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University of Washington Tacoma
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UW Tacoma Home > Declaring a major or minor

Declaring a major or minor

What is a major?

A major is the academic subject area, such as business or environmental science, in which you will take the majority of your upper-level courses and in which you will earn your bachelor's degree.

If you haven't yet decided on a major and and need some guidance, the Career Development Center can help.

When to declare a major

You are able to declare a major as soon as you have met the minimum credits required for the major. You are expected to have declared a major by the time you have accumulated 105 credits, which is about one quarter into your junior year. Although everyone has to complete general education requirements (English composition, Areas of Knowledge, etc.), it is not a good idea to concentrate exclusively on general education requirements first and postpone thinking about a major. Many majors require more than 50 credits to complete and some have prerequisites. If you put off your decision too long, it may take more time than you anticipated to complete your degree.

If you are not able to declare your intended major by the time you reach 105 credits, you must make another choice or seek a "premajor extension" from an adviser. Premajor extensions are usually granted if you have a reasonable chance of being accepted into your intended major.

What majors are available?

UW Tacoma offers seven majors with an additional 16 areas of concentration or study options.

How to declare a major

Once you have met the admission requirements of your major, if any, you can declare the major by:

  • Downloading and completing the Request to Declare/Change Major form Adobe PDF file .
  • Taking your completed Change of Major form to your current adviser or program office (if you are a premajor, go to the General Education Center in Science 102). Your current program will sign the form and make a copy for their records.
  • Take the signed form to your new adviser or program office for their approval.
  • If you are declaring a competitive major, you will need to submit any supplemental forms or other required documents (see the links in the chart above) directly to the program office of your new major.
  • You will be notified of your acceptance into the new major and your new adviser will forward the approved form to the Registrar's Office, where your major code will be changed.
  • If you are not accepted into your requested major, you may consult with an adviser or submit another form to declare a different major.

Changing your major

You can change your major at any time using this same process. You should meet with an academic adviser first.

Declaring a double major or double degree

Using the same process outlined above, you may complete the requirements of two majors as either a double major or a double degree.

  • If you complete the requirements of two majors and accumulate between 180 and 225 credits, you will be awarded one bachelor's degree with two majors, called a "double major."
  • If you complete the requirements of two majors and accumulate 225 credits (180 + 45), you will be awarded two bachelor's degrees, called a "double degree." You will receive two diplomas.
  • If one of your majors is a B.A. and the other is a B.S, you must complete a double degree.

Declaring a minor

A minor is an optional program of study (usually 25-35 credits) built around a particular subject or skill, for example, nonprofit management or museum studies. Minors can be helpful in two ways: You can focus your degree by choosing a minor related to your major or you can broaden your degree by taking an unrelated but complementary minor (for example, a business student taking a computing minor). Your minor will also show up on your transcripts.

To successfully complete a minor, you must achieve a minimum 2.0 cumulative grade point average (GPA) for all courses involved in the minor. Your DARS report for your minor keeps track of this GPA, so please check it regularly.

You can declare a minor by using the same Request to Declare/Change Major form Adobe PDF file and submitting it to your current adviser. Minors do not have prerequisites and do not require any additional application materials.