Going into college as undeclared. Is that a problem?

eye lovethe eye · Feb 18, 2009

I apologize if this question has already been asked but I'm really trying to decide on a college!

If I go to the college that I'm planning on, I will have to start out as undeclared. I will probably eventually declare my major as either biology or chemistry, but right now it's undeclared. Will this be a problem?

Maygyver · Feb 18, 2009

eye lovethe eye said:
I apologize if this question has already been asked but I'm really trying to decide on a college!

If I go to the college that I'm planning on, I will have to start out as undeclared. I will probably eventually declare my major as either biology or chemistry, but right now it's undeclared. Will this be a problem?

Nope. No problem at all. It allows you to become a bio or chem major pretty easy rather than starting as bio and having to fill out paper work to change, or vise versa.

MilkmanAl · Feb 18, 2009

Yeah, being undeclared is no issue at all. You have plenty of gen. ed. requirements to fulfill, so you can work on those and the pre-health courses like basic bio, gen chem, and all that jazz while you decide what you want to do.

Silverman780 · Feb 18, 2009

Believe it or not the first two years are almost identical for both these majors! So I would either make sure that you are in the right classes so that you can pick later. OR pick one and hop aboard. 😎

Either way its no big deal, the problems begin to occur when you decide at the end of your junior year that you don't want to be a business major and that you really want to major in history or some other unrelated field. :laugh:

xnfs93hy · Feb 18, 2009

eye lovethe eye said:
I apologize if this question has already been asked but I'm really trying to decide on a college!

If I go to the college that I'm planning on, I will have to start out as undeclared. I will probably eventually declare my major as either biology or chemistry, but right now it's undeclared. Will this be a problem?

Nope. However, it does help a lot to know what you want to major in.

tennisball80 · Feb 18, 2009

Anytime you want to pick up the major
You know it ain't nothin to drop a couple stacks on you
Wanted you could get it my dear
Five million dollar home, drop Bentley's I swear
Yeah I want'cho body, I need yo body
Long as you got me you won't need nobody
if you want it I got it, go get it I buy it
Tell 'em other broke *****s be quiet

Baby you can major whatever you like it
I said you can major whatever you like it
Yeah

Maygyver · Feb 18, 2009

jefgreen said:
Nope. However, it does help a lot to know what you want to major in.

I disagree. It doesn't really help to know what you want to major in going into college because it can pigeonhole you into something that after a couple years you might not want to do, but you are stuck with. Most college students don't know what they want to do, and if they say they do, a lot of the time they are lying. Knowing what to major in gives you no advantage what-so-ever.

eye lovethe eye · Feb 18, 2009

Thank you so much for the responses! That makes me feel so much better! =) I had originally applied for pre-med but I didn't get accepted and I just got put as undeclared but I think I actually like that more so that I can see what I like. Hmm...thanks again guys! =)

huskerdye · Feb 18, 2009

eye lovethe eye said:
I apologize if this question has already been asked but I'm really trying to decide on a college!

If I go to the college that I'm planning on, I will have to start out as undeclared. I will probably eventually declare my major as either biology or chemistry, but right now it's undeclared. Will this be a problem?

As said, nope not at all..

Almost all colleges have the same pre-reqs that everybody has to take anyway.. It's probably better to start off undeclared if your not absolutely sure want you want to major in..

Maygyver · Feb 18, 2009

eye lovethe eye said:
Thank you so much for the responses! That makes me feel so much better! =) I had originally applied for pre-med but I didn't get accepted and I just got put as undeclared but I think I actually like that more so that I can see what I like. Hmm...thanks again guys! =)

At my school they call undeclared "exploring" which has a much better connotation. For both of those degrees, you probably need to take the entry Bio and Chem for science majors, so go ahead and do those and you can see which you prefer. Chem might not specifically require bio, but it is one of the electives for a science series probably. Good luck. (Pick bio! 🙂)

strv04 · Feb 19, 2009

I would be very careful about going into college without a declared major. Talk to some students at your school what the deal is. Often times all you need to do when applying is check a box and your in that major. Things change when you get to school and all of the sudden certain majors can be locked or have GPA requirements and other such nonsense. Although this may be more common at big state schools like the one I went to.

