Declaration of Major
Students must declare a major by the time they have completed 90 UC Davis units. A hold will be placed on registration if a student is still undeclared after completing 90 units. Students must meet with a BASC academic advisor for that specific major, review eligibility and discuss a projected plan of studies. Students file a Change of Major petition on the OASIS portal at https://students.ucdavis.edu/. The minimum requirement for entry into a major is a C average in all courses used to satisfy major requirements. Students are accepted into the major when their advisor and the dean have approved the petition.
Students who fail to maintain a 2.000 GPA in courses required for their major over two consecutive quarters may be required to withdraw from the major.
Change of Major Within the College
To change from one major to another within a college, you need the consent of the department or committee in charge of your proposed new major and the approval of the dean. Admission into a major program may be denied by the program or by the dean if your grade point average (GPA) in courses required for the selected major is less than 2.000.
Procedures for change of major within a college are the same as for declaration of major and the same conditions apply. If you wish to change to a major that has admission restrictions, you must comply with the special procedures and requirements for that major.
All students planning to change their major to a CBS major must consult with a Biology Academic Success Center (BASC) advisor before filing a change of major petition. For students who have attained senior standing (135 units), the BASC advisor will go over additional restrictions and requirements related to the change of major as well as help the student develop an academic plan outlining all remaining requirements needed for graduation. A BASC advisor must approve the student’s change of major petition and academic plan outlining all remaining requirements needed for graduation to be able to change to CBS major after attaining senior standing.
It is not possible to change or declare a major in the quarter in which you file to graduate.
Students whose academic plan outlining all remaining requirements needed for graduation causes them to exceed 200 units must also file an Excess Units petition and academic plan outlining requirements needed for graduation are available on OASIS at https://students.ucdavis.edu/.
Change of Major Accompanied by Change of College
A change of major petition, available on the OASIS portal at https://students.ucdavis.edu/, must be approved by a faculty or staff advisor of the new major you are selecting. In addition, admission to the new college will require that dean's approval. To obtain that approval, you must be in good academic standing (qualitatively and quantitatively), meet all minimum GPA criteria, including those for the major, and satisfy any other admission requirements established by the new college.
All students planning to change their major to a CBS major must consult with a Biology Academic Success Center (BASC) advisor before filing a change of major petition. For students who have attained senior standing (135 units), the BASC advisor will go over additional restrictions and requirements related to the change of major as well as help the student develop an academic plan outlining all remaining requirements needed for graduation. A BASC advisor must approve the student’s change of major petition and academic plan outlining all remaining requirements needed for graduation for a student to be able to change to CBS major after attaining senior standing.
It is not possible to change or declare a major in the quarter in which you file to graduate.
Students whose academic plan outlining all remaining requirements needed for graduation causes them to exceed 200 units must also file an Excess Units petition and academic plan outlining all remaining requirements needed for graduation is available on OASIS at https://students.ucdavis.edu/.
Multiple Majors
Admission into multiple majors is subject to the approval of offices in charge of the majors involved and the Dean of the College. Departments, curriculum committees and other teaching units, singly or collectively, as well as faculty advisors have the right to disapprove a student's request for a multiple major.
Approval of a request to declare more than one major is subject to the following:
- Eighty percent of the upper division units used to satisfy requirements in each major must be unique; that is, they may not be offered in satisfaction of requirements of any of the other majors involved.
- If the major programs differ in the number of upper division units required, the major program requiring the smaller number of upper division units will be used to compute the minimum number of units that must be unique.
- In determining that the eighty percent requirements have been satisfied, advisors and the Dean must count both specific courses and courses with substantial overlap of content as common to the majors involved.
- Students must complete all majors within the 225-unit limit.
- Students may only petition for a multiple major after completing two Depth Subject Matter courses in each major.
A student who completes all requirements for approved multiple majors in which one major normally leads to an B.A. degree and another normally leads to a B.S. degree, will receive a B.A.S. degree. A single degree is granted to students who graduate with multiple majors.
Cross-College Majors
The same conditions apply for cross-college multiple majors as for multiple majors within the college. In addition, approval of the deans of all involved colleges are required for cross-college multiple majors.
Individual Major
Students with academic interests not covered by an established major have the opportunity to develop an individual major. Such a major requires the selection of interrelated courses totaling a minimum of 45 upper division units from two or more areas of study. If you choose this option, you will work closely with faculty advisors to develop a coherent and rigorous academic program. A student who wishes to propose an individual major must submit the proposal to the Committee on Undergraduate Student Petitions prior to reaching 120 units. It is important for the student to make arrangements to speak with an advisor in the Biology Academic Success Center (BASC) early in the development of their major as no individual major will be approved after a student has completed 120 units. If you wish to undertake an individual major, see a BASC advisor.