{"id":398,"date":"2025-02-24T14:42:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T19:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/stalled\/?p=398"},"modified":"2025-03-13T13:31:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T17:31:26","slug":"declaring-changing-majors-3-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/stalled\/2025\/02\/24\/declaring-changing-majors-3-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Declaring\/changing majors (3.8)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Choosing a major is important, so this edition of Stalled is here to help you get a sense of the logistics around declaring or changing your major. Make sure to <\/em>stay in touch with your advisor(s) <\/em><\/strong>about the courses you need to fulfill your major!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DECLARING & CHANGING MAJORS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE SPECIFICS.<\/strong> First-year students will be able to declare a major beginning on February 19, 2025<\/strong>, and the deadline to do so is March 21, 2025<\/strong>. You can have one or two majors. Or, if you prefer, you can have one major and two minors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any student looking to change their major must also do so by that same March 21 deadline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

HOW DO I DECLARE MY MAJOR?<\/strong> Access the MyColby portal and navigate to the \u201cAcademics\u201d section. In the menu to the left, you\u2019ll see the \u201cInitial Major Declaration\u201d option. Click that, and follow the directions there to declare your major!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DO I HAVE<\/em> TO DECLARE?<\/strong> Students have to declare a major before they select their courses for their junior year.  But no, first-years are<\/strong> not required<\/strong> to declare a major if they don\u2019t yet know what they want to pursue. And that is abolutely okay! Lots of people take their time in figuring out what they want as a major, and it\u2019s nothing unusual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HOW DO I CHANGE MY MAJOR OR MINOR?<\/strong> If you decide that you want to change from one major to another, or if you want to change your minor, you should first talk to your advisor or your class dean<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is that your first step? Changing a major (and, in some cases, a minor) will shift your required classes. We want to ensure that there is a pathway for you to complete all graduation requirements within the eight-semester time frame. Advisors and class deans know how to navigate those kinds of concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if you do decide that a major or minor change is right for you, there is a form that you will need from the registrar\u2019s office \u2014 see the \u201cFurther Resources\u201d section of this poster for a link (you can access all of those resources via the QR code on this poster).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HOW DO I PICK A MAJOR?<\/strong> Get the perspectives of people who are knowledgeable about the major you\u2019re interested in. Talk to students who major in the department you\u2019re considering. What do they say about what it\u2019s like? To get a full picture, you should also to talk to a faculty member in that department, or the department chair, to find out about course requirements and opportunities that are open only to majors. To experience what courses in the major are like, contact a faculty member and ask to sit in on a class session (just note that some rooms will not have space for guests, so be understanding if the faculty member has to say no to your request).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DECLARING A MAJOR MATTERS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MAJORS AFFECT COURSE ELIGIBILITY.<\/strong> Many courses are set up so that only majors in a particular department can take them. So, the major that you declare will directly affect which courses you can take<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re thinking about changing your major or minor, you need to do so by the March 21 deadline. Otherwise, you may not be able to register for some key classes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MAJORS AFFECT ADVISING.<\/strong> Declaring a major will affect your advising, too. Once you declare a major within a specifc department, you\u2019ll be assigned an advisor within that department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FURTHER RESOURCES<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colby College. \u201cAdvice from Departments<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colby College. \u201cFirst-Year Advising<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colby College. \u201cMajor Requirement.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colby College Registrar. \u201cChange of Major or Minor<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discord. \u201cAcademic Advising for the Colby Class of 2028<\/a>\u201d server.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Choosing a major is important, so this edition of Stalled is here to help you get a sense of the logistics around declaring or changing your major. Make sure to stay in touch with your advisor(s) about the courses you need to fulfill your major! DECLARING & CHANGING MAJORS THE SPECIFICS. First-year students will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17590,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[564071,564081],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/stalled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/stalled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/stalled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/stalled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17590"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/stalled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/stalled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/stalled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions\/416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/stalled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/stalled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/stalled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}