I would recommend choosing something you think you might like and then signing up for lots of general classes the first semester or two while you decide. You can always change majors later but its nice having a secure position as opposed to being in the pool of undecideds.

pressmom · Feb 19, 2009

The only good thing about declaring a major if you're going to a larger school is that SOME schools have first availability for intro classes for their major. This may not be a problem with general ed requirements, but it is something to think about. You also may get a better adviser going in first thing.

Having said that, I waited to the very last possible day to declare my major and things turned out fine. But I got my degree from a medium-sized school.

xnfs93hy · Feb 19, 2009

Maygyver said:
I disagree. It doesn't really help to know what you want to major in going into college because it can pigeonhole you into something that after a couple years you might not want to do, but you are stuck with. Most college students don't know what they want to do, and if they say they do, a lot of the time they are lying. Knowing what to major in gives you no advantage what-so-ever.

You would, and I'm going to disagree with your disagreement.

While I think it is a good idea to wait, if you know what you want to major in THAT WILL GIVE YOU AN ADVANTAGE.

Of course, if you hate it (although I don't know why anyone would choose a major they hate, but apparantely people do) then you are now at a DISADVANTAGE.

However, to say that you are not at an advantage whatsoever is simply not true.

pressmom · Feb 19, 2009

jefgreen said:
You would, and I'm going to disagree with your disagreement.

While I think it is a good idea to wait, if you know what you want to major in THAT WILL GIVE YOU AN ADVANTAGE.

Of course, if you hate it (although I don't know why anyone would choose a major they hate, but apparantely people do) then you are now at a DISADVANTAGE.

However, to say that you are not at an advantage whatsoever is simply not true.

Jeff, I think the problem people have is that you're posting on here without ever having gone to college. The rest of us posting on here with concrete advice have been to college or are going to college. Be careful giving advice in something you have done or experienced.

xnfs93hy · Feb 19, 2009

pressmom said:
Jeff, I think the problem people have is that you're posting on here without ever having gone to college. The rest of us posting on here with concrete advice have been to college or are going to college. Be careful giving advice in something you have done or experienced.

That last bit of advice I posted a few hours ago was something my cousin actually told me. He is a second year college student. Just saying.

MilkmanAl · Feb 19, 2009

Preach it, sista! Also, it's worth noting that most people's first year of college looks strikingly similar when you get down to it. You have maybe a basic science or two, a math course, and a bunch of various humanities junk, plus a foreign language or something. It doesn't matter too much what your major is that first year because, like I said earlier, you're probably going to spend most of it picking up elective courses that you have to have to graduate. I mean, I started out with 44 hours of credit (which I have to assume is on the extreme high end) and still took a bunch of assorted elective stuff.

edit: Knowing what you want to major in is an advantage in that you don't have to worry about what course of study you want to pursue. It's more for peace of mind than anything. You can sometimes get first access to classes within your major, but that's fairly irrelevant for your first year or two where there will be bunches of slots available in all of the courses you're taking for your major.

niranjan162 · Feb 20, 2009

Maygyver said:
I disagree. It doesn't really help to know what you want to major in going into college because it can pigeonhole you into something that after a couple years you might not want to do, but you are stuck with. Most college students don't know what they want to do, and if they say they do, a lot of the time they are lying. Knowing what to major in gives you no advantage what-so-ever.

I disagree with you as well. Knowing what you wanna do can make your life significantly easier. You dont have to rush to take pre-reqs etc. i dont understand how you get pigeonholed, people switch majors all the time. Chances are you wont be interacting with the same people when you switch, so they wont know you as "the pre-med"

Little tip, When I was in undergrad I didnt know what I wanted to do and I entered undeclared. Most schools have a deadline for when you have to pick a major, when I picked mine I realized they started slamming me with some extra "major associated" fees.

nlax30 · Feb 20, 2009

It can vary with each school, and while it's not going to kill you going in undeclared I would suggest trying to get an idea as soon as you can.

