F4.2 Change or Add a Major or Degree Goal
Updated: May 11th, 2012
Graduate students may petition to change majors, degree goals, or designated emphases or to add them. Students who petition to change majors will count in the continuing and returning category for enrollment allotment purposes but will not count against the department’s admissions allotment. However, these students should be ranked with other applicants to ensure that available slots in the program are not taken up by relatively weak continuing students to the detriment of stronger new applicants. (Note: Law students who took the LSAT for original admission to the Law School and later want to change to a Ph.D. program or add a major to Law are not required to take the GRE.)
How students petition to change or add a major or degree goal. A student who changes from one degree goal to another within the same major must complete a Graduate Petition for Change of Major or Degree Goal. A student who pursues a master’s degree in the same major as the doctoral program for which he or she was admitted does not need to file a petition if the master’s degree is earned along the way to the doctorate. A student admitted to a doctoral program who does not intend to pursue the doctorate but decides to finish his or her graduate career with the master’s degree in the same major must submit a change of degree goal form, changing the degree goal from the Ph.D. to the master’s degree.
The Graduate Petition for Change of Major or Degree Goal is available from the Office of the Registrar website (http://registrar.berkeley.edu/GeneralInfo/elecforms.html). If changing the degree goal only, the student should complete the petition and submit it to his or her Head Graduate Adviser. If the student is changing majors or adding a major or designated emphasis, the petition must be signed by both academic units. However, the “old” department cannot block a student’s transfer to another major (if that major approves the change) by refusing to sign. The Head Graduate Adviser of the new major forwards the petition and other materials to the Graduate Division with the department’s recommendation. If a petition request is denied, the Head Graduate Adviser of the appropriate department(s) must give a reason for the denial. Approval and denial procedures are the same as those for readmission. (See “Readmission” under “Registration and Exchange Programs,” Section D1.9.) If approved, copies of the petition will be sent to the appropriate department and to the Registrar, where the change or addition of major, degree goal, or designated emphasis will become part of the student’s permanent record. Contact the Graduate Services: Degrees Office (318 Sproul Hall, #5900, 642-7330).
See All Topics in the Category: F. Degrees, Guide to Graduate Policy
