switching majors??

[pinot noir]

Hi all,

It's been a while since I've posted here. Does anyone no anything about switching majors once you've started graduate school? I'd appreciate any help and I am seriously considering...

Edited November 1, 2011 by pinot noir

[Eigen]

There's no such thing as switching majors in graduate school, unlike in undergrad.

As an undergrad, you apply to a school, and the school accepts you. You can change directions within the institution that accepted you.

For graduate school, you apply to a specific program for a specific degree, and they accept you. It's possible that if there are several tracks within that program that you might be able to switch, but even then, it's not assured.

To switch programs in graduate school, you either finish and then apply to another program, apply to transfer to a new program/new school, or drop your current program and then re-apply in the new program.

What are you wanting to switch to?

[robot_hamster]

What do you mean by switching majors? Some programs will let you switch your focus area as long as it is in the same department and you have someone willing to work with you. Completely changing programs, on the other hand, is very different. You would most likely have to reapply to the other program.

[nehs]

I agree with the other posters here. Switching majors is not allowed. But switching tracks or degrees within the same Dept may be allowed. For example, my school offers a mathematics degree and a statistics degree and both are grad degrees with 70% same courses. Students are therefore allowe to switch programs between these two at any point.

[Eigen]

It's not about how much of the coursework is the same, usually- it's about where your funding comes from. If the school separately funds Mathematics and Statistics graduate students, you may not be able to jump tracks from one to the other, even if the coursework is 90%+ the same- there's funding available for you in one that you are receiving, but not the other.

[robot_hamster]

That is true, it would depend on where the money is coming from. Since I am a TA and not a RA, my funding comes from the larger umbrella. So it really wouldn't matter what my focus area was as long as I was in that department.

[runonsentence]

I'm interested in the fact that the OP seems to be a grad school applicant. Why ask this before entering grad school? If you're preparing applications and wondering if this field/course of study is right for you, grad school may not be the best choice right now. There may be other ways that you can pursue your interests in writing that don't involve investing money, time, and your heart in a graduate degree. (It will also make it much more difficult to get in, in the first place.)

Now, interests evolve and change, and there are plenty that enter grad school and then discover that their field or course of study isn't for them. This does happen. But if you're applying to grad programs while feeling unsure about your subject area (and looking for potential ways out down the road), a graduate degree may not be what you need to pursue right now.

[nehs]

Oh so now I know the reason. Sorry, but when I spoke to my Grad advisor he said students can switch and I never asked him why. i assumed it is because courses are similar