In a remarkable policy change, Boston College has decided to remove all major declarations for students in the College of Arts and Sciences class of 2010. All freshmen who currently have a designated major will be reclassified as undeclared after this semester's drop/add period. The decision is outlined in a letter from the Academic Advising Center, which states that it was made with the students' best interests in mind.
Since BC's admission process considers a stated field of interest to be a declaration of major upon entering the University, many freshmen start college with a pre-declared major.
The new policy will not eliminate this practice of the admission process, but the Advising Center hopes that it will allow for more consideration of the various options available to students. The removal will not occur until the first week of February, after the drop/add period, to ensure that it will not affect any current courses that freshmen are taking. All students who are currently enrolled in classes that are major-restricted will remain in them until the end of the semester.
According to the announcement, the new policy should lead to "increasing self-knowledge, reflection, and maturity in decision-making."
Elizabeth Studley Nathans, director of the Academic Advising Center, said that pre-declaration of majors had long been a topic of discussion, but the difficulty was in implementing a system that encourages more exploration.
"We worked out the logistics so that people will not be penalized in their course choices, but will easily be able to get the ones they need."
Accepting students into certain majors immediately after matriculation is a rare practice at top colleges. Most institutions ask applicants to declare an area of interest, but do not consider this a declaration of major. BC, on the other hand, has traditionally accepted students as pre-declared majors in their fields of interest.
Nathans explained that 30 percent of students nationwide who declare a major will eventually change to a different one.
