Change of Major or Minor
Submit online requests to change your Major or Minor for fast and convenient service.
Some departments require students to make advising appointments prior to approval. Any changes to your major/minor or Catalog year will have an impact on your degree requirements.
Check with the prospective department prior to submitting your request or check your request for any comments sent by the department after your submission.
How to change your major or minor
General Major and Minor information
Majors and Minors are focused areas of study that require students to take a specific set of courses that lead to a comprehensive understanding of a particular subject matter.
Completion of a major is a graduation requirement, whereas a minor does not require as many units and is not a graduation requirement (at SFSU, only the Journalism major requires a minor to earn a bachelor's degree).
At SFSU, there are over 100 undergraduate majors and minors. Choosing a major involves declaring this choice at the time of admission or consulting with faculty advisors and then submitting a request through your Student center. Choosing a minor is unnecessary for admissions and is optional (paper requests are available for plans that are not online).
Understanding major options at SFSU
Impacted majors have more students than can be accommodated, declare these areas of study as their majors.
Lower and upper-division students requesting a change of major to an impacted program must meet the supplemental requirements required for that major.
For more details, visit SFSU's Bulletin.
- Lower-Division Students | Non-Impacted Majors: The department must accept changes of major for continuing lower-division students who have a minimum 2.0 GPA and a minimum grade of C in specified pre-requisite courses.
- Upper-Division Students | Non-Impacted Majors: The department may determine the number of units that must be completed with a minimum grade of C for the upper-division student to declare their major, or a department may specify (normally lower division) courses that must be completed with minimum grades of C for the upper-division student to declared. The department may not limit enrollment in such courses to majors only.
Typically, students declare their major during their sophomore year after completing most of their lower-division General Education requirements. Lower-division students who are undecided about their major may identify themselves as undeclared.
Students who are uncertain of their major choice should identify themselves as undeclared. Advising and tools are offered specifically to target undeclared students to help them explore and decide on a major. Students should declare as early as possible to stay on track for graduation. Students who enter as freshmen must declare a major by the time they complete 70 units.
Students can add a second major or minor, but only one request can be reviewed at a time.
For more details on the below change of major and minor policy, please visit the SFSU's Bulletin.
- Double Major
- Change of Major (cont.)
- Residence Units
- Grade Point Average (GPA) as related to major & minor requirements
- Time limit to complete requirements for an undergraduate degree
- Duplicate use of credit between major and minor
- Duplicate use of credit between minor and GE
- Upper-Division & Residence units
- Minimum units
- No Minor in Major
The requirements a student must fulfill to complete their program are found in the Catalog for a specific year. Requirements for a program may sometimes differ across Catalog years.
At SFSU, the Catalog is the Bulletin. The Catalog year ordinarily is the year in which a student matriculates in a program. Students may choose to change their Catalog year. The Catalog year can only be changed to Catalog years available after the initial Bulletin year on the student's program.