your current major’s coach or the coach aligned with your potential future major. Learn who your Career Coach is and how you schedule an appointment at the Career Center website.
All major changes are governed by the official Academic Policy AC038: Change of Major, which defines the university's rules, deadlines, and requirements.