Declaring A Major | Office of the Registrar | SIU

Declaring A Major

Incoming undergraduate students do not necessarily need to declare a major in a degree-granting program right away.  Many students start out in the Exploratory Student programs, in a college-specific undeclared major, or in a pre-professional program.  This allows students more exposure to what SIU has to offer while they work on their necessary Core Curriculum classes.

But eventually students who plan on getting a degree have to declare a major in a degree-granting program so that they can make proper progress toward that degree.

University policy requires most undergraduate students who have not yet earned a Bachelor's degree, and who have earned more than 45 total credit hours (including more than 26 SIU credit hours), to formally declare a major in a degree-granting program if they have not already done so.

This policy is intended to impact students whose classification is Freshman, Sophomore, etc., and who are currently in an Exploratory Students program, an undeclared major, or a pre-professional program.  It is not intended to impact students who are unclassified or students who are taking additional undergraduate courses beyond their already-earned Bachelor's degree.  And, obviously, it is not intended to impact students who are already in a declared degree program that will directly lead to a B.A., B.S., B.F.A., B.Mus., or B.S.N. degree.

Such students who do not formally declare such a major will be prevented from registering – or making registration changes – until they do declare a major.  That will be accomplished by placing a "Must Formally Declare A Major" hold on their academic record right before the opening of advance registration.  Such a hold will be viewable within SalukiNet Self-Service and will prevent all registration add and drop activity from taking place going forward.  (Also viewable within SalukiNet Self-Service is the student's current primary degree program, in case the student is not exactly sure what it is and whether or not it will directly lead to a degree at SIU.)

At the end of March 2024, those Spring 2024 undergraduates who then match the conditions for needing to formally declare a major in a degree-granting program, but who have not yet done so, will have this hold placed on their academic record, preventing them from registering for Summer and Fall 2024 classes.

Students who wish to formally declare a major should see their academic advisor for guidance.  (Students in a pre-professional program may choose to declare a major in a degree-granting program in addition to their current pre-professional program .)  The student will need to have completed for them a Change Of Curriculum form (which academic advisors can initiate), and such form will need to be approved by the college and/or department/school whose major the student wishes to declare.  Once that completed form is submitted to and processed by the Registrar's Office, the hold will be taken down (or the hold will not be placed in the future if one does not yet exist).