Major/Minor
Major/Minor Declaration Worksheet
Departments electronically report the major/minor declarations and can change your faculty advisor. Students who wish to declare, drop or change a major or minor should follow these steps:
- Schedule an appointment with the undergraduate advising head (UAH) for the major or minor that you wish to add, drop or change. You can find a list of undergraduate advising heads on the School of Arts and Sciences website.
- To prepare for your appointment, you may want to list the courses you've already taken and review your major/minor requirements in the University Bulletin.
- Meet with the undergraduate advising head and discuss what you have prepared. If applicable, bring syllabi for courses taken outside of Brandeis University to the appointment. If the UAH determines that a course can count toward a major/minor requirement, complete the online petition to request a substitution for a major/minor requirement .
Some departments will ask you to bring a completed copy of major/minor worksheet (PDF) to the Office of the University Registrar. Please note that this form will be accepted by the Office of the University Registrar only if signed by the department undergraduate advising head.
Do not use this form to declare a major in Business, Biology, Computer Science, HSSP, Neuroscience, or Independent Interdisciplinary Major (IIM).
- Declare a Business major or a Business minor.
- Declare a major in Biology or Neuroscience.
- Declare a major or minor in Computer Science.
- Declare a major or minor in Health: Science, Society and Policy. Once you have reviewed and completed the form, please make an appointment with Professor Sarah Curi to review your form and declare your HSSP degree.
- Declare an Independent Interdisciplinary Major. Students interested in designing their own major should speak with Kate Colahan at least a semester before they intend to propose their IIM.
Omitting or providing an incorrect Student ID can cause delays or errors in processing your request. Go to your Student Profile in Workday to view your Student ID.
Undergraduate Major/Minor Substitution Petition
To find out how to petition for a major / minor substitution, please see instructions below. Note that substitutions submitted for courses in progress won't appear in your degree audit until a final grade has posted. You may still submit the substitution request before receiving a final grade in a course.
Undergraduate Substitution Requests
The online petition to request a substitution for a major/minor requirement can be used by undergraduate students who have already declared the major or minor and would like to request any of the following:
- That a major or minor requirement be met by a course taken at Brandeis University.
- That a major or minor requirement be met by a course taken outside of Brandeis (study abroad, non-Brandeis Summer School course, etc.). Please note that the course must already be on the student's Brandeis transcript before the petition for substitution can be made.
- That a General University Requirement be met by a course taken during a program approved by the Brandeis Study Abroad Office. This course must already have been transferred to your Brandeis undergraduate record before the petition can be submitted.
- You will be required to upload a course syllabus. The syllabus must include:
• Prerequisites (if there are any);
• The title and authors of the textbook used (if there is one);
• The topics of the individual classes (please also upload the course schedule if the syllabus does not show these).
We need this information to evaluate whether the scope and level of another college’s course are equivalent to those of a Brandeis course."