Or at least narrow down to a department, science vs humanities vs something else, etc.... While there may not be much of a difference in the 1st year between a bio and chem major, there could be a large difference between a bio major and say, history major.

At least at my undergrad the bio department was fairly large and they pretty much had a suggested schedule track to follow for each of the 4 years. If you spent a year sort of bouncing around and didn't cover the right pre-reqs in the right order you may need to add in some courses and do a couple summers or extra semester to catch back up. It's REALLY annoying to put off a required pre-req in the fall semester only to learn that it's not offered in the spring and now you have to wait until summer or the next fall to take it.

If you DO have a general or strong inclination now then I'd at least suggest going to that department and speaking with an advisor and see if they have some sort of suggested timeline/schedule for when to take certain classes.

Maygyver · Feb 20, 2009

strv04 said:
I would be very careful about going into college without a declared major. Talk to some students at your school what the deal is. Often times all you need to do when applying is check a box and your in that major. Things change when you get to school and all of the sudden certain majors can be locked or have GPA requirements and other such nonsense. Although this may be more common at big state schools like the one I went to.

I would recommend choosing something you think you might like and then signing up for lots of general classes the first semester or two while you decide. You can always change majors later but its nice having a secure position as opposed to being in the pool of undecideds.

Some of the people who have been to college do make some good points. I would definitely double check with your school to find out what exactly you need to do to get into a major after you have enrolled. In which case, you might just want to pick a major you think you will enjoy most. Especially since you two choices are biology and chemistry. If you pick bio and decide you enjoy the intro chem classes more, it should be pretty easy to switch.

So I guess, in short, some of it depends specifically on schools, as people have mentioned, in which case you should try to get ahold of an advisor or a friend who is currently at the school if you know someone there.

eye lovethe eye · Feb 21, 2009

Thanks again for the advice! I'm still not sure if I'm going to that school, but I just wanted to make sure that going in as undeclared is okay. When I filled out the application a long time ago, I put pre-med as my first choice major and then nothing as second choice so I just go put into undeclared. I probably would have put bio as my second choice if I could do it over again, but oh well. I just wanted to make sure that going in undeclared won't completely ruin my chances of getting into med school. Thanks again! =)

MilkmanAl · Feb 21, 2009

Word to the wise: don't get a pre-med major is that's available to you. It's totally unmarketable if you decide you don't want to go to med school. Chemistry would be a much wiser choice, in that regard, and biology would even be a lot better.

xnfs93hy · Feb 21, 2009

MilkmanAl said:
Word to the wise: don't get a pre-med major is that's available to you. It's totally unmarketable if you decide you don't want to go to med school. Chemistry would be a much wiser choice, in that regard, and biology would even be a lot better.

Honest to God, I didn't even know universities had a pre med major.

MilkmanAl · Feb 21, 2009

I think it's mostly a thing of the past. There are still a few that offer it, though.

eye lovethe eye · Feb 23, 2009

For me, my major would not actually be pre-med, but it's the just the "program" that I'm going into I guess? At least that was my assumption. I think I'm eventually going to have to actually declare a major which will probably be bio. I'm not 100% sure, but I think they just say pre-med so they know you want to go to med school and so that you get on the right track because at that school they space out gen. ed. throughout all 4 years. Like I said, I'm not 100% sure, but I think that's the idea. 🙂 Does that sound right?

DrYoda · Feb 23, 2009

eye lovethe eye said:
For me, my major would not actually be pre-med, but it's the just the "program" that I'm going into I guess? At least that was my assumption. I think I'm eventually going to have to actually declare a major which will probably be bio. I'm not 100% sure, but I think they just say pre-med so they know you want to go to med school and so that you get on the right track because at that school they space out gen. ed. throughout all 4 years. Like I said, I'm not 100% sure, but I think that's the idea. 🙂 Does that sound right?

My uni's like that. They have optional pre-med/law/whatever that you can declaire.

But you should check with them to be sure.

Going into college as undeclared. Is that a problem?

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

The Exalted Grand Poobah

Full Member

Membership Revoked

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Third year!

Full Member

Third year!

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Space Cowboy

Similar threads